The Female Body Demystified

Art by Allyson Healey SC ’14

Some people say that 2012 will mark the end of the world. But what I hope this year will bring is an end to the patriarchal world.

The female body has been constructed into an image of fantasy and mystery. This glorification does not flatter the female body, but rather declines to acknowledge that body as a human one. Stripped away from realistic humanity, the idealized female body has been made into a deviance.

The ideal female body is not what we see in the mirror; it is not what we feel when we walk about the world; it does not go to the bathroom; it does not come in different shapes; it does not get sick; it does not sweat; it does not crave pleasure for its own sake. The female body is an abstract wave of glistening lines that cannot be pinned down, yet it haunts all of our minds—telling us who we should be, defining normal, making us abnormal, and making us unreal.

I write this with the hope that the woman’s body—and its natural functions—might cease to be portrayed as an abnormal body. I want the world to end where human anatomy is divided into anatomy and female anatomy—as if the ‘female’ modification is an aberration, something worth noting as separate from general anatomy. I want the male body to cease to be the standard, but rather part of many natural, normal morphological differences possible for human bodies. I hope that, in recognizing the female body as normal, we can also recognize that ‘female’ is not synonymous with ‘weak,’ that terms used to describe female attributes are not seen as degrading, and that using a term for a sex organ (male or female) as an insult is as bizarre as calling someone an elbow, or an ear, or a knee.

I hope that the woman’s body might cease to be a hidden body. I want the world to end where menstruation is secret, and serves as justification to shame emotion. I want to live in a world where real women’s bodies are pictured in the media, realistically, and in all their variation. Where clothing, cosmetics, and surgery are not solutions for self-loathing. I want the duality of sexual behavior to end. Where libido ceases to be reserved exclusively for men, but rather acknowledged as a human phenomenon. I want to live in a world where ‘promiscuous’ and ‘prude’ have no relevant meaning.

I hope that the woman’s body will no longer be an enslaved body. I want the world to end where legislation that condones ultrasound-masked acts of rape becomes law. I want women to be heard. To believe in themselves. To be seen as human beings. To no longer be seen as a means for masculine assertion. I want to live in a world where a woman’s life is not overshadowed by an unformed life inside of her. Where a woman’s purpose is no longer defined by her capacity for reproduction. I want to live in a world where a woman is respected and supported for her choice to give life or prevent life, no matter her age, marital status, social class, or skin pigmentation. I wish for a world free of segregated bathrooms, segregated toys, segregated clothing, and segregated expectations. I hope the day will come where the subtle everyday constructs that reaffirm inequality dissolve into the past.

I believe change is possible. But remember that every time we feel ashamed of our bodies or its functions or our behavior, we buy into the patriarchal ideal that the female body is not a real body. Women have real bodies—we do not conform to one idolized, ‘perfect’ figure. Women crave pleasure and are sexual beings. Women are capable of extraordinary and multidimensional things. We should not hide the reality of our bodies—our physical bodies do not define us, and we should know that irrevocably. Embrace confidence in your body; embrace the cycles of your emotions; embrace yourself. You are real.