body
Feminism demands a future free of fat shaming, body obsession and the male gaze.
Talk About Women’s Bodies
Hello, my name is Cleo, I’m almost 21 years old and I was never taught about my body. I was born in America to a Catholic mother and Christian father. This means that we did not go to church — but we also did not discuss puberty, sex, or anything like that. I was never told when I would develop breasts or the difference between bra types. I didn’t know what a Menstrual Cycle was or when I would get my first period. I was never given a sex talk or was told about Birth Control Methods. To be a functioning woman in society, I’ve largely had to teach myself about these things. This left me feeling repulsive and alienated for most of my teen years and young adult life — that is why I’m here to talk about my experience.
By Cleo Jarnagin5 years ago in Viva
New Year, New Me... Or Not
"Don't breathe... hold it in". It was 11 p.m. and my husband was already asleep when the blue hue of my phone began to irritate a headache that I had already had for four hours prior. "Tighten your core. Now don't breathe... hold it in". Those were the words now plastered onto my eyes as I watched an influencer's post play over and over again trying to take notes. She had posted a video on how influencers pose for photos while visiting different locations, such as the beach, in order to get the perfect shot. She was laying on the sand in a tan bikini with her flawlessly tan skin and perfect beach-wave blonde hair blowing in the wind like she was on a 'Beachbody' commercial. She had a toned body and not a single sight of cellulite or fat on her. She didn't have saddle bags weighing on her hips and she had the perfect sized chest. She, in my perspective, had the perfect female body.
By J. R. Wiebe5 years ago in Viva
(Men)-strual Cycles.
For years women all around the globe have joked that men could not handle a menstrual cycle. I happen to agree, I mean a lot of guys cannot multitask and there is the blood, cramps, pads or tampons and yes you still have to go to work. This age old discussion was recently brought to my attention when my 12 year old niece wanted to know why men don’t get a period when it’s called MENstruation, She said how can they not get it when there name is at the beginning of it. I thought that was hilarious, but more importantly after over two decades of periods why hadn’t I even thought about that. Who even decided that “Menstruation” would be the title for the process in a woman discharging blood and other materials from the lining of the uterus?
By D. Nicole Smith5 years ago in Viva
My Fourteen-Year-Old Daughter Won't Wear a Bra
My mother took me shopping for a bra at the first indication that breasts were budding beneath my sweater. The fact that she noticed was embarrassing enough — I’m not sure how I made it through the actual shopping trip.
By Alecia Kennedy5 years ago in Viva
The Book That Saved My Life
Darkness overcame my heart the day that I was raped. The girl I used to be all those years ago is long gone. For a number of years, that felt like the worst thing to me. Feeling like you are giving up on yourself when you have no control is a scary process. Tears would overflow almost daily. Many days I would ask myself why he hadn't just killed me. Other days I would long for it. Then one day came that changed everything for me.
By The Darkest Sunrise5 years ago in Viva
Sexed but not Sexy
This essay will demonstrate how the pregnant body is both deeply personal whilst being subject to intense public scrutiny. The physical space that a pregnant body occupies in public, and the visibility of something that is deemed to be private, puts growing attention on the expectant mother. A sense of public responsibility for a future citizen (Luce, 1996) forces upon her unwanted opinions and expectations. For the purpose of this essay, the term ‘public’ is treated as interchangeable with the word ‘political’, because it is referring to the everyday politicisation of bodies that makes them public. (Jamie, 2020) For a more in-depth analysis, it will ignore the medicalisation of the pregnant body; the medical surveillance placed on women by midwives and other health professionals. Instead, it will focus on cultural scrutiny, in the form of prying relatives, acquaintances and strangers (Dwyer, 2006) feeling the right to place judgment on the pregnant woman. It will consider the patriarchal environment in which this right to ownership of the female body has been cultivated and worsened by the influence of the media. Drawing upon the routine sexualisation of women in the media, this essay will demonstrate the binary expectations of female sexuality. Within this narrow discourse, it will question the whereabouts of pregnant women. Why it is suddenly unacceptable and wrong for a pregnant body to be ‘sexy’, despite having been ‘sexed’ (Dwyer, 2006). How do pregnant women straddle this ‘Madonna-Whore Dichotomy’ and what implications does this have for the woman and her partner? It will also question this in the context of pornography. Lastly, there will be an examination of how some celebrities have shown both their maternal and sexual pregnant bodies, and in doing so have liberated themselves and other women from the binary categories that they could have fallen in to.
By Daisy Shepherd-Cross5 years ago in Viva
