school work.. cause Im a nerd
Each week, for my history of sexuality class, we have to do reading logs.. reflect on what we have read and engage in them academically. Mostly theyre a stressful annoyance.. but I also like being a nerd so theyre also kinda fun 8-) anywhoo.. I kinda liked mine for this week so I decided to post it..
The org reading was "Revisiting the Myth of Vaginal Orgasm" by Jane Gerhard
Journal # 3
They have won the battle, it is up to us to win the war
Revisiting the myth of the vaginal orgasm depicts how society's view of the female body goes beyond anatomical functionality and implies gender roles. While the paper examines how traditional female roles were dislodged from the image of the vagina, thus the oppression of women was relieved, I argue that the image of the vagina is still symbolically linked to female gender roles and is used to oppress transgender and transexual identified people. The world has progressed, but it has more steps to take on its journey towards a true progressive outlook.
Freudian theory first linked the vagina to traditional female gender role of domesticity, passiveness and obedience in reaction to early nineteenth century anxiety about the clitoris and its potential to unsettle heterosexual hierarchies. Freudian theory used clitoral play as indication of immature sexuality and juxtaposed this concept with vaginal orgasm and its role the in mature sexuality. Vaginal orgasm was the mark of a healthy woman , thus if a woman found sexual pleasure from her citrous she suffered from arrested development and needed to seek treatment . The vagina, unlike the citrous, was a passive player in sexual congress and was thought to represent the place of women in the world. The anatomical function of the vagina was expanded on and came to be a symbol of heterosexual identity and the female gender role . Women who loved their husbands, embraced motherhood and accepted their positions enjoyed vaginal orgasms . This concept did not sit well with feminist.
With supporting evidence from sexologists, second wave feminists, such as Koedt, sought to reclaim the the clitoris and refuted its association with autonomy and aggression, through this they re-imagined a new kind of female sexuality which was free from male sexuality and objectification . With a focus on female orgasm Koedt elaborated on the symbolic meaning of the vagina in the constructions of normal womanhood. For her and other feminists, the clitoris enabled women's sexual self-determination and did not imply sexual immaturity as it once had.
While this is greatly indicative of the disentanglement of the vagina from traditional female roles, the vagina is still seen as more than its anatomical function. This is troubling for transgender or transsexual individuals who do not identify as woman but were born with the physical features that make society assume that they do. Such was the case with Wes, a speaker at a conference I recently attended. Wes was born physically a woman but never connected with the expected gender roles. As he pointedly remarked “my breasts have never been more than tits ”. To him they served their function as a source of nutrients for his son and nothing more .
There have been significant strides in dislodging the female form from gender roles; to have a vagina no longer means you are subordinate, passive nor necessarily means that life will lead to motherhood. However, we are far from viewing the body as more than functionality and still symbolically link it to implied gender roles. Medical discourse is light years (it seems) away from asking the question that a flustered nurse asked Wes: “what sex is your body .”
The org reading was "Revisiting the Myth of Vaginal Orgasm" by Jane Gerhard
Journal # 3
They have won the battle, it is up to us to win the war
Revisiting the myth of the vaginal orgasm depicts how society's view of the female body goes beyond anatomical functionality and implies gender roles. While the paper examines how traditional female roles were dislodged from the image of the vagina, thus the oppression of women was relieved, I argue that the image of the vagina is still symbolically linked to female gender roles and is used to oppress transgender and transexual identified people. The world has progressed, but it has more steps to take on its journey towards a true progressive outlook.
Freudian theory first linked the vagina to traditional female gender role of domesticity, passiveness and obedience in reaction to early nineteenth century anxiety about the clitoris and its potential to unsettle heterosexual hierarchies. Freudian theory used clitoral play as indication of immature sexuality and juxtaposed this concept with vaginal orgasm and its role the in mature sexuality. Vaginal orgasm was the mark of a healthy woman , thus if a woman found sexual pleasure from her citrous she suffered from arrested development and needed to seek treatment . The vagina, unlike the citrous, was a passive player in sexual congress and was thought to represent the place of women in the world. The anatomical function of the vagina was expanded on and came to be a symbol of heterosexual identity and the female gender role . Women who loved their husbands, embraced motherhood and accepted their positions enjoyed vaginal orgasms . This concept did not sit well with feminist.
With supporting evidence from sexologists, second wave feminists, such as Koedt, sought to reclaim the the clitoris and refuted its association with autonomy and aggression, through this they re-imagined a new kind of female sexuality which was free from male sexuality and objectification . With a focus on female orgasm Koedt elaborated on the symbolic meaning of the vagina in the constructions of normal womanhood. For her and other feminists, the clitoris enabled women's sexual self-determination and did not imply sexual immaturity as it once had.
While this is greatly indicative of the disentanglement of the vagina from traditional female roles, the vagina is still seen as more than its anatomical function. This is troubling for transgender or transsexual individuals who do not identify as woman but were born with the physical features that make society assume that they do. Such was the case with Wes, a speaker at a conference I recently attended. Wes was born physically a woman but never connected with the expected gender roles. As he pointedly remarked “my breasts have never been more than tits ”. To him they served their function as a source of nutrients for his son and nothing more .
There have been significant strides in dislodging the female form from gender roles; to have a vagina no longer means you are subordinate, passive nor necessarily means that life will lead to motherhood. However, we are far from viewing the body as more than functionality and still symbolically link it to implied gender roles. Medical discourse is light years (it seems) away from asking the question that a flustered nurse asked Wes: “what sex is your body .”