People in the world think the vulva is too explicit to be discussed. And while we can’t wait for the day that is no longer the case, that is the current status quo. So we were not surprised when reading an article on Salon to discover that a documentary about female sexuality, Science, Sex and the Ladies, had been passed over by several film festivals for being too “explicit.”
But that doesn’t mean we weren’t frustrated.
There’s so much mystery surrounding the vulva: all its different shapes and sizes, and how all the pieces work not just separately but together for a woman’s pleasure. We seem to live in a society that is okay with everyone, men and women, not being educated on the topic (remember that high school science teacher who tried to fail a girl for giving a presentation on the vulva?) which is bizarre. If we all learned about male and female orgasms – what they were like, how best to go about getting them, and the anatomy behind them – we’d cut out unrealistic expectations of sex and have so much more fun in life!
Team O’a was excited about the idea of a documentary aimed at helping people out in this regard, and disappointed to learn it wasn’t getting the exposure it could simply because of how our society still views women and sex.
In The simple “secret” to making a woman orgasm that no one understands, writer Jill Hamilton put it this way:
“It’s ridiculous that in 2015, it’s still ‘controversial’ to show a picture of a vulva, especially one all scientifically labeled. People need to know how women’s bodies work—this is important, big stuff! Every woman needs to know that she is perfectly normal and not somehow broken sexually. Plus it relieves men of pounding away longer than they’d like to to “please” their partners in a way that, really, they can’t be pleased. It eliminates the need for women to fake their orgasms to soothe partners’ egos. And it gives women the freedom to work with the way their bodies actually work—to come as they are, so to speak–so they can start enjoying easy orgasms with a partner.”
And isn’t that the heart of this issue? When we don’t talk about female sexuality, women believe they are broken for how their bodies naturally work.
Every woman needs to know that she is perfectly normal and not somehow broken sexually.
Amen, Jill. Actually, Awomen.
Okay, O’a community, with this topic on our minds, and Miley Cyrus is getting a lot of commentary for sharing masturbation and sexting photos as part of a series on selfies, we’re curious: how should we share information about sexuality in society? How and when do you introduce sexual anatomy? Where do you draw the line?
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