body
Feminism demands a future free of fat shaming, body obsession and the male gaze.
What You Need to Know About the Luteal Phase
During my teenage years and early twenties, I never once considered what was actually happening inside my body during my period. All I knew was that once a month, every month, for what seemed like my entire life — I would bleed.
Kaushik ManavadariyaPublished 3 years ago in VivaTalk 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.
Cleo JarnaginPublished 3 years ago in VivaNew 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.
J. R. WiebePublished 3 years ago in VivaWoman
I am a woman, I am a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a companion, and most of all I am a part of society and a human being experiencing the world around me.
I Told My Best Friend She Wasn’t “Allowed” to Call Herself Fat
Like every woman, I’ve been bombarded with media and advertisements telling me I’m not good enough — not pretty enough, not skinny enough, not flawless enough (as if that even exists).
Gillian SisleyPublished 3 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?
D. Nicole SmithPublished 3 years ago in VivaMy 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.
Alecia KennedyPublished 3 years ago in VivaBeautiful Silence
As she laid there cold and numb fighting the moon to close her eyes. Feeling the hay, mold into her back, as she is thrusted up and down, not taking her eyes off the moon, in hopes the moon could save her or the tree, maybe one star, just one. Her eyes swelled up like fountains about to overflow, as the tears fell down the side of her face they left a cold trail to her ears and further down to her throat. She felt a piece of her soul breaking, spirit leaving. Her innocence ripped from her chest down to underwear. Not comprehending what was happening but very much felt the hate, the evil of what was being done to her. She could not fight it, the power of evil was far too great. So she chose the moon, glared at it as her memories of running through the fields and picking flowers faded, smelling vanilla through the house as her mom had a cake coming out of the oven, all the things that brought her joy emptied, her smile gone. The thrusting stops, she hears the barn door open and close. It's cold and wet between her legs as if she wet herself, she could not feel a thing she couldn't even move. She felt as if an elephant had been on her crushing her, leaving her there to die. Her heart is thumping out of her chest, her breathing is slowing down. She looks to the beautiful moon and the silent night sky, the stars become blurry as it all blends together and fills with darkness. She falls into a sleep.
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.
The Darkest SunrisePublished 3 years ago in VivaDo You Hate Me for Not Pressing Charges?
Dear fellow survivors, There’s no question about it — it was aggravated sexual assault. It was pre-meditated. The exact categorization of the assault is probably attempted rape.
Gillian SisleyPublished 3 years ago in VivaA letter to my body
I am well. I have a body; I am living. I have a mind; I am thinking. The mind does not relent. There are lungs in my chest that expand and fill to sustain me. There is a heart nestled between them that constricts to force life into me.
Sophia dos RemediosPublished 3 years ago in VivaSexed 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.
Daisy Shepherd-CrossPublished 3 years ago in Viva