Author: maryquinneth

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No Shave November: A Reflection

So this year, I partook in my first ever No Shave November. If you haven’t heard of this, it’s a month long event in which participants forgo shaving their body hair. I am not sure of the event’s origins, but have heard of several different reasons behind it, one of them being to raise cancer awareness. However, I think it has come to be understood as more of a personal challenge for people to undertake.

It is much more commonplace for men to partake in No Shave November, but the event is not exclusive to men. Still, it has generally come to be viewed as an exclusively male event as men are largely the only participants to document their experience on social media. This could be due to the fact that for men, No Shave November usually means growing out facial hair, and it is much less shocking for a man to share a photo or story of growing out his facial hair than it is for a woman to share a photo or story of growing out her armpit or leg hair. I think the stigma surrounding female body hair has helped perpetuate the idea of No Shave November as an exclusively male event.

No-Shave-November

Darn tootin’!
Courtesy of sassyecards.com

I had never thought of partaking before this year. In fact, my participation this year sort of happened by accident.  Continue reading →

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“Functioning” Breasts

I think it’s safe to say that our society has a pretty ridiculous obsession with breasts. Breasts are shoved in our faces all the time—through screens, billboards, pages of magazines, what have you. They have become something of a paragon of beauty in our society; so many women today are dissatisfied with their natural breasts and go to great lengths to have them molded into “beautiful” breasts. I don’t know if we ask it enough: Why does our society put such a premium on breasts?

Many women I know are baffled by the appeal that breasts hold. I have often heard women respond to qualifying or sexualizing comments about breasts with statements such as “Why do people care what breasts look like?” or “What is so sexy about breasts? They’re only there so we can feed our children” or, my favorite, “They’re just sacks of milk.” *shudder*

I get the biological retort; it is a bit silly that we’re essentially sexualizing our udders (gross, but true). But at the same time, I can see how they came to hold the power that they have. Breasts are life-givers, really. They are how we provide for our offspring. No matter how many modern advancements are put forth in child care, the essential bond between a mother and child will always be associated with the act of breastfeeding.

So this begs the question: does the power of breasts only lie in their ability to “function”? Are breasts only glorious and powerful if they can nourish a child? I ask this because there is a strong possibility I will not be able to breastfeed my children.

Continue reading →

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The Girl That Fat Built

So much of my identity has been shaped by my body and the way the world around me has treated it that I often find myself wondering, “If I’d had a different body, who would I be now?”

Some of my earliest painful memories are of becoming aware of my weight as an issue—my parents’ noticeable concern for my young and rapidly changing body, being called fat by my peers, the inability to share clothes with friends, the list goes on.

As my fat seemed to be under attack by the world around me, I subconsciously began to fashion armor around it. My attempts at protecting myself began with denial, not letting myself believe I was a “fat kid.” At eight years old, I still had the sense that I was fantastic and beautiful and I wasn’t ready to give that up. However, as people grew meaner and more eager to inform me that I wasn’t as beautiful as I thought I was, I came to a sort of sad acceptance.

But because I was a rambunctious and attention-seeking kid, I decided that maybe I could use being fat to my advantage. Continue reading →

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Women Looking at Women’s Bodies

I came back to my apartment the other night to my female roommates sitting together and discussing their bodies. Bodily dissatisfactions were exchanged, such as, “I wish I has bigger boobs,” “I want a toned butt,” “I hate my hips,” etc. I stood in the kitchen fixing myself dinner, occasionally chiming in but mostly observing this conversation (as a possible topic for a blog post was brewing in my mind). My roommates gathered around a laptop and began to look up pictures of their desired physical attributes. I listened to exclamations such as, “See, that’s the kind of ass I want!” and “She has perfect skin!” However, the tone of these comments quickly changed; cries of “I do not like her body,” “Eww, her boobs are so far apart,” and “That’s not a cute butt” abounded.

women judging

Generic photo of female judgment
Courtesy of allparenting.com
http://www.allparenting.com/my-family/articles/968537/women-judging-women

I found it interesting how, in just a matter of seconds, their comments went from positive affirmations to scathing criticisms, but I remained cool and collected as I was acting as a secret agent of the Unruly Bodies class. However, after I heard one of my roommates say, “I hate when thighs touch. I think it’s gross,” I was taken aback. This wasn’t a put-down of an anonymous woman’s touching thighs on the internet, but a put down of touching thighs in general—thighs that I happen to have. Suddenly I had become one of those women with an undesirable body.

Continue reading →