{"id":56478,"date":"2021-12-15T15:19:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T19:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=56478"},"modified":"2021-12-27T16:35:04","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T20:35:04","slug":"sexual-shame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sexual-shame\/","title":{"rendered":"The Effects of Shame on Women’s Sexual Well-Being"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How does modern culture repress female sexuality<\/a>? What are the effects of sexual shame on women’s psychological well-being?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sex and sexuality are often associated with shame, especially for women. Women have always been taught to feel ashamed of their sexuality, which negatively affects their mental health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is how sexual shame affects women’s sexual well-being. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Sex and Shame<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Shame around female sexuality was around since medieval times. During the medieval period, people even called the female genitalia pudendum<\/em> (from Latin pudere<\/em>, \u201cto make ashamed\u201d). The reasoning for this was that women\u2019s genitalia (in contrast to men\u2019s) appear hidden inside the body, as if women are trying to conceal something they\u2019re ashamed of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Although Nagoski points to the medieval period as the first time people named women\u2019s genitals pudendum<\/em>, the term itself actually dates back to first-century Roman writers. Originally, the word was used to refer to any person or animal\u2019s genitalia<\/a>, regardless of sex. It was only later that people narrowed the meaning of pudendum<\/em> to just women\u2019s genitals.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, the female genitalia aren\u2019t \u201chidden\u201d at all<\/strong>. Nagoski tells us that instead, the various parts have different sizes and locations from their male counterparts due to biological reasons. Assigning such a negative name to women\u2019s genitalia not only points to a lack of biological understanding, but it also perpetuates the idea that there\u2019s something fundamentally wrong with their genitalia. If there wasn\u2019t, why else would women try to hide them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nagoski explains that although modern culture doesn\u2019t suggest that women are hiding something disgraceful in a literal sense, the idea that women\u2019s genitalia is somehow shameful remains prominent<\/strong> in the way both men and women feel and talk about female sexuality. For example, both sexes shame women when their clothing inadvertently (and often unavoidably) accentuates the shape of their vulva\u2014what is commonly known as a \u201ccamel toe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shame\u2019s Effect on Women\u2019s Health<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While Nagoski addresses the fact that (unfair and unwarranted) feelings of shame toward women\u2019s genitalia remain prominent in our modern society, she doesn\u2019t specify how these negative feelings affect the health and well-being of women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many cases, sexual shame prevents women from not only understanding their bodies but also seeking the care they need. For example, according to one 2014 survey, as many as one-third of young women avoided going to the doctor for gynecological issues out of embarrassment<\/a>. Additionally, less than half of women felt that they were well informed about gynecological health, and many were unable to correctly identify the basic parts of their anatomy using a diagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, these statistics demonstrate that the effects of shame<\/a> are both psychological and physical, as they have the potential to put women\u2019s gynecological health at risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How does modern culture repress female sexuality? What are the effects of sexual shame on women’s psychological well-being? Sex and sexuality are often associated with shame, especially for women. Women have always been taught to feel ashamed of their sexuality, which negatively affects their mental health. 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