Socio-cultural representations of the vagina
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23367682 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Braun (0000-0002-3435-091X, Loughborough University), V Braun (Loughborough University), Sue Wilkinson (0000-0002-7146-3016, Loughborough University) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 17-32 |
| Publication date | 2001-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0264-6838 • E-ISSN: 1469-672X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02646830020032374 |
| OpenAlex | W2117010368 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 81 |
| References cited | 65 |
Although the vagina is a rare topic in the social science literature, numerous socio-cultural representations of the vagina can be found throughout Western societies. Such representations offer a range of cultural resources for making sense of the vagina and its functions, and have implications for women's health and well-being. In this paper, we identify and overview seven persistent negative representations of the vagina: the vagina as inferior to the penis; the vagina as absence; the vagina as (passive) receptacle for the penis; the vagina as sexually inadequate; the vagina as disgusting; the vagina as vulnerable and abused; and the vagina as dangerous. In the last sections, we argue that in order to promote women's sexual and reproductive health, it is necessary to challenge such negative representations, and we offer some alternative - and much more positive - representations of the vagina.
Penis · Sexual behavior · Vagina · Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Issues · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Medicine · Psychology · Sexual function and dysfunction studies · Social Psychology · Surgery
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IAnorexic
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Pubic hair and its removal
Technologies of gender and childbirth choices
Women’s genital body work
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Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery
Artistic mutilation of genitalia
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Women’s Masturbation
Genital Appearance Dissatisfaction
Genital Stigma and Sexual Satisfaction Among Queer Women and Gender Expansive Individuals
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Young Women’s Body Attitudes and Sexual Satisfaction
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(Hetero)sexual Compliance with Unwanted Casual Sex
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Affective conjunctions
Nomenclature and knowledge-culture, or, we don’t call semen ‘penile mucous’
Petals of activism
Labiaplasty and pornography
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The Development and Validation of a Scale to Measure Attitudes Toward Women's Genitals
In their own words
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Young Women's Experiences and Perceptions of Cunnilingus during Adolescence
Cycles of shame
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Perceptions of Female Genitalia Following Labiaplasty
Snatch,” “Hole,” or “Honey‐pot”? Semantic categories and the problem of nonspecificity in female genital slang
Gayzing Women’s Bodies
Vaginal hygiene practices and the formation of sexuality
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Pathologising diversity
Touching the private parts
Towards a clean slit
It Is As It Does
Le sexe que l’on mérite
Attending to Gyn‐Ecology
When Sex and Power Collide
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Everyone wants a vagina that looks less like a vagina
Conceptualising the continuum of female genital fashioning practices
The normal and the aberrant in female genital cutting
The Hite report
The Cultural crisis of modern medicine
Rape
Against our will
Making Sex
What Makes Women Sick
Unbearable Weight
Issues of Blood
Twilight Zones
This Sex Which is Not One
"Ambiguous Sex"
Vagina Envy in Men
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Identity
“Fearing our mothers”
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Sex differences in the naming of children's genitalia
Learning to lose
The Dinner Party
Adultery
Against Our Will. Men, Women and Rape
Vaginal reconstruction in gynecologic cancer
Freud, Grafenberg, and the neglected vagina
Snatch,” “Hole,” or “Honey‐pot”? Semantic categories and the problem of nonspecificity in female genital slang
Putting a big thing into a little hole
Dangers of the vagina
On the Sense of Absence
The International Journal of Psychoanalysis
The Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
His and hers
Going Down
Warrior Marks
Pornography, Men Possessing Women
Looking at bodies
Clitoral Conventions and Transgressions
Vagina Dentata" and "Incurable Venereal Disease" Legends from the Viet Nam War
A Feminist Sexual Politics
Straight Sex; the Politics of Pleasure
The Protection Racket
Sexing the Body
Telling it straight? Dictionary definitions of women's genitals
Recording Social Life
Attitudes Surrounding the Continuation of Female Circumcision in the Sudan
Adultery
Nymphomania
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Orifice
| Unique citing works | 81 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,24 |
| Citation span | 2001 - 2026 (26) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 76 |