How much are we affected by the repression of human sexuality, especially of women?
Marital problems
Female genital mutilation
Cultural traditions mandate it, so it gets misconstrued as religious, even though no mainstream religions call for FGM
Done to keep women in check
Women's sexual desires are ignored, as they are expected only to gain reproduction and never pleasure from sex
Women cannot divorce men just for being unhappy in marriage; they have to prove that the man is being infidel
Prostitutes are criminalized, even though men want them
Infibulation (sewing up most of the vaginal opening) can be used to prove a woman is a virgin, which otherizes rape victims, or even just women who want to have pleasurable sex outside of marriage
Is said to prevent women from masturbating or having extramarital sex
Preventing masturbation is the same reason that men are usually circumcised in America, given that the majority of people do not follow a circumcision-promoting religion in the USA. Masturbation was seen as a mental health problem that had negative impacts on one's physical wellbeing.
Prostitutes cannot get help when they are harmed on the job, because that job is illegal
The sexualized female body is seen as a commodity, but the natural female body is restricted
Average people don't know a lot about how women's bodies actually work, like which hole women menstruate from or why they get pap smears. This lack of knowledge can lead to unaddressed problems, since people can't recognize when there is one.
FGM can lead to health problems like problems urinating, infection, bleeding & problems having sex/getting pregnant
Rape victims are treated unfairly, and rapists get no charges at a rate disproportionate to other crimes
People treat sex as a whole as dirty and gross, even though most people do it at least once in their lives
This can lead to people not getting help when they think they have an STD, or talking to someone when they feel their sex life is unpleasurable, because they don't want to openly admit to having sex
Religion is used as a way to reinforce the restriction of sex & sexual feelings
Religious people watch less porn, but are more likely to watch porn while at the same time still being publicly morally opposed to it
Religious people are more likely to think they have a masturbation/porn/sexual thought addiction, whether or not they actually are addicted to it, which brings sexual distress & guilt
Women tend to have very little control over their sexuality, despite the female body being highly sought after
The people such as John Harvey Kellogg who lead us to circumcise children in the USA were acting on religious-based anti-masturbation motivations.
"In america, men can find pole dancers, but they're not too sure how many holes women have." -Doctor Pamela Wible
This comes from the medicalization of sex and sexuality, as doctors of the time declared that women were not supposed to be horny.
There are three types of FGM: Clitoridectomy (Removing part or all of the clitoris), Excision (Removing the clitoris and the labia), Infibulation (Removing the clitoris and using labial tissue to seal most of the vaginal opening)
Male victims of rape in prison societies are seen as "asking for it again" because they've already had it happen to them, similar to how female victims of rape are seen as "having asked for it" in regular situations.
Male sexual pleasure is seen as more "socially acceptable" than female sexual pleasure. It's more appropriate to talk about men enjoying sex than women, or to talk about sex toys for men, than those for women.
Global Goal 5: Gender Equality
5.3: End genital mutilation & forced marriage
5.6: Universal access to reproductive health and rights