I haven’t read Mama Gena’s books, but from what I’ve read on her website, I can relate to the hosts mixed feelings about Mama Gena and her teachings about the womanly arts.
Dr. Jenn’s alter ego Jane sums up the part I don’t like.
The principle I like: Yes to pleasure
I think pleasure is very very important- especially for women. Its easy to miss the importance of something that can seem like literally just the icing on the cake. But there are many people waging war against pleasure and women having pleasure. You can see this more clearly in other cultures where there are extreme examples like female genital mutilation- literally cutting off women’s ability to feel sexual pleasure.
In our country, women are encouraged to LOOK like they are having sexual pleasure, but actually to FEEL suffering. One fairly extreme example in our culture are fake breasts. You can APPEAR aroused and sexual, but in reality, you may have lost much of the FEELING in your nipples.
Or what about high heels. Your butt is lifted, a sign of sexual arousal, so you might APPEAR from the outside like you are feeling sexual pleasure, but actually inside you might FEEL pain in your feet.
Another common but still very hurtful example of the war against women feeling pleasure in our culture is the practice and encouragement of dieting. It takes away food as one of the daily, very sensual pleasures of life, and makes it a pain.
Ugh. Creepy stuff, huh.
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Ok, shake those images off. What do you LOVE to do?
Color, dance, draw, lay outside?
Find a way to Enjoy something today (that is good for your health and happiness). Its a subversive activity. And I think Mama Gena is right that women prioritizing our own pleasure will change the world for the better.
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Tags: dieting, fake breasts, female genital mutilation, feminism, happiness, high heels, Mama Gena, pleasure
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