Week 1 Reaction

    The readings from the first week of class came as somewhat of a surprise to me. When I began reading Segal and Schiebinger’s “Body Matters,” I found myself agreeing that there are certain stereotypes surrounding the penis and males in general. What I was surprised, and actually excited, to see was the attempt to “deconstruct the penis.” By listing all of the problems that males face when it comes to there penises, it is hard to hold on to that penis prowess stereotype that was previously constructed. This is definitely not a concept that is touched upon in some other disciplines, like anthropology for instance, that claim male sex drive comes from the desire to spread their seed and glaze over the origin of penis anxiety that this article addresses.
    Another topic that the “Body Matters” article and the “Taxonomy of Human Beings” by The biology and gender study group, both address are stereotypes aimed towards the biological differences of women. In “Body Matters,” they bring up he subject of early feminism from the 1960s and how the discourse at the time did not include any mention of the vagina, but rather focused on the clitoris. The vagina was coined to have a reproductive purpose while the clitoris was the center of female pleasure. The idea that struck me most was the outcry from women when penetration was suggested. It is clear that these women thought penetration and womanly pleasure were two separate things. This differs from today in that popularized masturbation objects often suggest a combination of the two. For example, in the television show Sex and the City, the main characters stumble upon a vibrator nicknamed “the Rabbit,” which is (thanks to the show) a commonly used term when referring to female masturbation.
    In the second article “Taxonomy,” the author sets out to show the historical factors behind the importance of the breast and what it may symbolize. What I think is interesting is that, especially in the context of the comparisons with African women, the idyllic breast was small, firm and virginal. This conflicts with the present day mindset with the popularity of television shows like Baywatch and the success of Playboy. Even the popularity of breast augmentation surgeries suggests a shift towards a new conception of the breast.
   My question lies in how did the past conceptions of breasts and the vagina change to become what they are today in popular culture?