A first visit to the gynecologist, though fraught with dread and embarrassment, is one of the pivotal milestones in womanhood. It symbolizes one step away from youth, taking our sexual health into our own hands and accepting the fact that a stranger must examine our lady parts quite intimately to ensure they are duly functioning. It also means being comfortable exposing our bodies. Of course, this goes against everything we are conditioned to believe is appropriate.
As children in America, we quickly learn that innocuously lifting up our tops in front of our playmates or prancing around in our underwear for fun (surely we’ve all done this) is wrong; nudity outside the realm of bathing and sex is naughty. I vividly remember the times when I was shunned from the living room while my parents were watching an R-rated movie that involved violence, kissing or worse, full-frontal nudity. I would quietly sneak back into the room, hide behind the couch, and peak through my hands. The slightest gasp revealed my disobedience, sending my father into a frustrated fit admonishing that those kinds of movies were not for kids. They were only meant to be watched in secrecy by adults.
In locker rooms…
