Английская Википедия:Femalia

Содержание

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Femalia is a book of 32 full-color photographs of human vulvas, edited by Joani Blank and first published by Down There Press in 1993.Шаблон:R A reprint edition was published by Last Gasp in 2011.Шаблон:R The photographs were taken by Tee Corinne, Michael Perry, Jill Posener, and Michael A. Rosen. The photographs are presented without commentary, except for Blank's brief introduction to the volume as a whole.Шаблон:R Blank wanted to present accurate images of the subject, in contrast to pornographic or medical ones.

History

The word used as the book's title, femalia, was taken from the novel Vox by Nicholson Baker.Шаблон:RШаблон:R The photographs by Corinne and Perry had been taken years before the book's original publication in 1993; those by Posener and Rosen were taken specifically for inclusion in the first edition of Femalia.Шаблон:R

Femalia grew out of Blank's long-term work as a feminist sex educator. She felt that medical and pornographic images of the female genitals were inadequate to her purposes.Шаблон:R In her introduction to the first edition, Blank lamented the absence of readily available photographic representations of the vulva other than heavily edited images in male-oriented pornography, and the resulting feeling on the part of a majority of women that "in one way or another, their genitals are not quite 'normalШаблон:' ".Шаблон:RШаблон:R

Feminist response

Feminist authors have sharply contrasted the portrayals of vulvas in Femalia with those in typical male-oriented pornography and in biomedical sources.Шаблон:R FemaliaШаблон:'s portrayals are characterized as accurate, honest, open, and truthful, as exhibiting "stark reality";Шаблон:RШаблон:RШаблон:R as promoting a positive view of the vulva;Шаблон:R as emphasizing the diversity of the vulva in different women,Шаблон:RШаблон:RШаблон:RШаблон:RШаблон:RШаблон:R as well as the diversity of opinions and perspectives about the vulva on the part of both men and women;Шаблон:R and as emphasizing female autonomy.Шаблон:RШаблон:RШаблон:R By contrast, portrayals of the vulva in pornography and in biomedical science are characterized as stylized and uniform, excluding women whose genitalia do not match their models.Шаблон:RШаблон:R Pornographic portrayals are further characterized as commodified,Шаблон:R and medical portrayals as sterile.Шаблон:R Feminist sex educators have advocated perusal of the images in Femalia as an exercise to help women to regard their genitals in a more positive light.Шаблон:RШаблон:RШаблон:R

Civil liberties

Librarian Sanford Berman has cited Femalia as an example to illustrate his thesis that libraries engage in inappropriate self-censorship, often motivated by concerns about controversial sexual content, in deciding which books to stock.Шаблон:RШаблон:R Berman comments, "A detailed, artistic picture of a seashell adorns the cover. Were the contents strictly shell photos, the book might make it into at least some libraries. Shells, yes. Vulvas, no."Шаблон:R

Science and medicine

Research on depiction and perception of female genitals

In a study of systematic differences in the depiction of female genitals in online pornography, anatomy textbooks, and feminist publications, Femalia was used as one of three sources of sample depictions in the feminist publications category.Шаблон:R This study found a statistically significant difference between online pornography and feminist publications in depicted protuberance of the labia minora, with greater mean protuberance shown in the feminist publications.Шаблон:R It also found greater variation in measured genital proportions shown in the feminist publications than in the other two categories of sources.Шаблон:R

Femalia was used as one of two sources of sample depictions of female genitals (the other was Penthouse) in a psychological study of the relationship between women's aesthetic perceptions of female genitals and their attitudes toward gynecological examinations.Шаблон:R More specifically, the examinations in question were Pap smears, and the relevant attitudes were anxiety, embarrassment, and likelihood of making or keeping an appointment for a Pap smear.Шаблон:R

Educational role in clinical practice

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has published a guideline document, authored by Magdalena Simonis under authority of the RACGP, intended to inform healthcare professionals about female genital cosmetic surgery (FGCS), such as labiaplasty, and to advise them about management of patient requests for FGCS.Шаблон:R In this document, Simonis identifies lack of appreciation of female genital diversity, not only on the part of the public but also on the part of healthcare professionals, as a contributing factor to the demand for FGCS.Шаблон:R She advocates the use of Femalia as a tool for patient education about genital diversity,Шаблон:R in part because it depicts female genitals without digital enhancement.Шаблон:R Simonis has further referenced this educational use of Femalia in slide and poster presentations intended to promote better management of the demand for FGCS on the part of healthcare professionals.Шаблон:RШаблон:R

Medical anthropologist Eric Plemons has stated that:

Plemons documents the use of Femalia as a resource to demonstrate the existence of female genital diversity, and to educate both clinicians and patients as to the range of normal vulval appearance. He attributes its widespread use by healthcare professionals to their belief that "it is one of very few photographic collections of 'normal' vulvas that exists".Шаблон:R

Transgender genital cosmesis

Femalia has been used as a way of assessing preferences for perineal and genital cosmetic appearance, to improve cosmesis in trans women undergoing genital gender-affirming surgery.Шаблон:RШаблон:R Beginning in the year 2000, surgeon Neal Wilson began showing photographs from Femalia to his prospective patients and asking them to indicate which vulvas they found most aesthetically pleasing, as well as which ones they would choose for themselves. Wilson attempted to approximate through surgery the appearance of the photographs from Femalia selected by his prospective patients, even though he held that they set "impossible standards" because of the limitations of early 21st-century surgical technique.Шаблон:RШаблон:R Wilson has republished, in an online journal article, the three photographs most often selected by his patients. He has also provided summary statistics concerning his patients' choices of vulval photographs from Femalia, as well as a short narrative summary of the specific anatomical features that he believed to be characteristic of the most popular photographs.Шаблон:R

See also

• 101 Vagina
• Labia pride
• Sex-positive feminism
• Vagina and vulva in art

External links

• Шаблон:Cite web