Cunt: A Declaration of Independence

That is the title of the book I am currently re-reading. I read it last year and for the whole week I was reading it, I walked around in a happy-haze. I had finally found a book that was all about women, written from a woman's perspective. The first part of the book is about the ancient word "cunt" and how our modern-white-male-centric culture has taken a once pleasant, all-encompassing word for woman and has changed it into a debasing slur.

The book is also about a lot of other subjects specific to women, but the one thing I found fascinatingly, and surprisingly true is the fact that most women are uncomfortable with that one part that makes us all women. It kind of reminded me of that lecture we watched in class about how women's breasts will never be perfect. Most women are uncomfortable with their vaginas. Some women are well into their lives and have never even taken a look at them. Do you think a man exists that has never explored every square inch of his private pieces? I think not.

I think the reason women learn to dread their bodies starts in middle school. I went to a Catholic School where in fifth grade the girls and boys were split up to learn about the birds and bees. I can't say what went on in the boy's classroom, but in ours we were taught that our "time of the month" was dirty.

"Make sure to pay extra attention to hygiene during this week. Don't talk about it in public, especially if the other sex is present."

Personally, I think the fact that I can grow another human being in my body the most fascinating and wonderful thing ever. Women should never be ashamed of this. We should never feel like we have to conform to male standards so much to the point of cutting up this precious part of our anatomy to be the pornographic ideal. Nor should we starve ourselves to make the rest of the world happy.

My absolute favorite part of this book is the call for all women to support each other solely based on the fact that we are women. It's a call to push aside the catty attitudes and rise up together to create a women-friendly society and world. If we could just stop judging each other by who we are or aren't dating and what we're wearing, we could change the world.