Jamie McCartney produced “The Great Wall of Vagina” which travels around the world as an art exhibition. "Jamie was concerned about misinformation leading to increasing genital anxiety. He was adamant that women are not defective. This sculpture is his campaign to normalise and celebrate vulva diversity. Knowledge is power." Tova Leigh, now living in Portugal just visited the piece in Lisbon and just wrote about it, and I was reminded of how powerful this simple exhibition of 400 vulva molds was to me. If “The Great Wall of Vagina” is coming to a museum near you, I highly recommend you see it.
When I saw this piece for the first time, I thought one of two things:
1. Could I identify my own vulva if it were up here? (And, if I couldn’t, that’s a rather terrible thought that my most prized body part, the identifier of what my body’s function in nature is unrecognizable to me).
2. Why were so many women around me disgusted?
Let me address the second question.
When I visited this exhibition in London some years ago, I was surrounded by women, women, saying it was ‘disgusting.’ Can you imagine a group of men visiting the same kind of exhibition of penises and saying the same? No, of course not. Our patriarchal society has taught us to worship the penis and with that same thought devalue the vulva and vagina, so much so that even women are ashamed of their own body parts.
Anyone who reads my books knows that I am passionate about women loving their bodies. I urge you all to look at yourself and the old cliché, love yourself. In a time when women’s bodies are being scrutinized, I would say more than ever in the history of the world, when pornography lives in most males’ minds, instead of real women, many modern men have unreal expectations of women and women’s bodies. Men, on a whole, have stopped talking to us, but instead are amplifying their own voices telling each other and us what it is to be a woman. It is important that women stop listening to men who tell us what to think about our own bodies and actually get to know our bodies ourselves (If women had ruled the world, there would be mirrors on the floors rather than on the ceilings, and we would rejoice in our sex, the true bringer of life and pleasure, but unfortunately the world does not celebrate women so we must even fight with our own subconscious to love our bodies and ourselves the way that we were naurally formed [one of the worst insults a man can receive is to be called a 'pussy.']). Our vulvas and vaginas are what makes the human race exist. We are the key to humanity’s survival (and if you say, “But Alma you can’t have children without men,” I would advise you to read up on evolution, modern genetics, or if you want to take the easy way out, watch ‘Jurassic Park.’) The human race can exist without men, it cannot survive without women. When you look at your vulva and vagina and feel cringy remember who made you feel that way and push back on that thought.
Vulvas are beautiful they are the flowers of human life.
Be proud of yours...
Or at the very least, be able to recognize it in a line-up.
Further Reading:
“Do We Need Men?” by Bryan Sykes
Adam's Curse by Bryan Sykes