- what are these
- why these are vulva pins
- oh...but why would you make them and sell them here? They are better off being in a porn shop or something...
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A few months ago I was tabling at an event organized by a friend of mine, where I was selling some of the crochet jewelry and accessories that I make, including crochet genitalia. A person was checking out the goods I had on display and the conversation we had went a little something like this:
- why these are vulva pins
- oh...but why would you make them and sell them here? They are better off being in a porn shop or something...
- why do you say that?
- they are vaginas...
- they are vaginas...
I was thankful for this persons comment and welcomed the short conversation we had, but I have noticed that in all the conversations I have had around my vulva pins, cis men - people who were born male and live their lives as men- have never failed to view the vulva pins as any thing more than a sexual representation of the female body. I have started to wonder, have female bodies been constructed for and understood through the male gaze? And have I been unknowingly participate in that gaze?
I am far from ashamed to admit that I watch a lot of pornography, and what I have noticed specifically about easily accessible mainstream heterosexual porn, that depicts penetrative sex between a man and a woman, is that these films are not free from voyeurism, male fantasy and sexual conquest. In her 1975 essay titled Visual Pleasure & Narrative Camera author Laura Mulvey, suggests the male gaze occurs when the camera draws the audience into the heterosexual mans point of view. Through voyeurism lingering on curves, body parts etc. she explains that this serves to frame the female body as an erotic object for sexual conquest to be dominated by both the character in the film and the audience. She goes on to explain that within male fantasy, seldom do we see the point of view of the female body/character.
I have been thinking about how point of view as explored by Laura Mulvey relates to the way that I have been making my vulva pins. Have I been perpetuating and reflecting a male gaze? When making them, I have chosen to physically position myself on my back, open my legs and use a mirror to see my vulva. But in reality, when in this position without a mirror, I can't actually see the entirely of my vulva. All I see is my clitoris, part of my labia minora and the top of my labia majora. In using a mirror I have shifted from reflecting my own personal gaze of my body and instead have served to reflect the gaze of someone looking at my vulva. Similar to the male gaze in mainstream pornography I have drawn my audience into a point of view that situates them as onlookers of my vulva pins. I believe this point of view can easily draw parallels between the fantasy or reality of heterosexual men's sexual position as voyeurs of the female body. In making my vulvas this way am I welcoming and participating in objectification? What do you think?
I am far from ashamed to admit that I watch a lot of pornography, and what I have noticed specifically about easily accessible mainstream heterosexual porn, that depicts penetrative sex between a man and a woman, is that these films are not free from voyeurism, male fantasy and sexual conquest. In her 1975 essay titled Visual Pleasure & Narrative Camera author Laura Mulvey, suggests the male gaze occurs when the camera draws the audience into the heterosexual mans point of view. Through voyeurism lingering on curves, body parts etc. she explains that this serves to frame the female body as an erotic object for sexual conquest to be dominated by both the character in the film and the audience. She goes on to explain that within male fantasy, seldom do we see the point of view of the female body/character.
I have been thinking about how point of view as explored by Laura Mulvey relates to the way that I have been making my vulva pins. Have I been perpetuating and reflecting a male gaze? When making them, I have chosen to physically position myself on my back, open my legs and use a mirror to see my vulva. But in reality, when in this position without a mirror, I can't actually see the entirely of my vulva. All I see is my clitoris, part of my labia minora and the top of my labia majora. In using a mirror I have shifted from reflecting my own personal gaze of my body and instead have served to reflect the gaze of someone looking at my vulva. Similar to the male gaze in mainstream pornography I have drawn my audience into a point of view that situates them as onlookers of my vulva pins. I believe this point of view can easily draw parallels between the fantasy or reality of heterosexual men's sexual position as voyeurs of the female body. In making my vulvas this way am I welcoming and participating in objectification? What do you think?
