#self conception

Girls are culturally denied knowledge about their bodies, particularly their genitals. [Gerda] Lerner suggests that this knowledge is denied to girls from early childhood. Whereas parents often name boys’ genitals – for example, wee-wee – they are much less likely to give girls specific names for their genitals. Girls’ genitals become generalized to ‘down there’ or ‘private parts’. Rarely do girls have specific names that distinguish between vagina, clitoris, vulva. [...] Physiology combined with missing cognitive and/or subjective knowledge about one’s body causes girls to feel like they have little control over their bodies. When discussing puberty, some girls [in Martin’s study] expressed a sense that their body was out of control, or betraying them. Feeling out of control contributes to girls’ general anxiety at puberty.