Bodies come in all shapes and sizes and young adults are at their most vulnerable in life when seeing ‘perfect’ bodies on social media and in TV/Films. It’s essential to get through to teenagers at this time to build a healthy understanding and relationship with their bodies.
Getting young people out of the ‘porn-perfect’ mindset is so important as pornography can have harmful effects on self-esteem and future relationships and distort views of themselves.
See some topic ideas below to discuss:
The History of the ‘Ideal Woman’
Students should be informed that previous beauty standards and ‘ideal body types’ have all been decided by men and this has changed throughout the years.
A great video to show ideal body types throughout the decades:
The Inner and Outer Labia
Every shape and size is completely NORMAL.
Labiaplasty is a surgical procedure that has dramatically increased in recent years. Women believing their labia is the wrong shape or size is the most common reason for getting surgery because they haven’t been taught that all shapes and sizes are completely NORMAL.
Students should be given time to look at and discuss the fact sheet below.
Bodily Fluids and Smells
*News Flash* a Vagina is self-cleaning and is supposed to have a smell to it.
[‘Vaginal Discharge’ is the correct medical term for it but we tend to link the word ‘discharge’ with something infected, oozing and rotten, so until Gen Fem can officially change the medical term, we’ll refer to it as Vaginal Juices.]
Vaginal Juices are perfectly normal and show that your vagina is working. It’s actually associated with a clean, hygienic, functioning vaginal canal.
And yes, it’s supposed to smell.
For more information on this topic, see Health & Hygiene.
Breasts & Areolas
They come in all shapes and sizes and it’s perfectly normal to have one slightly larger than the other.
Areola is the medical term for the skin surrounding the nipple.
Body Hair
Your pubic, armpit, leg, facial, toe, finger, arm, ear, nose and back hair is completely natural. Only you can decide what happens to your body hair.
It should be explained to students that there is a lot more pressure today to have no body hair because of pornography and the depictions of women in the media.
An excellent fact sheet about Pornography by NHS Foundation Trust should be given to each student to read in their own time. Find the downloadable PDF here.
Generation Feminist 