The Origin of Shame in Female Sexuality

When evolution meets religion.

Source: Depositphotos

In 2014, Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi was arrested for designing a kayak based on a 3D scan of her vulva in an attempt to break the taboo and shame associated with genitalia in Japan.

Ruth Benedict defined shame as a reaction to other people’s criticism, today conceptualized as an evolutionary mechanism aimed at facilitating community behavior and preventing social exclusion.

While sexuality has been a source of shame in most cultures, anthropological findings suggest that female sexuality has been almost systematically shamed to a greater extent than men’s sexuality*.

To understand why, we need to look at social systems that explicitly codified and regulated female sexuality and sexuality in general, and few are as informative as Islam in this regard.

Consider:

1. The absolute prohibition of sodomy, regardless of the sex of the people engaging in the act.
2. The absolute prohibition of male and female homosexuality.
3. The prohibition of menstrual sex.
4. The perception of female virginity as a symbol of purity and cleanliness.
5. The obligation to perform a cleansing ritual after sex.