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MASARYKOVA UNIVERZITA PEDAGOGICKÁ FAKULTA Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury ZÁVĚREČNÁ PRÁCE Brno 2019 Mgr. Adriana Bolhová Masaryk University Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature The most controversial aspects of female body Final Work Mgr. Adriana Bolhová Supervisor: Mgr. Lucie Podroužková, Ph.D. Brno 2019 Abstract This final thesis focuses on the feminist and socio-cultural interpretation of three of the most controversial aspects of female body; menstruation, hairy female body, and vagina. Through poems in collection milk and honey written by the Indian-born Canadian author, Rupi Kaur and critical sources the thesis reflects past and recent discussions addressed to these topics. Moreover, this thesis argues that Rupi Kaur addresses the castigated functions of female body showing openly how the modern world perceives contemporary women who struggle with self-acceptance. The theoretical part shortly introduces the author and her collection while the analytical part focuses on studies of perception of menstruation, female body hair, and female genitals in Rupi Kaur’s poems supported by the secondary readings. Finally, this thesis presents the importance of the role of female artists and their view of female genitals. Keywords: Rupi Kaur, milk and honey, female body, menstruation, domination, the hairless female body, abuse, vagina Anotácia Táto záverečná práca sa zameriava na feministickú a sociálno kutlúrnu analýzu troch najviac kontroverzných aspektov ženského tela; menštruácii, ochlpenia ženského tela a vagíny. Prostredníctvom basní v zbierke mlieko a med, od rodenej Indky a Kanadskej autorky, Rupi Kaur a kritických zdrojov táto práca zachytáva minulé a súčasné názory adresované týmto témam. Okrem toho táto práca argumentuje, že Rupi Kaur poukazuje na kritizované funkcie ženského tela kde otvorene ukazuje ako moderný svet vníma súčasné ženy, ktoré zápasia so sebaakceptovaním. Teoretická časť nám stručne predstavuje autorku a jej zbierku, zatiaľ čo praktická časť sa zameriava na analýzu pohľadu na menštruáciu, ženského ochlpenia a žen- ských pohlavných orgánov v básniach od Rupi Kaur sprevádzaných sekundárnou literatúrou. Následne táto práca uvádza dôležitosť úlohy umelkýň a ich vnímania ženských pohlavných orgánov. Kľúčové slová: Rupi Kaur, mlieko a med, ženské telo, menštruácia, domination, ženské telo bez chlpov, zneužitie, vagína Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor, Mgr. Lucie Podroužková, Ph.D., for her kind help, valuable advice and positive encouragement. Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................ 7 1. Rupi Kaur ............................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Rupi Kaur: Instapoet ......................................................................................... 9 1.2 milk and honey ................................................................................................. 11 2. Domination and the female body ........................................................................ 13 2.1 Menstruating body ............................................................................................ 16 2.2 Menstrual Taboos, Pollution ............................................................................. 18 3. Female body hair .................................................................................................. 25 3.1 Disgust on female body hair ............................................................................ 27 4. Female genitals ..................................................................................................... 34 4.1 Negative aspect of vagina ................................................................................ 34 4.2 Positive aspects of vagina ................................................................................ 41 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 43 Works Cited ................................................................................................................ 46 Appendix .................................................................................................................... 50 Introduction The history of women’s bodies has been depicted in various areas of social life and the female body has been the subject of numerous empirical studies in a wide variety of specific contexts (Davis 5). This thesis mostly focuses on socio-cultural interpretation of the most controversial aspects of female body; women’s embodied experiences of menstruation, sym- bolic and cultural representations of vagina where different attitudes towards female genitals can affect women’s willingness not to talk about their vagina as something private and shameful. Feminist work has done much to present positive alternative representations of men- struation and the vagina and attention has been placed on how institutions and cultural dis- courses shape women’s embodied experiences (Davis 5). This final thesis is to analyse hidden and questionable aspects of female body through different critical sources and poems of young Indian – born Canadian poet, Rupi Kaur. The interpretations imply how female body was and is still perceived in the twenty-first century and that “learning to be a woman in any patriarchal culture has many painful aspects” (Laws 208). In the centre of Kaur’s poems is a woman with whom contemporary women can easily identify, a woman who deals with taboo of menstruation, a woman who tries to accept her female body as it was created in spite of the pressure of the world which still attempts to persuade her of hairless, smooth image of the feminine body. There is an evidence how rape and abuse which still go on in this world, can affect women’s health and self-perception (Wolf 138) and how menstruation, which is such natural biological process, is still looked at with secrecy and shame. Rupi Kaur in milk and honey determines the direction of the poems where she explores themes of sexual abuse, survival, loss, trauma, healing, femininity and what it means to be a woman in this day and age and she is not afraid to speak openly about the most controversial 7 subjects of female body; menstruation, oppression, abuse, vagina. Besides, she tries to refine her definition of what it means to be a woman in this society, “we are all born / so beautiful / the greatest tragedy is / being convinced we are not” (183). Furthermore, Kaur draws par- allels between the beauty of nature and the biology of the female body. In modern society female genitalia is over sexualized or labelled “distasteful” whenever it is not being used for pleasure. The biology of a woman's body is heard when used such pleasure otherwise it should be left mentioned. No matter the look, shape, size, colour of body parts; it is natural, human and undoubtedly beautiful. The pure realness is what makes it so alluring, not what society has done to pluck (“Anatomy”). Kaur also argues that women are under the pressure of social norms which intent to form unacceptably restrictive construction of the feminine woman; “my issue with what they consider beauty / is their concept of beauty / centers around excluding people” (170). Besides, these norms “powerfully endorse the assumption that a woman's body is unacceptable if unaltered” (Toerien and Wilkinson 333). Yet, Rupi Kaur declares that being a woman makes her feel complete in her feminine skin. She accepts her stretch marks as natural part of her human being. They look human and normal. She celebrates the natural beauty of being a woman and disagrees with any societal constructs about how women ought to behave, dress and groom themselves: “i find hair beautiful / when a woman wears it / like a garden on her skin/ that is a definition of beauty…” (170). Furthermore, Sophie Laws also claims that women develop their own attitudes towards their body within a culture, within families, with certain pressures upon them (Laws 1) and that notions of what is 'natural' are very variable, and attitudes to bodies generally change enormously across different cultures (20). However, the primary focus in this thesis is to explore mostly negative socio-cultural perception of the most controversial taboos of female body; menstruation, vagina and hair- less female body. Rupi Kaur as a modern literary representative of feminism helps women 8 to understand how beautiful their body is no matter what the world is trying to tell them. 1. Rupi Kaur 1.1 Rupi Kaur: Instapoet Rupi Kaur is a # 1 New York times bestselling author and illustrator of two collections of poetry (“About”). She started drawing when she was five when her mother handed her a paintbrush and said to draw her heart out. Rupi Kaur views her life as an exploration of that artistic journey. Through her poetry and illustration she engages with love, loss, trauma, healing, and femi- ninity. For Kaur writing has always been a collective experience, a form of release that quickly began resonating with those around her. Kaur pursued her love for language by stud- ying rhetoric at the university of Waterloo. Her labour of love milk and honey quickly be- came a New York times best seller. She has since brought her performative poetry to stages across the world. Kaur’s passion is expression and that expression is taking many forms. Her photography and art direction are warmly embraced and

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