Jessica Wynn

I looked at old encyclopedias, books I was absolutely too young to be reading, and movies that I probably should have had a permission slip for.

And before anyone could shame me, though, I was like squatting over a mirror in my bedroom, checking it all out.

Like, all right, let's see what's going on here.

But I think it was healthy.

And I think that's probably rare.

But there are entire generations of women who have gone their whole lives without ever looking at their own vulva.

And that's not accidental.

So historically, women were kept ignorant on purpose.

So from Roman times through 16th century Christian Europe, the female body was tied to sin.

And then later, Victorian era medicine treated female sexuality as a disorder.

And shame was used as control and eventually to sell feminine products.

So extreme sexual repression continued into the 20th century.

But the late 20th century finally cracked the door open on talking about female reproductive health.

And the 21st century keeps pushing it, right?

So there's things like the vagina monologues and nonstop political fights over women's bodies that have become mainstream.

But there's this centuries-long taboo we're still shaking off.

Yeah, Jordan, whatever you're into.

We're not shaming here.

But yeah, not that long ago, there were modesty laws, corsets and this whole chastity culture.

So women were literally shackled.