Convenors
Federica Manfredi, University of Torino
federica.manfredi@unito.it
Raffaella Ferrero Camoletto, University of Torino
raffaella.ferrerocamoletto@unito.it
Women’s sexuality, and the bodily representations and practices experienced, have known relevant changes since the second half of the XX century, in the direction of an increased acknowledgment of women’s sexual subjectivities (Bertone et al., 2011).
Notwithstanding this change of cultural scenario, apart from pornography, where vulvas are hyper-exposed in idealized shapes, sizes and colors (Schick et al., 2010), contemporary Western cultures lack unmoral visual and linguistic tools for addressing vulvas and promoting self-monitoring. The terms «vulva» and «vagina» are often used interchangeably, reflecting a cultural impoverishment when it comes to discussions beyond phallocentrism and the «male in the head» perspective (Holland et al., 1997). As evidenced by socio-anthropological literature on vulvodynia and endometriosis, vulvas are still often excluded from public debate or health education (Manfredi, 2024): unhealthy and painful vulvas remain systematically invisibilized and silenced, save for dissident groups of patients and activists seeking political recognition (Buonaguidi, Perin, 2023; Ferritti, 2023). However, vulvar pain affects one in seven women, profoundly impacting gender identity due to the inability to engage in penetrative intercourses (Kaler, 2006).
Vulvas, like all body parts, are culturally constructed and laden with codes of conduct, visibility, and social meanings. Understanding bodies as open sites of constructions (Orbach, 2009) and neoliberal devices of individual engagement toward social competitiveness (Jarrin, Pussetti, 2021), this panel proposes a critical discussion of vulvas and their associated capitals (Bourdieu, 1979) in social spaces. What meanings are attributed to female genitals? What ideals of perfection shape their performativity? What emotional codes and gendered scripts are expected to be displayed, when and by whom?
This panel actively calls for a multidisciplinary dialogue where ethnographic contributions can interact with creative projects designed by activists and artists. The aim is to facilitate a multisensory conversation and to develop new vocabularies to address the (lacking) culture around vulvas and their social performances.
The panel will collect theoretical, empirical or art-based contributions, coming from different disciplinary perspectives, addressing the intersection of gender, sexuality and pain concerning female genitals.
Some possible topics to be developed are the following:
- the connection between chronic pain and gender/sexual performances;
- the ambivalence of medicalization of vulvar pain;
- the role of patient activism and support groups;
- practices of resistance to invisibilization;
- representations of intersex bodies.
Open questions
- Is it possible to ethnographically explore a subject characterized by cultural scarcity and invisibilization?
- How can vulvas be ethically investigated, and by whom?
- How do vulvas as a subject intervene in social scenes, gender performances, poietic processes, and political discourses?
Keywords
vulva; performativity; body; sexuality; health; gender.
Sub-disciplines or cross-disciplinary areas of concern
sexual studies; medical anthropology/sociology; body studies; visual arts; performative arts; citizen science; political ARTivism.
References
Bertone, C., Ferrero Camoletto, R., Torrioni, P. M.
2011 «Sessualità femminile, tra nuovi desideri e nuovi confini», in Polis, 25, 3, pp. 363-392.
Bourdieu, P.
1979 La distinction: Critique sociale du jugement. Paris: Minuit
Buonaguidi, A., Perin, C.
2023 «Resisting but embracing fragility: exploring prominent themes emerging from online feminist activists and advocates’ posts addressing conditions characterized by chronic pelvic pain on Instagram», in About Gender 12, pp. 140-180.
Ferritti, V.
2023 «Vulvodinia tra invisibilità e invisibilizzazione.: La tortuosa strada per il riconoscimento», in AG About Gender-International Journal of Gender Studies, 12, 23, pp. 397-418.
Jarrin, A., Pussetti, C.
2021 Remaking the Human. Cosmetic Technologies of Body Repair, Reshaping and Replacement. New York, Berghanhn Books.
Holland, J., Ramazanoglu C., Sharpe S., Thompson R.
1996 The Male in the Head: Young People, Heterosexuality and Power. London, Tufnell Press.
Kaler, A.
2006 «Unreal Women: Sex, Gender, Identity and the Lived Experience of Vulvar Pain», in Feminist Review, 82, pp. 50-75.
Manfredi, F.
2004 «The neglected reflections of vulvar pain», in Visual Ethnography. VXIII n1, pp.101-125.
Orbach, S.
2009 Bodies. London: Profile.
Schick, V., Rima, B., Calabrese, S.
2010 «Evulvalution: The portrayal of woman’s external genitalia and physique across time and the current Barbie doll ideals», in Journal of Sex Research, 47, pp. 1-9.
Convenors’ bios
Federica Manfredi completed her PhD degree in Medical Anthropology at the Institute of Social Sciences – University of Lisbon (2022), working on extreme body modifications and experimental qualitative methodologies. Member of the project Excel-The Pursuit of Excellence, she provided outreaching activities with the workshop series The Hacked Barbie, and she co-organized the art exhibition “Be F**King Perfect” (Lisbon, 2022). Today she is researcher at the University of Torino exploring the stigma of vulvar pain conditions and developing multi-sensory approaches for the restitution of scientific data to the public.
Raffaella Ferrero Camoletto is Associate Professor of Sociology of Culture at the Department of Cultures, Politics and Society of the University of Turin. She worked on two main ones topics: body, gender and space in emerging urban sports, and critical perspectives on masculinity and (hetero)sexuality, with a specific focus on the social impact of sexuopharmaceuticals such as Viagra.