Abstract:
In this thesis, I want to find out what women’s genital experiences are like. Situated in critical and feminist psychology, my research deploys a qualitative approach. I conducted semi-structured interviews and used thematic analysis. My analysis is based on a critical-realist framework and informed by Foucault’s model on disciplinary power. Through looking across a range of specific genital practices such as menstruation, pubic hair removal, sex and cervical screening, I report women’s genital experiences are to a great extent regulated and governed by a hegemonic construction of idealized and disembodied femininity. This construction is reinforced and reproduced through social influences from the media, interpersonal interactions and sexual interactions, and sustained through women’s self-policing. However, women also engage in embodied constructions of genital experiences, where they negotiate genital meanings across different contexts. Tensions between women’s material body and a socially inscribed body are also discussed in relation to the disembodiment and embodiment of female genitalia. In conclusion, women’s genital experiences are varied, socially produced and contextual.