Reclaim Womanhood: Prepuberty through Menopause

Knowing your body 

How well do you really know your body when it comes to being a woman?

Have you looked at your own vulva and labia? Evaluated your ovulation? What about witnessing a birth? Or had you been taught about birth and breastfeeding prior to pregnancy?

Why as women are we not taught about how our body was made to work? Why are we discouraged to understand what’s going on “down there”?

Supposedly we are “progressive” women, but it seems we are only “progressive” when it comes to the request for pleasure and free sex—not actually embracing what womanhood completely encompasses.

We are so disconnected from how our body was made, but it was made intentionally and with purpose. Nothing was made from shame. We were made with confidence. So, why are we told to be embarrassed?

I don’t think it has always been this way. I think women used to pass this information down to one another—they’d prepare daughters for what was to come with their changing bodies through their life. They’d pass down wisdom about their cycles, sex, pregnancy and preparing for it, taking care of their bodies, birth, and breastfeeding.

Let’s think back to Biblical days. “Professionals” were not as available. Women were interconnected—they had each other’s back. They would empower and encourage one another in their womanhood.

But now, for so long, we’ve outsourced that information. Parents have expected school systems to educate on these things making it more embarrassing and less empowering. Girls would feel shame over seeing how things happened. Periods were often a source of awkwardness. Birth videos were shown as a use of hopeful birth control instead of showing the power that the female body is capable of.

We shifted away from confident conversations between women to uncomfortable environments where conversations were dutifully had. No wonder girls have felt shame in how they are created—in how their body works. No wonder girls have never felt like they can ask important questions so they can feel secure in their womanhood.

It’s time we changed things. It’s time we sit down with ourselves and our girls and allow all us women to feel as confident in our creation as our Creator is!