the sacred vagina

At a recent debate about abortion in Michigan, two female republican representatives were banned from the State House for their use of the word vagina. In a debate about abortion. Some might call this the biggest what the fuck moment of the week. Why, in a debate about abortion, in which vaginas, one might argue, play an integral role, would this word be deemed inappropriate? I wonder if in a similar debate about the legitimacy of Viagra use (no such debate has occurred, given this benefits men, not women), if the word penis were used, would it be deemed as controversial? This made me think about the double standard surrounding the symbolism attached to male versus female genitalia. I have recently come to realize that there is a heightened level of gravitas attached to the vagina, especially when compared to the penis. For centuries (and arguably today), a women’s purity was intrinsically linked to how much her vagina had been exposed to others. The more use, the less pure, has been the standard belief. In recent years, in the post Sex and the City, post-Samantha western world, women have attempted to change this perspective, by claiming personal agency over their sexuality. Accordingly, in doing so, modern women have attempted to eliminate the idea of the sacred vagina that ought to not be tampered with, or used, outside of marriage.  As a self-proclaimed modern woman / feminist, I was all for this idea myself. Why should men be allowed to fuck around all they want with no sense of morality attached to exposure of their penises, whereas women were made to feel like whores if they decided they were sexual beings who happened to not be in a relationship because, oh wait, there are not throngs of available, wonderful, intelligent men begging and pleading on our doorsteps to be our boyfriends? However, I have recently realized that as much as I try to not think of vaginas as this sacred thing reserved only for those with whom you are in a relationship, there is a reason why women most often feel weird after one night stands, and why women tend to be the ones who do not have sex with multiple partners at the same time, and I think this is not just a result of centuries of cultural conditioning. BABIES COME OUT OF THERE! We are governed by our biological needs, and one of these needs is survival, which we achieve in a way through procreation. Thus, it makes sense that as women, we might feel “weird” or whatever, about just fucking anyone and not being certain about whether or not that person will call back the next day, or just reject us altogether for some other human girl. Our babies are at stake! Ok maybe not real babies, but like, all the hypothetical babies! I am so torn between wanting to be a liberated, 21^st century woman who is supposed to view sex as just sex, and love as love, while not necessarily conflating the two, and my very basic, biological desire to have a partner and regular source of sex that isn’t marred by an inner sense of instability and insecurity.  Point is, the vagina is sacred, and I disagree with the idea that in order for women to be empowered sexually that they need to disregard their basic biology and have sex like men, because in effect, that is another form of submission to patriarchal ideals.