Book Report #130 - Vagina: A Biography

Vagina: A Biography by Naomi Wolf

I saw Ms. Wolf introduce this book on The Colbert Report, and I was excited. Here's a book by a Rhodes Scholar that will finally tell all about this amazing body part and inspire women, and in turn men, everywhere! This is our chance to collectively heal and celebrate the feminine spirit!

Uh, no. Wolf sets forth the argument that the vagina is a highly sensitive and complex body part, intimately connected with a woman's consciousness, that when harmed causes horrible damage to her psyche and leaves her depressed and listless. Furthermore, she argues that over the course of human history females have been raped and abused through their vaginas in order to destroy their spirits. She also makes a case that it is important for a woman to have a healthy sexual appetite and enjoy sex in a particular way--not the way society tends to project, but in a kind and loving way. This is essential for a woman to experience transcendental sex and to be fully satisfied sexually. She gives biological evidence for this last claim.

Actually, everything I've said so far about her arguments is fine. I don't have a problem with it. It's the way she makes these arguments that bothers me and made me abandon the book. There's horribly obvious confirmation bias going on. She makes sweeping claims about how the vagina has been perceived throughout history, with minimal examples. She wraps way too much of her alleged research in sentimentality.

Frankly, I think she went too far in her arguments. If she'd scaled back and said there was a tendency for women to grow despondent after sexual abuse because their pelvic nerve was harmed, I could accept that. But she said this is true of all women who have been sexually abused. That's simply not the case. I can present evidence to the contrary right now.

Also, the healing process of the sexual nerve is not exactly essential to the healing of the women's consciousness, at least the way she presented it. Women don't necessarily need vaginal massage to heal their pelvic nerves of sexual trauma. Sometimes they can heal their consciousness directly through methods like spirituality and that heals the body. Sometimes they can heal their relationship that was the source of the trauma and that heals the consciousness which in turn heals the body. There are many possibilities here, which Wolf does not explore.

Furthermore, it's just not true that women need to have sex to be happy. I know many nuns who live rich, happy lives. They are clear in a way that sexually active people are not. I'm not saying being sexually active is bad. I'm just saying there are many ways to approach life, and for women the vagina is not the only way to a satisfying and transcendental experience.

Also, her celebration of the Tantric masters who do vaginal massage concerns me. I have been a Buddhist for awhile, and I've been told that Tantra is only for very serious practitioners who are at a certain level in their practice. Many gurus have told me that it is flat out dangerous for unqualified people to practice it.

General consensus: Essentially a glorified, indulgent, biased grad thesis.
But don't get me wrong--I'm not equivocating the book with the writer. Wolf is brilliant and her motivation here is beautiful. It's just that I have to say she missed the mark.