It seems that certain bodies are characterised by pain at every biological phase.
Dysmenorrhoea. Mastalgia. Mittelschmerz.
And all the myriad of pains during a successful pregnancy, and the extra pains of a difficult or unsuccessful one. Menopause.
This is traumatic and conflicting. We want to avoid pain, but when the bodily processes we need, and sometimes want, to occur are accompanied by it, how can we reconcile the ‘natural’ suffering we feel? Not to mention the additional discomfort of having to manage the pain privately or quietly in public.
Through all this pain, we’d be better served to love our bodies. And yet we often feel (and are made to feel) ashamed of it, disgusted by it, or detached from it.
What’s a girl to do?
Adekunmi Olatunji 