They take your body for their benefit, then blame you for having one.
It’s the classic double-bind.
Two different but intertwined violences:
The instrumental use of women’s bodies:
—where the image of the feminine is taken, fragmented, consumed
—stripped of voice, of subjectivity
—turned into a tool to attract eyes, attention, profit.
The social punishment when women appear in their own bodies:
—credibility disappears the moment the body becomes visible
—professionalism is measured in distance from the feminine
—dignity requires erasing what patriarchy itself eroticized.
Underneath both is fear.
Fear of a power that is not controlled through hierarchy.
Fear of presence that is not mediated by institutions.
Fear of a truth that is embodied, sensual, intuitive, and therefore uncontrollable.
The feminine is punished not because it is weak, but because it is dangerously alive.
Society trains us to believe:
skills come from the mind
authority wears a suit
seriousness is neutral (but the neutral is male).
So when a woman shows up with wholeness, intellect and body, sharpness and softness, she is dragged down into stereotypes that were invented to contain her.
What is truly “unprofessional” is not the body.
It is the system that cannot tolerate the feminine in its full expression.
Let’s all call this out! Because credibility should never depend on disappearing.
And, I do not know anything better than Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman. Make yourself a favour watch it!
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