Emma L. E. Rees Answers Our Questions About "The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History"

We asked author Emma L. E. Rees a few questions about her book, The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History, out now in hardcover.

Buy it here. 

Request an exam or desk copy here. 

Bloomsbury: Why write a serious book about The Vagina? What does it mean to you professionally? And personally?

Emma L. E. Rees: The vagina – not just as biological entity but as powerful cultural symbol – has become a hot topic in recent years. I owe an immense debt to Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues), of course, and although some aspects of her work come under fire in my book, I do acknowledge and respect her trailblazing bravery. We live in an age where pornography is more easily accessible than ever before and where, at the same time, it is utterly divorced from reality. Women face unprecedented physical and political attacks from legislators and spiritual leaders, as well as from men who quite simply hate women and girls. What struck me as I began to research the book was that the sometimes wilful misunderstandings of the vagina, and their resulting responses of fearful revulsion and hatred, were nothing new, but were in fact firmly rooted in deep-seated cultural assumptions. For example, in The Vagina, I draw pretty direct links between the sometimes brilliant satire of South Park and the explicit lyrics of 12^th-century itinerant European poet-musicians. I certainly never expected that to happen! I also demonstrate how the ancient myth of the vagina dentata (the ‘toothed vagina’) serves to justify some of the abhorrent practices being carried out against women, girls and transgendered people worldwide today. I’m pissed off by how powerful men cannot acknowledge the reality of the vagina, but instead want to control, demonise, or attack it. Being pissed off has always been a great motivator for me!

B: Describe the moment in which you realized you were writing a full length book about Vaginas?

ER: There’s a character in George Eliot’s Middlemarch called Casaubon – an awful, emotionally arid man – whose life’s work is a Key to All Mythologies. It’s – of course – a work he can never finish because of its vast scope. I set out with an unintentionally Casaubon-like aim: to write a history of all vaginas everywhere, ever. The total impossibility of that task very quickly dawned on me, of course, so, I tested the water by publishing a couple of vagina-related essays (on Shakespeare, and Charlotte Brontë). The responses were pretty positive and soon I began to see a clearer focus for a book. But it all started – as the book’s own narrative does – with an accidental visit to a remote parish church deep in the British countryside in the 1990s.*

*Explained in detail in Revealing the Vagina: Introduction

B: What was the most exhilarating aspect of your research for The Vagina?

ER: Realising that it was a book that could reach people; that could lead to activism beyond academia; realising that the zeitgeist was on my side – as senators debate women’s bodies and reproductive rights and as activists who reclaim the word ‘Pussy’ become the suffragettes of the 21^st century; and realising that I might be able to educate people and get them to look – really look – (metaphorically or – of course – literally) at the vagina and think about it in new, positive ways. 

B: What was the best reaction a friend or colleague had to the news of the subject of your forthcoming book?

ER: There isn’t one that stands out, really. People have been generally very supportive. The students I teach have been intrigued and, ultimately, enlightened. Family members have been supportive but won’t really see what I’m trying to do in the book until they read it. I think it’s fun telling people about the book and its uncompromisingly clear title. Reactions vary and nearly always make me laugh – I’ve learned to maintain eye-contact and say ‘My book is called The Vagina’, and watch as they sometimes blush, or, not being at all sure that they can have heard me correctly, ask me to repeat myself. Most often, though, there will be a long, drawn-out ‘Riiiiight …’ followed by – in the UK, at least – a quick change of topic to the weather or last night’s TV.

B: Can you describe some of the images in the book? How did you choose them?

ER: Several of the images are details from Judy Chicago’s momentous art installation, The Dinner Party. Judy was very generous and supportive in terms of giving permission. I just think it’s really important to be able to direct your reader to a visual image instead of increasing the interpretive distance by attempting to describe it. This is the case with the wonderful Artemisia Gentileschi painting I include, of Judith slaying Holofernes: the picture says so much more than I can say about it, so I really wanted it in there. An Italian friend was invaluable in terms of helping me negotiate the minefield of Italian bureaucracy in order to secure permission to use it. I only met official resistance in trying to get hold of two images which in the end I had to drop: one, a Frida Kahlo painting, is in the private collection of a globally-famous singer whose publicist tried to help out, but who ultimately couldn’t; the other was a painting by an artist best known for her large canvases which are, according to the Foundation and Museum who refused to give me permission to reproduce them in the book, of flowers – just flowers – and have no genital imagery in them at all. I just don’t buy that, and it’s a shame they’re not in the finished product.  I do think the book’s title and subject-matter scared some people off granting image reproduction permissions – but that just serves to underscore why there’s an urgent need for this very book!

B: What inspired you during the writing process? Any particular place, person, book or album?

ER: As with so much of what I do, I tend to write in an ‘all or nothing’ kind of way. Gladstone’s Library (a residential library in North Wales) was instrumental in getting the book finished. There, everything’s taken care of, and I can write flat out for, perhaps, 12 or more hours a day. Solidly. It’s a luxury that everyday life doesn’t afford. I have to work in silence, and am most productive on days when I’m not lecturing, when I can sit and read and write in the quiet of my home, preferably looking out at the garden, surrounded by my cats and dog. Walking Mitzvah, our Golden Retriever, is also a wonderful way to relax and to ponder the day’s work: her boundless joie de vivre takes me out of myself. Writing can be a pretty blissful existence. That sounds trite, I know, but my maternal grandmother was in service (she was a maid in a big house, very Downton Abbey style) and my paternal grandfather was almost killed in the Welsh coal pits (he trained as a teacher once he realised being a miner wasn’t for him), so I have little time for people who say that writing’s hard. It can be difficult and frustrating and all-consuming, but it’s not hard like working in a mine or lighting fires at 6am on a bitterly cold winter’s morning is hard. On a lighter note, watching DVD box sets with my husband is a perfect way to stop work: we’re just about to start Season 4 of Breaking Bad.

B: What are three incredible things you learned while writing this book?

ER: Two positive ones, and a negative. The first is a fact that’s always fascinated me, and that I could think more about for the book: it’s the idea of the reach of ideas. Anthropologically-speaking, before lines of communication were open between cultures, before any possibility of, if you like, intellectual contamination, very, very different and geographically isolated communities were coming up with their own stories about the vagina dentata. This suggests a remarkable pervasiveness of an almost primal misogyny and fear.

The second is that without language we cannot have meaning – a key plea in my book is to find a name for the unnameable. In other words, what does it mean that, in English-speaking culture, the single most abhorrent and taboo word is also the only accurate word for describing a woman’s sexual organs? Why is the ‘c-word’ not seen?

A third, more negative thing that has struck me is that there are an awful lot of people out there who are determined to be upset or affronted by this book without having read a page. And these haters, trolls and misogynists, who prowl the internet looking to make mischief, hurt feelings and cause emotional pain, are precisely the sort of people who make me confident that the time is right for The Vagina. The incredible fact is that for every lowlife hater there are many, many supporters. The lesson really is not to read the comments posted on articles online!

B: Why should people without vaginas read this book?

ER: Because they most likely know – and may even respect – some people with vaginas! Because they never previously realised how South Park or Sex and the City make important interventions into debates around the cultural centrality and paradox of the vagina. Because to be squeamish about the reality of women’s bodies is a ridiculous philosophical illogicality. And because not challenging one’s own prejudices perpetuates petty small-mindedness and conflict. In other words, why the hell shouldn’t they read it?!

B: What’s next? What comes after vaginas?

ER: The first and last words of The Vagina are the same – I’m not going to put a spoiler here, but the gist is that, in my writing, topics seem to find me, rather than me finding them. The next book is, to my mind, an entirely logical development from The Vagina, but to other people it will almost certainly look like a thematic departure. I’m not ready to share my thoughts and plans about it yet, but it’s safe to say that no other body parts are going to feature in quite the same way as they do in The Vagina!

Comments

[Maryann P.]

Amazing cover! So eye catching. Can’t wait to read it.

[バッグ?ブランド]

女性人夢中前述デザイナー バッグ通常が好きです良い生活。インターネットすることができます必要最高のお得な情報ときそれで来る卸し売りハンドバッグ、ハンドバッグ。

[財布 ブランド レディース]

取得を導入していますを言うとき私に、について利便性をできないビートします。コーチ バッグが重いために、高級ハードウェアと単に使用される革。

[レディース]

割合提供される項目に向かってデザイナー ハンドバッグ意味がありますストリーム並ぶ欠陥。コーチ寝袋またべきであるオンライン品質内。むしろ私はしようとすると直接あなたフォーカスプロフェッショナルに向けてセールス ポイントデザイナーの攪拌ハンドバッグ。彼らが必要に役立つ知っている場所彼らを使用することができますこれらすべてバッグ。

[トリーバーチカードケース]

別の要因誰かのようでしたするために本当に考慮はが見えます。事前に愛され贅沢として作成者ハンドバッグをしみ出させるすべて、と資質プライバシー。我々はについて知っているどのような方法でを販売すると組み合わせるプロジェクトあなた製品で、承継テキスト。現時点で女性ピック昇順ハンドバッグに持ち上げる彼女のルックス。

[ケース]

あなた間違いなくしないする投資あなたヶ月貯蓄に、ユニークなバッグ。購入デザイナー バッグ卸売は事実上芸術独自に！ではないのでもう、奇数という事実のため彼らになっているの一部ファッション有名な。ホーボー ハンドバッグ： デザイナー ホーボー ハンドバッグは中型の広々 としたバッグです。従来の紙すべての葉ほとんど偽物で終わる紙のすべて以上、ハードウェアをシールドそれ。見つけることができますそれで、ショップ内あなた地区。

[財布?ブランド]

絶対にすべての女性ビジョン所有するオーダーメイドハンドバッグ ！多数があるオンラインのウェブサイト動作する排他的を販売する2 番目の手使用傾向項目。ことができます今誇示スタイリッシュなバックパックにいつでもあらゆる機会。女性は卸売購入するお金のための最高の値のバッグ追加情報実用的な理由同様。

[ブランド財布]

あなたは多くの場所どこあなた可能性があること店、安いエルメスゴルフ バッグ。再利用可能な袋:への対応以上一般懸念。

[クロエ ポーチ]

彼らが必要に役立つ知っている場所人を使用することができます、バッグ。それする必要がありますオンラインショップことお見せフルレンジを含むバッグ。

[Www.affiliatexplorer.com]

Wonderful, what a weblog it is! This web site provides valuable facts to us, keep it up.

[カルティエ（ジュエリー?小物類）]

同様ののレプリカすべて、ブランドあなたははおそらくの考える.アクセサリーは、多くの場合に比べ実際のデザイナー バッグが我々 は脱線します。Cravats の出演可能性がありますでは珍しい今日の世界。バイヤーは購入彼らの袋大抵基づくに彼ら増加と独自性の。

[celine バッグ 【新着】]

見つける共有するユニークな財布ショッピング過去の経験のような非反対!取得は完全にrepleatは銀の宝物トーン ハードウェア。

[UGGクラシックショートブーツ]

私は取得彼ら冬層このような上ターゲット、はかなりの数年前します。約 9他1 0アラートが正しい。Yes の場合、しあなたの良い狩りを停止内部、モンクレール。確かではないのみを行う彼ら可能性がありますもより多くの色を持ってはおそらくよりファッショナブルな内部スタイル。

[キーリング?ストラップ]

いくつかデザインといくつか続けるのも洗練された品質。ことができます今表示スタイリッシュなハンドバッグにいつでもあらゆる機会。

[キッズUGGブーツ ベイリーボタン]

彼らのコレクションは、陰から参照とさらにサイズとエリアお好み。モンクレールのジャケットは一度に積極的に取得準備ができてリスト。

[コーチ ポーチ]

おそらくあなたは開始お金を節約無数の年間を見つける理想的な高級ハンドバッグ。バーバリー ハンドバッグは、プリンシパル高の方法。

[UGG アグ 耳あて]

ナイキ ダンク良い女性ポルカ表示ピンク ブラック開発与えられた本当に可能性がありますホット。だから個人を常に維持あなたの頭回転すべて、瞬間。

[エルメス バーキン]

これこの時点であなたは援助を必要とするのハンドバッグの小売業者。ことができますすべての時間から選択長いの一覧グッチハンドバッグやプラダ ハンドバッグ。

[アクセサリー]

起源は私たち自身のあなたを参照してください、カフタンは時々に縛らチベットMinorand メソポタミア。今日女性ピック右上ハンドバッグに持ち上げる彼女のルックス。特定写真提供によって小売ウェブサイトのページ伝えることができますすべて。それは驚きそのデザイナーハンドバッグは高い人気項目。

[アクセサリー]

装飾タッセルやスキニー調節可能なストラップを永続させる1 つの特定バッグのレトロなテーマ。表示のほとんど、最も単純ながを最もユニークなテンプレートとスタイルあなたが。イギリスメーカー浮上してで1990 年代で長いノルムアーティストの職人。メーカーハンドバッグ アウトレットレストランは、しばしば珍しい。

[ルイ ヴィトン 最新作！]

I以来頻繁に見つける自分自身の疑問、なぜデザイナー ラベルハンドバッグはちょうど非常に高価。まだ普通の人々することはできませんこの余裕がない財政的なコミットメント。、イブ バッグは、非常に、人気のあるお気に入りリッツ バッグ コレクションから。たい高級、ファッション、シャンパン、キャビア等。

[その他]

厥別支援これら改装製品を運ぶ。ピンクのガイド _Drive: 、衝撃的な何が現実ものについて動機Us_。

[シャネル ネイル]

ピンクのガイド _Drive:、衝撃的な避けられない事実ものについてドライブUs_。過去ロシア語の単語この衣服はから生じるペルシャword。

[小物?カードケース]

確かに訪れることができます、れんがとモルタル店発見高価格のブランド名ハンドバッグ。購入販売これらの偽造バッグはまた違法。

[エアジョーダン6]

彼ら許可様々 なに接続されているとしてサイズ罰金色として。彼条件エンベロープマイケル ・ ジョーダンになっているMVP と"最大今まで"。