The Female Eunuch Read Online Free PDF Page B

grandmother begging my mother to corset me, because she found my teenage ungainliness unattractive, and was afraid that my back was not strong enough to maintain my height by itself. If I had been corsetted at thirteen, my rib-cage might have developed differently, and the downward pressure on my pelvis would have resulted in its widening. Nowadays, corsetting is frowned upon, but many women would not dream of casting away the girdle that offers support and tummy control . Even tights are tight, and can cause strange symptoms in the wearer. Typists’ slouch and shop-girl lounge have their own effect upon the posture and therefore upon the skeleton.
    Most people understand that the development of the limbs is af- fected by the exercise taken by the growing child. My mother dis- couraged us from emulating the famous girl swimmers of Australia by remarking on their massive shoulders and narrow hips, which she maintained came from their rigorous training. It is agreed that little girls should have a different physical education programme from little boys, but it is not admitted how much of the difference is counselled by the conviction that little girls should not look like little boys. The little girls look so pretty doing their eurhythmics,
    and the boys so manly when they chin themselves. 1 The same as-
    sumptions extend into our suppositions about male and female skeletons: a small-handed skeleton ought to be female, small feet are feminine too, but the fact remains that either sex may exhibit the disproportion.
    Medical students learn their anatomy from a male

    sample, except where they are explicitly dealing with the reproduct- ive functions. They learn that as a rule the female skeleton is lighter and smaller, and the bone formation more childlike than the male. This last is an observation which is frequently made about the whole female body, that it is infantilized or pedomorphic while the male body is aged, or gerontomorphic . This description, far from implying any defect in female development, implies an evolutionary advantage
    in greater elasticity and adaptability. We can assume nothing whatever about physical strength or mental ability from it. 2
    The difference between the childish type and the aged type must not be exaggerated: in fact there is a wide range of variation possible, without any hint of a functioning abnormality. Such categorization represents an effort to identify a tendency. In our search for distinc- tions to justify the inequalities in the male and female lot we have not only overstated the general difference but invented particular differences which do not exist, like the extra rib which is still widely believed to exist in women. It is assumed that the female pelvis, the seat of the most marked differentiation in the bone structure of the sexes, is quite different from the male. In fact the difference is one
    of comparative dimensions and angle of tilt: the basic design is common. 3 Well-bred sedentary women tend to have larger pelves
    than hard-working or poorly nourished women and in them the sexual difference is exaggerated by influences not connected with
    biological sex, but with the sociology of sex. 4 The prejudice that
    narrow pelves are inefficient in childbirth is unfounded; deformation in either direction will affect the efficiency of the mechanisms of the pelvis. Most people do not judge sex like archaeologists; when the actual sexual organs are hidden, the sex type is revealed by superfi- cial characteristics, but even curves take their toll of the patient un- seen bones, bearing them up, thrusting them out, wobbling and waggling them. Shall these bones live?

    Curves

    When the life of the party wants to express the idea of a pretty wo- man in mime, he undulates his two hands in the air and leers express- ively. The notion of a curve is so closely connected to sexual se- mantics that some people cannot resist sniggering at road signs. The most popular image of the female despite