Not quite sure where your cervix is? These knickers might help.
British art student Eleanor Beth Haswell has created a pair of pants emblazoned with an image of the full female reproductive system. The image is positioned so that basically, if you have a vagina, a cervix, ovaries, a uterus and fallopian tubes, you'd be showing the world (or at least the part of it that gets to see your knickers), what bit of you is where. The pants, along with a bra that depicts the nipples and milk ducts, are an art project called 'Why are you so afraid of your own anatomy?'
Haswell, who is a member of Clandestine Collective, a group of young women artists (she's just 18, which makes me even more impressed by her work), told Marie Claire that
This piece isn't being gender specific, suggesting that all women have this particular anatomy, it was a question on anyone who chooses to shame women, those who would find it acceptable to wear a bra that would almost look like a breast from a distance, but be relieved at the thought of a woman being covered up. Those who think there is a major difference between the acceptance of a man's chest to a woman's. And to those who are happier for one gender to do what they want, be with who they want and show what they want over another.
Some might think that these internal organs really should be left to the imagination (or at least to your gynecologist). But I love these pants. They look like a celebration of what's going on inside most of us, a part of the anatomy that is often demonized or treated as icky and weird.
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pic courtesy of Eleanor Beth HaswellWhile the image might be graphic, it's kind of pretty - like Georgia O'Keefe flower paintings (which, yeah, did tend to look like genitalia themselves). And as for the bra, Haswell is right - it does raise the question of why it's okay for men to show some bits of their bodies that women are expected to cover up.
It seems that lots of women agree with me on the knickers - one commenter declared that "‘My boyfriend could use it as a road map". But alas, we won't be able to buy our own pair of helpful pants just yet - Haswell told the Independent that "there's been a lot of people requesting for me to sell them, but my intentions weren't to market the underwear. I'm pleased that they have received this much attention"
So would you wear a pair of pants that show just where your vagina is? Or would you rather not show the world what lies beneath?
