I'm a woman and I have vagina

Our vagina is unique to us. It is special.

Equally special are our breasts, nipples, uterus, ovaries, and cervix. They were awarded to us by God when He decided that we were to be born a female into this world.

Alongside our female body parts, we were also blessed to be born with a beating heart and a working brain, complementing our other organs, and making us human.

As women, we have a special relationship with our bodies. This relationship is about learning, exploring, understanding and accepting our bodies.

Unfortunately, in a country like Malaysia where female anatomy and sexuality are often oppressed, restricted, and made subject to the forces of social control and regulation, having such a relationship is not easy.

In Malaysia, not only women are made to conform to family, society, and community expectations, but our bodies are made to represent the honour of everyone else but ourselves.

We are often attacked based on our attire simply because it brings unnecessary gazes to our body and does not resonate with the “Malaysian culture” - our personal choice and preference matter not.

Our bodies are glorified as bearers of the family name, and protected - yet at the same time, bodies of young girls end up being easily disposed of in child marriages, legalised under our country's law.

We see religious police threatening our freedom of sexuality, projecting personal freedom over our own body as shameful, sinful, and disgusting - while at the same time celebrating polygamous men by legalising their lustful affairs.

And today, as we continue to liberate ourselves from the social constructs which restrict our personal freedom, we learn that we cannot even create art to symbolise our womanhood.

When did vulva become obscene?

Recently, a 25-year-old woman named Amira Nur Afikah Agus was charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court for creating an artwork of a woman’s vulva in comparison to a flower and uploading it on her Twitter account.

A vulva is the part of the female genitals including the labia, clitoris, and vaginal opening.

The artwork was produced in support of a female hygiene products brand and its campaign “Know Your V” which was launched in 2021.

The brilliant campaign which was meant to educate Malaysian women about personal care and to remove the stigma attached to vulva was instead labelled as undermining the dignity of women, degrading women, and violating the norms of decency in Malaysian society.

The attack to bring down the campaign was first brought forward by Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia’s Muslim Women's Council. PAS-led Yadim is a government-linked organisation set up to promote Islam.

Amira was charged under Section 233 (1) (a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 199 for “knowingly making and initiating the transmission of obscene communication, namely pornographic pictures, with the intention of offending others”.

As a woman who is proud of her femininity, it is exceedingly difficult for me to understand why artwork of female genitalia needs to be treated as something obscene, vexatious, and fearful.

We live in a country where, despite women making up almost half of its population, we have male policymakers sitting in Parliament, freely making sexist and crude remarks about female bodies without ever being reprimanded for it.

But when a young woman proudly shares an artwork of her womanhood on social media, suddenly, our government gets alarmed and decides to waste taxpayers’ money to charge that innocent young woman.

It is ridiculous to note that our government is only growing a pair for such petty issues.

Why doesn’t the government grow a pair to use its power on more important things that affect women such as violence and abuse?

Let us embrace femininity our own way

There are many websites with interesting reading materials that share photos, graphical illustrations and artworks of female anatomy which are open to public viewing - what makes Amira’s artwork any different from those contents?

If I post a picture of a half-cut cantaloupe (Google it) on my social media to celebrate my womanhood – will that offend the government too?

What if the empowered, liberated female population of Malaysia decides on uploading artworks of their choice to embrace their female genitalia - will the government charge every one of us for being a proud woman?

We now live in the year 2022 where a woman may choose to get a Brazilian wax, tattoo or even pierce her labia if she chooses to. We do not need anyone’s permission or validation when it comes to our bodies.

It is time for us, the liberated women of Malaysia, to send a strong message to our family, our community, and our government that our body, our sexuality, and our freedom is ours and ours alone.

Let us reclaim our rights. Let us celebrate our womanhood.

And let's keep the government out of our vagina. - Mkini

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FA ABDUL is a multi-award-winning playwright and director in the local performing arts scene, a published author, a television scriptwriter, a media trainer and a mother. Her ultimate mission in life is to live out of a small suitcase.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.