As a woman, I own 85 tops, 20 pairs of pants, 21 pairs of shorts, and 30 pairs of underwear. For every pair of pants I decide to wear, there is a designated style of underwear that’s expected to be worn. But who made this rule? No one warned me of the importance of my underwear decision. When did it become a decision; to thong or not to thong? A man’s influence on a woman’s inner monologue creates an experience that a man may never comprehend.
Societies of past and present have forced objectification into the feminine experience for hundreds of years with standards and rules set by men to please men. A father’s impact and a mother’s worry from her own experiences shape this anxiety of “what if.” Gas stations, busy crowds, & parks are communal spaces where men roam free and a woman can be shackled by fear. Here, a man has the comfort of freedom only a woman can understand. The fear of expressing our femininity is a result of the probability of a man’s lewd comment, leaving her to feel she’s nothing but a body made for man’s enjoyment.
Silver gelatin print, 4×5 film, 2023
Madeline Schneider 