The Female Body as Abject: Women's bodily functions as 'Goth-ick' Horror by Alice Briselden - Waters
As a female owned and female run company there is the presumption that we are a ‘female only’ brand in terms of our offering and events which is very much not the case but with this month's campaign being “Ghosted” we wanted to front and centre “The Female Body” as part of this.
We use October to shine a light on topics that we feel are overshadowed, misunderstood, or unheard. When planning this campaign, several topics that personally affect the SLC team came up whether that was PMDD, menstruation, invisible illnesses, the patriarchy, shame, fertility, the male gaze... the discussion about this topic became vast. With this month being Menopause Awareness Month also the timing couldn't be more divine (feminine!).
Within this theme we wanted to highlight one of the team, Alice Brisleden - Waters. Alice is a powerful and inspirational force, who believes in alchemising one's deepest pain and hardest traumas. She is a writer who cares little for convention yet likes to analyse pop culture with a lens of making the unconscious conscious. Here to change what it means to be a woman who has suffered and to help others do the same.
WORDS FROM ALICE
In Gothic literature, the abject refers to something cast off or out of belonging—something ominous, symbolic of the collective unconscious, a place we would rather not go, something we as humans would rather deny exists. It evokes disgust, loathing, fear, or repulsion, often irrationally.
This feeling mirrors today’s cultural obsession with “the ick.” However, instead of being triggered by something superficial, like the unseemly trainers your new boyfriend insists on wearing to meet your friends for the first time, it reflects a much deeper discomfort. A ‘Goth-ick,’ if you will—a more primal and animalistic aversion, triggered by the unease of witnessing unsanitised, uncensored bodily functions. Think of blood, vomit, mucus—any bodily fluid or function that deeply unsettles us. These fluids repulse us even more when they belong not to ourselves, but to The Other.
What could be more horrifying than the fact that women were excluded from medical trials until 1993? This has skewed the benefits and side effects of medications in favor of the male body to this day. The rationale behind this exclusion was that the body of a menstruating woman was deemed too complex due to fluctuating hormones. Paired with the assumption that women were just "smaller men," medical doses were adjusted based on size rather than biological differences.
The female body has historically been feared—by men, by medical practice, and by the patriarchy—and has often become the subject of the abject in Gothic literature. Dr. Frankenstein famously becomes terrified of the natural process of childbirth. It is true that women’s bodies naturally experience more functions and fluids than men but this is not to be feared.
Many women still don’t know that the menstrual cycle involves more than just the days of bleeding; it includes three other distinct hormonal phases: the follicular, ovulation, luteal, and menstrual phases. The menstrual cycle is considered the fifth vital sign for women and menstruating people, alongside body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure. The bleed itself is an additional pathway for detoxification, yet how often are we asked about our cycle when we visit the Doctor? We might have to ask ourselves if the real name of our GP is infact Dr. Victor Frankenstein...
This brings up immense rage and grief for me—the realisation that we live in a culture that disconnects women from their bodies before they are adolescent, that my mother didn’t have this empowering knowledge to pass down to me because it was outcast, hidden, stolen by men's fear. Women's bodies and their functions became the abject, even to ourselves. But this internalised misogyny is not stronger than our inherent bodily wisdom. I truly believe the body knows how to heal itself when given the right conditions. After being diagnosed with a chronic illness at 25, I learned that the way back to health was to listen deeply to my body’s suffering, illness, and symptoms, rather than fear the ways it appeared to be malfunctioning. This approach led me back from the brink of severe anxiety and fear of death to a fulfilling, deep life where I challenge the status quo that says the only solution is to suppress our body’s functions.
We live in a culture that stigmatises what should be seen as a beautiful rite of passage. Our menstrual cycles are treated as inconvenient, painful, and even hated by those who have them. It breaks my heart to know that something so pure and essential is viewed as something to hide, ignore, or suppress. What’s truly inconvenient: bleeding for up to seven days, or living in a society that diminishes the power of this time and makes no accommodations for the most natural and necessary processes of life, leading to illness, hormonal imbalances, and fertility issues?
Once upon a time, women had agency over their bodies. They were even seen as lusty, insatiable animals—a stereotype now more often associated with men. I say this to note that cultural conditioning can change.
Women’s connection to nature, the moon, plants and herbs, and the natural seasons was embedded in our nervous systems before this knowledge was traumatised out of us by the creation of capitalism. When I meditate and am deeply embodied I can feel the collective grief of my body and my ancestors loss of deep connection to the earth.
The ruling bourgeois class realised they would lose their wealth and power if they couldn’t control the masses. Part of this system of control included the witch trials and the commodification of the female body as an incubator for the future labor force.
As Silvia Federici notes, women once held powerful knowledge—knowing which herbs could cure sickness or act as contraception. Unfortunately, this knowledge could lead to accusations of witchcraft, as it was seen as interfering with the "transition of capital" and the "natural order," or even as dancing with the devil. Perhaps the biggest metaphor of all for the abject.
It’s time to de-abjectify the body and bring women’s functions to the forefront. This will not only help women but also men, non-binary, and trans people. More research on women’s bodies and hormones can only benefit those who choose to transition, as we learn more about hormones and the impact of them on all bodies.
We must also adapt our lifestyles, so everything isn’t structured around the 24-hour male hormonal cycle, so we can witness and tend to our bodies in their rawness, their messiness and in real time. Flexible working hours, a four-day work week, universal basic income, better access to childcare—these things benefit everyone, not just women.
I speak openly about my cycle with both men and women, without shame, and I encourage every woman I meet to track their cycle so they know what they need based on where their hormones are. This can help stop the self-criticism we feel when, for example, we need to rest instead of working out on a particular day of our cycle.
It’s time to reclaim this knowledge and honor our bodies, not hide from them. Let us love all of the parts of ourselves that give us the “ick.” Track your cycle my babes, for it is anti-capitalist to revel in our senses, sensations and our symptoms. In listening to our bodies we will bring down the patriarchy! It is time to channel our inner Gothic Heroine and speak with constant melodrama about what it means to have a womb! Turn the “ick” into something cosmic!
"Women's bodies and their functions became the abject, even to ourselves. But this internalised misogyny is not stronger than our inherent bodily wisdom."