Editors of the University of Sydney newspaper, 'Honi Soit’ are calling for their ’Vagina' edition to be returned to the shelves.
The edition's cover originally featured 12 unfettered vaginas, actually vulvas, belonging to students; and was subsequently republished with black bars hiding the genitalia. The amended copies have been seized by the Student Council, apparently on the pretext that the black bars are ever so slightly transparent.
In justification of their actions, Honi Soit's editors said in a statement published on Honi Soit website: "We are tired of society giving us a myriad of things to feel about our own bodies. We are tired of having to attach anxiety to our vaginas. We are tired of vaginas being either artificially sexualised (see: porn) or stigmatised (see: censorship and airbrushing). We are tired of being pressured to be sexual, and then being shamed for being sexual." We commend the students in their quest to tear down the artificial portrayal of women. A university campus is a totally appropriate place for the non-sexualised portrayal of genitalia (and it's unthinkable the amended copies would be seized after the last bastion of reasonable objection had been removed viz. the covering of the vulva).
Unsurprisingly, it's widely reported that unreal portrayals of women's bodies increase anxiety and self-esteem issues, sometimes leading to unnecessary surgical procedures."
10 years ago Honi Soit published an image of a flaccid penis on its cover without a murmur.
Read the Honi Soit editor's statement in full here.
