Religious and Cultural Control Over the Body
Your body has never belonged to you. Religion and culture have dictated the rules for centuries, turning it into an object of control and your desires into a source of shame. These systems are built on one idea: if a person fears their body, they are easier to subjugate. The body became a symbol of sin, imperfection, and weakness, and the more you accepted this, the deeper you lost connection with yourself.
Religion was the first to declare the body an enemy of the soul. Christianity proclaimed that the flesh is sinful and desires lead to degradation. The female body was particularly demonized: the image of Eve cemented the idea that female sexuality is a source of destruction. The medieval church reinforced this control, turning the body into an instrument of guilt. Masturbation was considered a mortal sin, sexual thoughts a crime. A woman’s body didn’t even belong to her: it "belonged" either to God or to her husband. Every desire was punished with fear, leaving an indelible mark on consciousness.
Culture took up this baton, making control subtler but no less cruel. In Victorian England, sexuality was so taboo that any mention of the body was deemed indecent. Women who expressed sexual desires were labeled hysterical and isolated in psychiatric hospitals. Men were scared with "diseases" from masturbation to suppress their nature. But this was not about morality but direct suppression of freedom.
Modern culture has changed its tone. Now it doesn’t forbid but dictates. Your body is no longer "sinful" but "insufficient." Advertising, media, and social networks show what it should look like: slim, toned, perfect. They instill that your body deserves respect only after changes. If before control was based on the fear of sin, now it’s based on the fear of being "not enough."
These mechanisms work because they affect your psyche on a deep level. According to research published in the Journal of Psychology & Health (2021), suppressing sexuality and feeling shame for the body increases the risk of anxiety disorders by 40% and depression by 30%. Your body becomes a source of fear because the brain has learned to associate desires with threat. The hippocampus remembers every instance of condemnation, and the amygdala triggers anxiety at any attempt to step out of bounds.