Temple or Taboo: Women and the Body

The Jung Center presents Temple or Taboo: Women and the Body.

Are women in the Western world at war with their bodies, as social theorists and social activists alike suggest? What are some of the reasons for this tense relationship and how may women and their bodies become powerful allies?

We will examine research in cultural anthropology and feminist social theory to assess specific metaphors and ways of thinking about the female body that are both widely accepted and in need of revision.

We will consider how parts of the female experience may be obscured or even rendered invisible by the available language, and will ask what individual women can do to connect to a wider range of their lived experience.

Elitza Ranova, (pictured) PhD, ACC, CPCC, is a cultural anthropologist and a life coach. Her research, previously supported by Rice University, University of London, and the European Commission, investigates how objective (social, cultural, historical) circumstances enable and limit individual choice, and produce specific – and gendered – life trajectories.

She lectures at Rice University and runs a private coaching practice that helps women transcend obstacles and flourish in their lives.