Gabi, a Girl in Pieces

Gabi’s zine project is broken into seven diagrams of images paired with poetry exploring aspects of the female body and female sexuality. It is titled “The Female Body,” and bluntly yet poetically describes the parts of the female form and female sexuality. The first diagram introduces the female body with a curved waist and a figure many “will probably never have but always strive for” (196). The second diagram focuses on female breasts, highlighting the pain of their development, the differences in size across individual women, and the way breasts are teasingly and sexually looked upon by men. Gabi warns her readers, “You may realize that you are more than your breasts. / You may not” (197). Diagram 3 is about the vagina and the embarrassment and shame commonly associated with this female organ. Diagram 4 focuses on the role hair plays in a woman’s life, dictated to be long and braided rather than short and loose. Diagram 5 looks at all of the things that hands can do, such as create poetry or fail a math test, or even be used to hold someone else’s hand. Diagram 6 covers the role of a woman’s legs, how they ought to be covered according to society, and ends with a reminder that “your legs should always be closed” (201).