I'm thinking about this in terms of how boys are raised, specifically how I was raised.

I grew up being taught that masturbation is a terrible sin, that it causes some kind of "spiritual" malady, and that it, in the words of Monty Python, "it makes God quite irate."

But such was my socialization as a boy, with the notion that I own my own body, that I scoffed at those teachings even before I became an atheist. It was simply inconceivable to me that some third party could dictate what I do with my own body.

And you know what?

I never met another boy or young man who did not similarly scoff and disregard masturbation prohibitions. (I'm sure such boys and men exist, I'm just saying they're rare and I never knowingly met any.)

I'll never forget how uncomfortable I made my dad when I questioned him endlessly on why it was important for me to sleep with my hands on the outside of the blankets. I actually knew exactly why he was saying that, but I needled him on purpose to embarrass him, because of my unshakable conviction that my body belonged to me and not to him.

Since he never overcame his embarrassment, we never talked about it again. I presume that much of his embarrassment stemmed from the fact that he was equally socialized to believe that our bodies as men and boys belong to us and not to anyone else.

Considering that sort of phenomenon, it seems remarkable that women and girls are socialized to believe their bodies really don't belong to them — that they have to prioritize what other people and society demand they do (or don't do) with their own bodies.

It's Patriarchy, of course, in action. Men and boys own their own bodies, and women and girls are subject to them.

From that, we get rape culture, men presuming to stop women from having abortions, and men shaming women who are sex positive.