“Every man came from a woman’s ovaries, womb, blood, and v**ina. So, for any man to loathe, deliberately harm, non-consensually violate, and censor a woman’s body is an act against mother nature and their own life-source.” — Adele Tomlin — Adele Tomlin
“She is darker, stronger, looser, tougher, sexier. The maturing of a woman who has continued to grow is a beautiful thing to behold. How can an “ideal” be about women if it is defined as how much of a female sexual characteristic does not exist on the woman’s body, and how much of a female life does not show on her face?” –Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth
“Other women merely speak of longing for Dharma
She has faith from the core of the heart!
Other women have faith in ornaments and decoration,
She has longing for the essence of the three times, absent of good and bad.
My reasoning is inferior but determination is huge!” —Yeshe Tsogyel’s song
INTRODUCTION
For International Women’s Day (March 8th) today am sharing some previous translations and articles I wrote about women. In particular, those about the censoring and degradation of women’s bodies in patriarchal religious communities, where prudity and morality is applied to women’s bodies only by men (and their male-centred female allies). This prudity and double standards means women’s breasts are censored on social media, yet a man’s bare chest is not. Even though a woman’s breasts are the source of life and food for the vast majority of humans alive today! Also, in ancient India and other Asian countries women were always depicted topless or with little clothing on, due to the temperature of those areas.
In 2022, I wrote about the male patriarchal control and prudity and sexism around women’s bodies and breasts, in this article on the Censored Tara statue in THE “CENSORED” TARA: POWERFUL PASSION VS PRUDISH PURITY. Depictions of women in Buddhist art and literature and the sexual objectification, denigration and censorship of women’s biology and nakedness
Also, in 2025, I revealed how images of female beauty, and sexist and ageist ideologies, are used against and to control and police women in religious contexts, including in male dominated Buddhist groups and ideologies in GOING BEYOND APPEARANCES OF FEMALE BEAUTY: The “dollybird” phenomenon, and how images of beauty are used against women (and even censored) in the name of “empowering women” in male-led Buddhist communities.
Here, I also re-share a recording and translation of a Yeshe Tsogyel song. The famous yogini and close disciple and consort of Guru Padmasambhava in A WOMAN’S LONGING FOR MEANING: Yeshe Tsogyel Song (1/4) བུད་མེད་གི་དོན་གཉེར་གྱི་འདུན་པ། ཡེ་ཤེས་མཚོ་རྒྱལ་གྱི་མགུར། (༡/༤) . For my musical rendition of the Yeshe Tsogyel song , see here.
With the Dakini Translations website and activities, I have tried my best as an actual example to show that women can be academic-scholars-translators-writers without male institutional support or backing and write about female-centred stories, issues and concerns. It still is the only female founded and solely authored Dharma translations and research website in the English language speaking world. Three women have been interviewed so far for my Dakini Conversations podcast, see full playlist here: Prof Janet Gyatso, Dr. Jue Liang and Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo. I plan to interview more.
In 2022, I was also interviewed about women, celibacy, sexuality, bliss and tantra for Olivia Clementine’s podcast, see here: ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngu6Ln0LY3I ).
There are two pages on the Dakini Translations website which list all the links to research and translations on women:
–The Female Principle: https://dakinitranslations.com/the-female-principle…/
–Female Lineages/Teachers: https://dakinitranslations.com/buddhist-female-teachers…/
Articles about women and female deities/masters continue to be the most read articles on the website. For a recent speech I gave at the Bhutan Vajrayana conference 2022, on the Female Yogic (non-monastic roots) of Vajrayana and its monastic takeover, which was effectively ‘censored’ and not published by the organisers without any good reason, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKpzv_8ztb4
As a survivor of sexual misconduct by a Buddhist teacher, I know very well how difficult and courageous it is to expose and go public alone with unethical, dishonest, bullying treatment and abuse of women and children by powerful male teachers, in religious groups and institutions, I have also (wherever and whenever possible) tried to support and uplift women, particularly highlighting with several articles, the abuse and misuse of religious power, and Vajrayana to abuse and degrade women and their bodies, as if they were footballs to be passed around my male teachers and monks. The bullying and isolation that ensues, and even fellow survivors blaming you and enabling the abusive men, is something that needs to be exposed an stopped.
Music? I Shift Energy by I Am Imperatrix ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czo4IzrQaV4 ), The Year of the Fire-Horse ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McbEQ3TAlWY ) A Woman’s Worth by Alicia Keys ( https://youtu.be/TS14whiYy8Q ), I’m A Lady by Santigold ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMDKZLgsFdk ), Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill (https://youtu.be/zpfUU8Ic2UY), 50 ft Queenie by PJ Harvey (https://youtu.be/jKLiU7Hq93w), I’m Every Woman by Chaka Khan (https://youtu.be/AX-Litazrgk ) and Woman by John Lennon (https://youtu.be/lPR1hhTM8hg). So many to choose!
I have also recently created some Instagram and Facebook reels of images of myself dancing, portraits and artworks with inspiring female-centred music and vibes (and inspiration from the guru vajra bliss) to inspire and empower women and to embrace their natural curves, movement, passion and beauty.
May women and girls be supported, loved, cherished and flourish as Dharma practitioners, teachers, scholars, practitioners, mothers, friends, partners and more!
Adele Tomlin, 8th March 2026