We have all been sexually repressed and traumatized to varying degrees.
Disconnected from our desires and erotic power.
We live in a society where the mind is worshiped and health is measured in terms of productivity.
A culture that values money over human life.
“We cultivate personality traits that maximize productivity. We learn to control our desires and limit our needs; we are praised for being self-sufficient and showing endurance.”
Our bodies are treated like machines; overworked, pushed, and forced.
The practice of listening to our bodies and honoring their needs is a radical act of resistance.
We live in a country that was built upon non-consensual acts.
“We live in a nation that was built upon doing things to people without their agreement. Stealing the land, decimating the people who live on it, and enriching ourselves on the back of another people we enslaved”
In our forming experiences as babies and children, we all have been touched in ways we did not want. Whether it was having a diaper changed, being hugged and kissed when we didn’t want it,
or a violation.
It’s commonplace to think non-consensual acts are normal. It’s rare to have the skills of understanding our own limits, setting boundaries and negotiating, and respecting and honoring others’ limits and boundaries.
Many of us have been sexually violated.
Some of us were neglected and did not receive the loving touch and attention we needed.
We have been bombarded with messages that pleasure is shameful while our bodies are sexualized and objectified.
That our desires are wrong if they don’t fit into societal heteronormative standards.
That our bodies are never good enough. That we are simply not enough.
The majority of us never received any education on sexuality outside of fear-based rhetoric on reproductive development and STI’s.
We didn’t receive sexual education that includes pleasure or consent education that teaches us we are allowed to have boundaries.
Most of us were not taught how embodied and external oppressions can inhibit a person from accessing empowered voice and choice.
We were prescribed gender and characteristics based on the configuration of our genitals.