bodies

can we take a minute to talk about bodies? about how many shapes, sizes, and variations of them there are? about how, for better or worse, our bodies inform our experiences?

i'm an able-bodied, average-to-slightly-below-average-sized, white female.

this means i have a considerable amount of privilege. i don't have to worry about navigating a world that is sometimes "accessible" in only the barest of definitions (like having to ride in the freight elevator because it's the only non-stair option), or hold my bladder until a caregiver arrives to help me onto the toilet. i don't have to budget for an extra seat while traveling, or risk a horribly uncomfortable trip (both physically and emotionally). i'm not assumed to be lazy and/or unhealthy and/or asexual based on my physical appearance. i'm not likely to be selected for a random security screening at an airport, tailed in a store, or shot for taking a shortcut through the wrong neighborhood.

but i am female in a world where females are still regarded as property to be bought and sold. where babies are killed or discarded for the crime of not having a penis. where young girls have their genitals mutilated to keep them "pure", and are therefore at a much higher risk of dying from painful infections and other complications. where females are paid considerably less than males for doing the same work. where females are conditioned from birth to put their own needs last. where females are bombarded day in, day out with messages like "Love Your Body But Only If It Looks Like What We Say It Should". where clothing for females lacks comfort and function (thong underwear, high heeled shoes, pants with no pockets). where females are routinely raped and killed as a tactic of war. where females are routinely raped, period. where rapists get to have a say in whether or not their victim should have to give birth to her rapist's child. where rapists get a slap on the wrist, but a boy selling pot brownies faces life in prison. where ruling-class males get to make policies for female bodies without consulting even one female body. where medical research is overwhelmingly skewed towards male bodies, and female bodies go undiagnosed and/or untreated/mistreated for lack of knowledge. where females haven't even had the right to vote for 100 years yet. where female political candidates are evaluated less on their ideas and politics, and more on their appearance. where nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped as a terrorist tactic, BECAUSE THEY ARE FEMALE.

et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

this is not to say that progress has not been made. we are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were. but to pretend that sex discrimination and oppression based on what's between one's legs no longer exists...well, i call bullshit.

every body in this world is valid and important. male, intersexed, trans, dark-skinned, light-skinned, fat, thin, abled, disabled. no one body's experience is more or less valid than any other body's experience.

this also applies to females.

female is a valid identity (not to mention a biological fact), and female-bodied persons are entitled to gather together around our shared lived experience. this does not invalidate anyone else's lived experience. it's not about hating men. it's not about hating transfolk. it's not about hate at all, actually. it's about taking time for ourselves, a spiritual retreat from the constant pressure of patriarchal reality, laying down a burden - the weight of which most of us never really realized until we set it down - for a week. it's not about you. it's about us. and as radical as females actually taking time and space for themselves sounds, it will not bring Armageddon down upon us all. the world will not end. in fact, respecting and empowering female-bodied individuals makes a better world for everyone. a rising tide lifts all boats.

and make no mistake. we will rise.