Sexual Liberation
Below are digital photographs I made and manipulated using the PhotoScape X application on my MacOS. I made these sex positive pieces to reimagine the politics of the body, particularly the vagina, in creating and providing pleasure. I wanted to manipulate the image because I wanted to reclaim the way in which I was manipulated my first time having sex which occurred to me as child on child sexual abuse by my cousin. I was way too young to understand what was going on, and no one in my family ever talks about it so for years, I carried shame, guilt and trauma. To this day, I am still seeking healing and these pieces below exemplify my own process in which I used my own vulva to make visual art with it. These pieces make allusions to religion, to nature and femininity.
These pieces seek to combat today’s culture which deems women who are too vocal about their own bodies and how they make pleasure with them as sluts and as the “garbage” of the world. Sex workers, especially those who are of color and also using drugs, are killed or go missing at a higher rate than any other race in the world. This belief continues to justify the violence and treatment black girls and women receive by men and by police who claim to “serve and protect them.” With these pieces, I seek to motivate others to explore their own bodies and their own powers of erotica. I hope to inspire a world where sexual liberation is possible through the fun and experimental play with intimate aspects of ourselves. These pieces envision the sexual healing process to be as similar to that of a spiritual awakening, one that is wholly experienced and indivisible with joyous praise. So please, enjoy!
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |
Resource/Reading Guides
Pleasure Activism acts from the analysis that pleasure is a natural, safe and liberated part of life. Brown offers each of us the tools and education to make sure sex, desire, drugs, connection and other pleasures in life are enriching rather than threatening or harming. Pleasure activism includes work and life in the realms of satisfaction, joy and erotic aliveness that bring about social and political change.
This memoir is really significant for the representation of young queer womanhood and the exploration of what it means to live and love in the world. Lorde explains: ”that love was not enough” and I think that accurately captures the struggle with using love as a problem solve
and the next journey to find out what else is needed. Maybe she figured it out, maybe not. No matter though, the important thing to remember is: “When times are hard, do something. If it works, do it some more. If it does not work, do something else. But keep doing.”
"Ignoring difference does not change society; nor does it change the experiences non-normative bodies must navigate to survive. Rendering difference invisible validates the notion that there are parts of us that should be ignored, hidden, or minimized, leaving in place the unspoken idea that difference is the problem and not our approach to dealing with difference."
​
“Radical self-love demands that we see ourselves and others in the fullness of our complexities and intersections and that we work to create space for those intersections.”
​
Do I need say more?