Lusting for Freedom-Rebecca Walker

In class today we read "Lusting for Freedom" by Rebecca Walker. The entire essay was really interesting, but below are the quotes that I found most intriguing, honest, and real, and my thoughts on each of them.


“Sex can also be power because knowledge is power, and because yeah, as a girl, you can make it do different things; I can give it to you and I can take it away. This sex is me, you can say. It is mine, take it. Take me. Please keep me”
I thought this quote was interesting because knowledge is power, and through sex we gain knowledge of ourselves, of our sexuality, our bodies and desires, as well as about our partners. And as a girl, sex is a powerful tool. Sex is “me,” in a way that says if I give you this part of me, I can also take it back. But it also says, “I want you to have me—please keep me.”

“And like women all over the world, I had mastered the art of transforming myself into what I thought each man would fall in love with.”
This quote really stood out, because it is something that young women deal with every day. Young women are already insecure as they are discovering their own sexuality and wanting to be accepted and loved by men. They try to change themselves into the person they think men want, the person that that individual man would be able to fall in love with. This leads to women who are only trying to please men, instead of those who are seeking pleasure for themselves.

“The impulse that told me that I deserve to live free of shame, that my body is not my enemy and that pleasure is my friend and my right.”
This quote addresses a lot of the stigma that comes with women and sex. Women who enjoy sex and are discovering their sexuality through sex are shamed in our society-- called sluts and whores. Through religion we are taught that sex prior to marriage is wrong- that sex is no more than an act between a man and wife that is used to procreate and bond. And those women who engage in the act before they are married are sinning. This leaves self-discovery unattended to. We are taught that our bodies are to be covered, and our desires and urges are normal, but should be ignored. In society pleasure for women is not a right but a privilege. While I don’t necessarily support those who “sleep around”—I believe that sex is a very intimate and personal act, one that should be respected and shared with someone you love—I don’t look down upon those who do. Sex and pleasure are rights that everyone should have, and they should be free to participate in them however they please. While sex should be liberated from "procreation" it should also be liberated from "fucking"--just 'doing it' to 'get some.' It is and encompasses so much more than both of these things, and young women--as well as young men-- need to know that.

“Without being able to respond to and honor the desires of our bodies and our selves, we become cut off from our instincts for pleasure, dissatisfied living under rules and thoughts that are not our own. When we deny ourselves safe and shameless exploration and access to reliable information, we damage our ability to even know what sexual pleasure feels or looks like.”
This quote caught my attention because I agree with it completely. When we believe that sex is a shameful act and we go about it unsafely—without protection—we are denying ourselves the ability to learn what sexual pleasure feels or looks like. We are truly being “cut off from our instincts for pleasure” when we can’t decide for ourselves what sex and sexuality should be. It is ‘dissatisfying’ to live with someone else’s rules, with someone else’s perception of sex, pleasure and the roles these play in discovering sexuality. We are individuals, and each of our perceptions of these things should mirror that fact.

“The question is not whether young women are going to have sex, for this is far beyond any parental or societal control. The question is rather, what do young women need to make sex a dynamic, affirming, safe and pleasurable part of our lives?”
I liked this quote because it was almost funny at first. Young women are going to have sex. Sure we can have the threat of sin or pregnancy or disease in front of us, but sex is still going to happen. Because of this, the next question needs to be seriously thought about—how can we make sex a dynamic, safe, affirming and pleasurable part of our lives? This, not how to stop young women from having sex, is the important question that needs to be answered.

And last but only because it came last in the essay, this quote caught my young-Catholic-girl-self's attention:
"We are growing, thinking, inquisitive, self-possessed beings who need information about sex and access to birth control and abortion."
I fully agree with this statement until the very last word. Sex is an important part of a young girls life. We deserve the information that it would take for us to engage in this act safely, honestly, and fully. HOWEVER--abortion is a not a right anyone has. It is wrong, and I do not agree with it, under any circumstance. We, as young women have the right to pleasure, to sex, and to discovering ourselves and our sexuality. But with this right also comes responsibility. We DO NOT have the right to take another human beings life, especially one that we created ourselves.


In relation to Fledgling:
This essay compares to Fledgling in a lot of ways. For starters, Rebecca is simply trying to communicate the need for pleasure in our lives--something the Ina can't live without through their symbionts. Also, Rebecca was eleven when she first had sex, and Shori looks to be about eleven when she joins Wright, a 23-year-old construction worker. In the case of Shori, this seemed wrong and hard to read, but with Rebecca's testimony, we learn that sex IS happening among people that young, and society simply put the stigma on it. Rebecca also goes on to discuss how sex is looked at in society, not as a right that we have but only as an act in marriage to procreate. In Fledgling, sex among the Ina community is looked at as a way to fully connect with your symbionts, and simply for pleasure. In this way, the Ina community's view on sex is exactly the view that Rebecca believes our society should have today.

Peace, Love & Vampires
-kgirl