Last week I read that a fellow activist/Facebook friend, the writer and founder of Positive Birth Movement, Milli Hill, had been censored by Facebook for posting a birth picture.
That same week, whether or not you wanted to see it, whether you were old enough or your beliefs accepted, you would have been exposed to Kim Kardashian's naked bottom.
I have no problem with this lady's bottom per se, but I do have a problem with who decides that some bottoms, some nipples, some breasts are okay and others not and how and why that decision is made.
Basically choosing some women vs other women.
You might think, thanks to propaganda, that I'm one of those asexual mothers who according to some urban myth breastfeeds compulsively in public just to get attention and talks only about nappies, babies with other mums.
Well, not quite. I am a mother and a woman. I can birth, breastfeed or have sex. I could be a lesbian or bisexual. I could masturbate or take my kids to the playground. I am a human with a body, desires and a life. And what Facebook, movies and culture keep censoring is our freedom, the freedom to be ourselves, to express ourselves and most importantly, to enjoy our sexuality from our own rights and for ourselves rather than being an object for the pleasure, the control and the approval of others.
Normality is censored but then used to control, be it birth, love, sex or death.
Does it help that most people are talking about Kim Kardasian's arse? Yes it does. It distracts us and makes people subservient to consume. It helps produce money. Men will buy through the sexual imagery used in adverts and women will buy to be desired and wanted.
Does seeing women birthing or breastfeeding help the system we live in? No, it causes subversion. It suggests that women are not just sexual objects, that they can own their bodies and desires, their births and abilities to be independent from machinery, protocols and the products of formula companies. It promotes that our bodies are also powerful and able, and that our sexuality can also be experienced from a place of ownership.
This is not just a petty confrontation between some mums and Facebook. This is the resistance to completely lose our freedom as women in the 21st Century as if it was daylight robbery.
We are being robbed enough and to let go of this would be to accept we no longer exist.
I don’t know about you but I’m alive and kicking!