"A consequence of female self-love is that the woman grows convinced of social worth. Her love for her body will be unqualified, which is the basis of female identification. If a woman loves her own body, she doesn't grudge what other women do with theirs; if she loves femaleness, she champions its rights. It's true what they say about women: Women are insatiable. We are greedy. Our appetites do need to be controlled if things are to stay in place. If the world were ours too, if we believed we could get away with it, we would ask for more love, more sex, more money, more commitment to children, more food, more care. These sexual, emotional, and physical demands would begin to extend to social demands: payment for care of the elderly, parental leave, childcare, etc. The force of female desire would be so great that society would truly have to reckon with what women want, in bed and in the world."
-Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth
When I asked Terisa why she wanted to do this session with me, she simply responded,
"I just turned 35 years old, and I don't think I've honestly ever felt more secure with myself and my body. And I want to remember exactly how I feel, right now. This is my birthday gift to myself."
My heart and soul goes out to all of the beautiful women out there who have worked hard to take their power back and to love themselves against all opposing factors. We aren't necessarily trained to comfortably embrace our sexuality; our wild, our fire. Being true and honest and unforgivingly authentic isn't always made easy for people, women especially. We are scorned for it; accused of being selfish or made to feel less-than because of it. I applaud you all, and I encourage you to answer those calls when they come.. you, your daughters, and everyone around you deserve that version of you. And if ever you want to document it, you know where I am.