Can a pregnant woman be sexy?

Can they express that sexuality?
Can an older woman? A non-binary person? A man?

Our culture so often tells us no.
That we are relegated to maiden, mother, or crone.
That we are relegated to woman.
That we must always be feminine, modest, respectable.
But we’re not
and we don’t.

I’ve been navigating the tricky intersection of pregnancy and aging.
Moving in a world that so often tells us that our worth is connected to our desirability, to our beauty.
These definitions are subjective though, and the power that these definitions hold are given.

We can opt to keep our power, to express it in any way we choose.

I call bullshit to the binary.
I call bullshit to the patriarchal, white supremacist ideal of beauty.

I call bullshit to the notion that as a pregnant person I must deny my sexuality.
That as a middle aged woman I must dress and act a certain way.
That as a mother I must place my desires and desirability aside.

I was feeling so many things last week when I shot this.
I was feeling vulnerable.

Every pregnancy I’ve experienced has been steeped in difficulty,
surrounded by trauma,
full of fear and loss and self-discovery
and unimaginable joy,
all together and all at once I ride this wave of juxtaposition.
This one is no different.

This is how I grow.
This is how I birth.

Moving in this way heals me.
Movement is Magic.

#28weeks
Music by Alabama Shakes