It’s hot out.
Ok, to be fair, technically it’s like 74° but, with my molten core, it feels more like 104º.
What happened to June Gloom over here? Typically, June in Oakland is kinda chilly, and I usually spend my birthday month freezing my buns off, wrapped in layers like it was January. I was banking on June Gloom – I didn’t want to spend the last month of my pregnancy in a heatwave. Yet, here it is, and I’m hawt and shweaty. So, I’m going to wear this pretty much every damn day till this baby comes. Hurray! I feel a fun #pregnantinpublic experiment coming on!
Let’s see if folks are as excited to comment on my belly now.
It always feels good to sport my Sunday best. ((shirt by Phoebe Sherman http://www.phoebesherman.com)).
Also, fuck the patriarchy is just a great message to get out there. Timeless.
So far, I’ve had the pleasure of standing in line at a coffee shop, ordering, and starting to work, and no one commenting on my body. Most seem to be intentionally averting their eyes so as to not get caught staring/admiring/gawking at my opulent belly. I’m definitely making some people uncomfortable. It’s fun, a tiny rebellion.
This is me in this moment.
This belly is mine, entirely.
I’m not dressing up, or down, for you, to make you more comfortable.
I’m not interested in your comfort, I’m interested in mine.
I’m not asking for a safe space to be who and how I am in this moment, I’m taking it.
And fuck you if you have a single damn thing to say about it.
I’m also here because I have some work to do gearing up for a great talk at CREGS Summer Institute on Sexuality on Thursday 6/7. I’ll be presenting on birth oppression and the possibilities of birth rebellion, birth as a sexual process, as a political act of defiance, cultural transformation, and all that. I’ll be a week shy of 9 months pregnant at the time. The energy of life-making shall be palpable! Burgeoning and real! Stay tuned – we’re video recording it, and I’ll be making that available online for you. It could take a bit since to edit and post, as I’ll be having this baby shortly, but it’ll get done.
Oh, and here’s a link to the little interview I did with the folks at CREGS.
But for now, it seems I may have finally hacked this #pregnantinpublic thing. Maybe, if you really put it out there, it sets people back on their heels a bit. Folks think twice about commenting on something so in their face.
I’ve gotta say, it’s feeling good so far.
Stay cool, friends.
–Elisabeth
