What Women Wish Women Knew about Women’s Sexuality
Rachael Clinton Chen leads an open and honest conversation with Cathy Loerzel and Christy Bauman about what they wish other women knew about women’s sexuality.
One of the first questions Rachael asks that continues as a theme throughout this discussion is about the myths they believe need to be unpacked in regards to women’s sexuality.
Christy responds with conviction that women’s bodies are an invitation to the divine. She desires for women to know that their bodies are good, that their arousal cycles and body were created with intention.
Christy: What does it mean to be curious about what is happening in our bodies and what we’re feeling and experiencing and what is it inviting us to?
Cathy responds by discussing the myth that women’s bodies aren’t meant for pleasure, or for our own pleasure, and relates a personal experience as an example.
In terms of what she wishes happened more often and that she had herself, Rachael brings up the need for more open and honest conversations for adolescents around the topic of women’s sexuality. Oftentimes this period of time is surrounded by much shame and isolation as young women learn what it means to be a sexual being.
Cathy: How do we tend to those parts of ourselves so there can be a continuous awakening so that we can be in our bodies in a way that we don’t feel shame or contempt?
Rachael: There is something about our sexuality that is meant to bear the image of God, that is meant to be a prayer, and is deeply connected to our capacity for hope. I think as women we do need to cultivate more spaces where we can come together and talk honestly about our struggles.
Rachael, Cathy, and Christy also have an important discussion around the reality of a woman’s body, including the scars often kept hidden—even from themselves. They talk about needing to step into these places with hope, reverence, and love to acknowledge the reality of living in a broken, beautiful, wounded, and good body.
To close, each share their final hopes for women as they begin to step into these spaces of fighting for goodness, for connecting the spirit of God to their sexuality, and for taking the risk to want and desire a different kind of intimacy, blessing, and prayer.
Resources
Theology of the Womb, by Christy Bauman
What Women Wish Men Knew about Women’s Sexuality