It’s been months since I have posted but I have not been inactive online, especially on Aim for Even.
My absence from this blog has been a time of change, of empowerment. And yes, that has meant a number of challenges.
Some of them seem to have an extended moment of existence. 😉
I continue to recover from two hip-joint replacement surgeries (one includes a fracture). Increasingly, I am active in #TheResistance; I’ve even had an essay published in an anthology.
The pain America is experiencing has parallels with chronic illness. After all, this country has ignored so much for so long. But that is a post for another day, in a week or two. 🙂
Today’s post celebrates August McLaughlin’s Beauty of a Woman Blog Fest, one of my favorite annual events. I believe this is my third year of participating.
Always, there are two categories, both requiring thoughtful discussion of beauty. There is the “original” beauty category and its array of possibilities. The second is Girl Boner®—my choice this year–specifically the Zen of sexuality, à la Girl Boner® radio podcasts.
I am a regular listener of these podcasts and have been since 2014. GB radio is “where good girls go for sexual empowerment,” and that is just the voyage in, “a movement in the making” as August has described it.
Imagine a world that does not look askance at sexuality or even asexuality but accepts that sexuality is not only part of being human, it is an essential part of the human experience. That is the world of Girl Boner® podcasts.
In Zen, we are here to experience what it is to be alive in the physical dimension–all that may encompass, including our sexuality.
Embracing our sexuality is essential
for embracing our full selves.
August McLaughlin
I hear that awareness and compassion in every GB radio podcast. Our innate sexuality is how we identify. For me that means lesbian and cis-gender female. There are others who identify similarly and many who do not.
I think it is as Joyce Carol Oates wrote, “We are linked by blood, and blood is memory without language.” Sexuality is such memory, without language but never without inner knowledge.
In Zen, we open ourselves to all we meet— we open our doors with equanimity— so that we experience all that life reveals to us. Girl Boner® is a way to fully appreciate the sexuality of our own human experience. As well, it teaches us to embrace the experience we do not know.
There are few true resources for the transgendered population as well as those who are not cis-gender. The same is true for those who are asexual.
Girl Boner® broadens the scope of our understanding of the sexuality of being human. Truly, the work of August McLaughlin and Girl Boner® is a celebration of the Sam Levenson poem for which the BOAW Blog Fest is named:
People, even more than things,
have to be restored, renewed, revived,
reclaimed, and redeemed; Never throw out anybody.
Sam Levenson
No one. Not ever. Namaste.
This post is part of the Beauty of a Woman BlogFest VI! To read more entries, and potentially win a fun prize, visit the fest page on August McLaughlin’s site between today and 11pm PST March 11th.
KM Huber's Blog 
We need the reminders. Never throw out anyone.
Glad to see you posting again!
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wishing you continued success healing
and in your art 🙂
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May we all continue to discover our own authentic sexuality, and find supportive spaces like GB to express ourselves fully and joyfully! Thanks for sharing a bit of your story, it’s an honor to witness.
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I, too, have been a fan of the openness and encouragement in embracing our sexual (or sometimes asexual) powers that GirlBoner radio reveals, celebrates, and delves deeper into the knowledge fountain. So glad we “met” through August!
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“Imagine a world that does not look askance at sexuality or even asexuality but accepts that sexuality is not only part of being human, it is an essential part of the human experience.”
I very much want to live in that world!
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We are all welcome here–welcomed by the sun that shines on us, welcomed by the wind that blows. Other human beings may judge but the things that matter don’t. Face into the wind and sun and walk on.
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I hope you continue to heal. I like how you speak of embracing sexuality as just another part of the human experience. Thanks for your insights!
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I long for a day when no one of any orientation, or none, has to define or defend who they are and what they love, unless they choose to share it. For a day when it matters only to those we choose to share our bodies, sexuality, and love with. When we are all truly equal, valued for what we have to offer, and not what’s between our legs and/or whom stirs our desires to life.
I hope your healing goes smoothly, Karen, and that your new hips carry you on many more adventures, and on into deeper beauty and loveliness. It’s a certainty that this world needs more o those right now, and the more diversity we bring to it, the stronger and richer we will all be.
Congratulations on the anthology, and I salute your resistance. Mine tends to take a more placid form of standing for, but, again, I think we need many approaches, and many kinds of commitment and strength to build a world that’s safe for all of us.
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I’m intrigued by your hinted-at forthcoming post about chronic disease as a metaphor for our times. Of course, it makes complete sense. And, with that framework in mind, it’s easy to see why our culture has a hard time with sexuality. How painful it must be to be reminded of the amazing bounty of the physical and of human connection when one is shut down and intent only on the narrow pursuit of human-determined riches (e.g., money and power).
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This is a great reminder of me being at piece with my inner self and my sexuality. Thank you for this and for your wonderful post!
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Thank you for your thoughts on life in general since the election and on female sexuality specifically. I admire your directness and honesty that opens to insight about the ‘wholeness’ of our femaleness — and wish you continued healing.
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Love the quote you use in this post – the last one, yes, yes, yes. Thank you.
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I’m so touched by this post, Karen. What a poignant take on sexuality — I’d never considered it as a memory. Simply gorgeous. Thanks so much for participating, and for your ongoing GB support!
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