Why yes, I am behind in my writing prompts, thank you for noticing. And while my intent this week was to catch up with a few weeks all mashed together, I was instead stopped in my tracks when I read Edwidge Danticat’s thoughts on creating dangerously. At first, in reading those words, I felt indifferent. There simply was no relevance, I mused to myself in my writing and anything even remotely dangerous. And then I thought about it, and realized that our dear neighbours to the south are dealing with the loss of female bodily autonomy. Roe VS Wade was the start of something that we all knew would lead to many more words, changes, and legislature with regards to women’s rights, and sadly, we are in a timeline where our rights are being stripped from us, left, right, and centre.

I use those words with purpose and intent because there is no place on the political spectrum that is void of culpability for where we are at now. Either by being too complacent, pushing with too much fervour, or those who simply are showing their true colours, in that they are sexist, plain and simple. And it is with that in mind, that I can actually see a glimmer of possibility that some of what I have written over the years could be dangerous for others to read. And that puzzles my very essence.

Yes, I write about sex, relationships, and have poured so many hours and feelings into non-monogamous exploration. While taboo for many of my writing years, I rarely felt scared or nervous to put words on a page. But, then again, I never in my wildest dreams thought that we could go backwards in time, preventing access to abortion and contraception in what we clearly have mislabelled the first world. I have written about abortion both in this blog, and on medium, and felt free to do so. There is a real possibility that those freedoms could be restricted for people in the future. That is terrifying.

Words should never feared unless they depict hate, lies, or violence. We should be free to discuss, debate, and share thoughts and feelings on subject matters that affect us all. My eyes are wide open to the fact that people fear what they don’t understand, and that includes discussion about female sexuality and relationships that our outside of mainstream western thinking. I challenge myself to daily to put these things out into the universe because I long for a world with acceptance, love, and kindness. The notion that there could be danger in this to a reader at some point in the future is not a comforting idea. But one, that I think every writer or content creator should spend a little time with. Times are changing faster than we can keep up with. And my only advice for anyone creating ideas right now, it to make sure you take some time for self care. I don’t want to exercise “what if” scenarios at this current moment in time, because this dystopian landscape is far beyond my wildest nightmares.

I will be spending some time exploring danger, and what that means in my writing both past and present. But, as I cannot change things as fast as they change around me, ultimately I can only forge ahead knowing that I have been as authentic as I can be, for both my readers, and my own peace of mind. Thank you all, for sharing this journey, for being curious, and brave! I see you, and appreciate you, especially those on my Patreon (Behind the scenes photos and content)! Stay tuned for the next instalment of my Women’s Writing series on Rhythm and Objects!