Maddi Allen
Aug 31, 2018 · 2 min read

I Am Not Family Friendly

I was taken out of chemistry class and forced to wear a sweatshirt because the strap of my tank top was showing. Apparently, it is more important that I be covered, than that I learn.

A friend was asked to sit in the back at a church service because her tank top was causing “men to stumble.” Apparently, it is more important that she be hidden than that she exercise her religious freedom to worship.

My sister, wearing a sweater and jeans was asked to “tone it down” at the coffee shop she worked at because “people’s husbands come here.” Apparently, it is more important that she be covered than that she do her job.

A woman was asked to leave when breastfeeding in a mall. Apparently, it is more important that she be covered than that she feed her child.

A blogger (@steph.pollock ) shared that she, wearing a sports bra and high waisted yoga pants, was asked to leave her gym because it’s “a family place.”

I can’t stop thinking about it.

What about women’s bodies is NOT family friendly?

Is it our breasts, which are capable of (and do) nourish and sustain the human race? Or our stomachs, which house and protect children as they grow? Or is it our hips, that separate and nearly break as they make way for new life to enter the world, and then offer themselves as seats for our toddlers who wish to be carried? Or is it our butts, thighs, and legs, which bear the weight of Creation, and broaden and bend and squat to bring Family into the light? Our vulvas, vaginas, perineums: the gateways between now and not yet; the places that tear and stretch and bleed and sometimes ruin so that we each get the chance to breathe?

Perhaps the greatest irony; rather, injustice, in history is that although family comes ONLY from the bodies of women, we are called enemies of the family when we dare to have bodies in public. Our bodies are stoned, burned, shamed, sold, raped, fired, blamed, criticized or asked to leave when we allow them to be seen by the ones They made (and often, even if they are hidden).

Dear society: we women have no interest in our bodies being “friends” to Family by your definition. We are Family’s Mother, and that is quite enough. ✌️

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