Pure Sexuality

Last week, The New York Times published an aritlce about PornHub, a mainstream pornography site that actively promotes and profits off of violence against women. I am staunchly anti-porn, for numberous reasons, and I have written many poems and some songs about my feelings about pornography. Here is one of the poems. Please share it widely. In addition, if you support my art and message, I invite you to become a Patreon member for as little as $3 – giving you access to my original and unpublished songs and poems, as well as providing you free and discounted books and albums, previews of new releases, and other perks for my Patreon members only.

I want to reconstruct sexuality

so that we can experience

the most heightened form

of intimacy

where our erotic connection

emanates from the genuine desires

of our bodies

not the appetite manufactured by society

not the one imposed onto you and me

through books magazines internet and TV

where someone else is determining

what we see

which then becomes who we are

unwittingly

through exposure or consumption

a vicious cycle

of re-creation and imposition

hijacking our imagination

feeding a multi-billion dollar industry

leading to the terrifying question

HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE ME

a woman

slogging through this insidious patriarchy

which does everything it can

socially politically economically

to erode my power and integrity

unconcerned with my emotional spiritual or intellectual capacity

the wants needs and authentic self expression of my Being

viewing me instead as a mere body

distorted contorted manipulated coerced tortured

leading me to wonder daily

whether I can walk down the street safely

or whether I am even safe in my own home

with a man in my family

you cannot compartmentalize

the woman in your arms

and the one on the screen

we are intertwined inextricably

your fantasy my reality

your personal choice of what to view

my lack of choice in how I’m seen

why are these images available constantly

have you stopped to consider what that means

I’m not asking you to just connect the dots

to the sex trafficking industry

exploitation and slavery

girls locked in rooms

raped repeatedly

and I’m not asking you to stop using pornography

because it hurts me

I’m asking you to awaken

to the forces that shaped your erotic imagery

created the hunger in your body

I’m asking you to put the porn aside

so you can dive deep inside

deconstruct the tropes

and create from scratch

raw unscripted healthy pure sexuality

emanating from

the eternal blissful connection

between you and me

©2020 by Loolwa Khazzoom. All rights reserved. No portion of this article may be copied without author’s permission.

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