Being queer is not always safe for white people; I stand even less of a chance with my intersectional identity as a queer woman of colour within and outside of my community.

Some people may say I’m lucky I don’t get my period regularly; I don’t have to experience cramps and everything horrible that comes with a period. But am I really lucky to have experienced all of this?

Coming from cultures where shame, blame and guilt are currency, often families - the most basic unit of society - are the genesis of toxic relationship patterns. Chosen families offer freedom, release and healing.

While access to information on masturbation is already scarce, societies worldwide make people with vaginas feel ashamed of their desires. With restraint and control over their sexual desires, pleasure becomes systematically erased, stigmatized, and owing to the patriarchy that surrounds us.

The dream is to have a world where we don't have to re-parent our inner children because we got to have a childhood where we learned to express our true selves without shame, judgement, fear and compliance.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was slowly losing control over my own body, and that would play into what was to come in the following months.