How can we think of celebrating right now when so much of the past year has pointed us toward despair? The regressive battles for bodily sovereignty; the wave of patriarchal, homophobic, and transphobic policymaking; law enforcement trying to hold us in obedience with escalating violence; so-called global leaders who would have us deny the realities of climate change and pandemic vulnerability. In light of all that, well, where is the light? Some days, numbness and hopelessness can feel like our only available options.
This overwhelm isn't accidental-it's straight out of the oppression playbook. One way to control people-to keep them in a scarcity mindset of desperation is to deny them the power of pleasure and the erotic. Freedom fighter and poet Audre Lorde once defined eroticism as a bridge between the political and the spiritual-a "provocative force," marked by an open and fearless capacity for joy, that awakens our refusal to accept the current systems.
"Recognizing the power of the erotic within our lives can give us the energy to pursue genuine change within our world rather than merely settling for a shift of characters in the same weary drama," Lorde wrote. Once we reclaim our right to satisfaction, in other words, justice and Old institutions can disintegrate and crumble. This is a lens of possibility and of profound delight liberation can be among our most pleasurable experiences.
In 2019, I published a book called Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, a series of conversations between myself and other movement leaders who have found and generated our own celebratory practices aimed at making our necessary revolutions feel irresistible. And that is the lens I encourage us to hold up to this difficult moment. When we peer through it, we can feel our aliveness begin to pour through. Old institutions can disintegrate and crumble. This is a lens of possibility and of profound delight.
This story is from the Issue 08, 2022 edition of Cosmopolitan US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Issue 08, 2022 edition of Cosmopolitan US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
sabrina carpenter
The singer, actor, and miniskirt enthusiast just wants to chat.
Y'all Better Not Be Sleeping on Canada
It’s so much more than Niagara Falls, okay? And it’s literally right there points up*) waiting for you and your next epic vacation.
We Need to Talk About Secondary Infertility
With reproductive medicine under political attack, this long-overdue conversation is more necessary than ever.
Young Love ON THE Streets OF Mexico City
OUR COUPLE SPOTTING SERIES HEADS SOUTH TO BRING YOU MORE DELIGHTFUL PAIRINGS.
Is Speed Dating...Back?
Hear us out: one outfit, one makeup application, multiple dates.
You're About to See Vacation Everywhere
Sunscreen. But, like, fun.
LOOKING FOR TONI LANE
She was crypto's It Girl, the young woman onstage at the conferences hyping blockchain as a way to radically reshape an unjust world. The young woman at the industry parties schmoozing with wealthy venture capitalists to get them on board. The young woman at the spiritual retreats seeking endless ways to self-improve. People loved her. And then she disappeared. What happened to Toni Lane Casserly-and what does her tragic death reveal?
Higher Power
There will be no \"I just can't believe it!\" sentiments in this story. Twenty-two-year-old pop sensation Tyla isn't interested in being a wide-eyed ingenue-she always knew she'd get here.
COQUETTE
You know it. Tarot actor Avantika knows it. Having gotten a much-needed update, bows are absolutely inescapable right now. Here, we humbly suggest a few ways you can wear them without looking like everyone else.
What It's Really Like to Cut Off Your Parents
More and more young people have entered their family estrangement era, for better or worse. But mostly for better.