Just like mainstream culture has and continues to alter the iconography of Oshun, making her into a less complex, hypersexualized being as opposed to a multifaceted deity, we as a culture are doing the same when seeking pathways to expressing our sexuality and intimacy. These embodied politics, or lack thereof, don’t want to understand the nuances of being in relation with each other - physically, sexually, intimately, or anywhere in between.

I believe that the responsibility of a generation who lived to see epigenetics and science confirm that intergenerational trauma can rewrite our DNA is to rewrite the future of our descendants. We’ve got a long ways to go before that happens, so the question becomes, how do we begin?