"Lusting for Freedom"

Erik Misins
8/5/10
“Lusting for Freedom” – Rebecca Walker


Interesting Quotes:

“For days and nights, I rolled around in bed with my first boyfriend trying out every possible way to feel good body to body.”
- She is searching to find a rightness and a comfort with sharing her body with another person. Searching for more than just skin on skin, but trying to make that emotional connection.


“Judgments like ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ only build barriers between people and encourage shame within individuals.”
- There shouldn’t be a rule or a pre-written path laid out for a girl, or any young adolescent for that matter. People should be free to experiment within their own constraints, as long as they are away of the benefits and more importantly the risks that come along with these decisions.


“I remember his dry penis, both of us looking elsewhere as he pushed it inside of me.”
- A sort of uncertainty, trial and perhaps some awkwardness is displayed here while both of them are learning the intercourse routine together.


“While I learned about my partners; body, I learned that I had the power to make them need me. While I learned how much of myself to reveal, I learned how to draw them out. While I learned that they were not ‘right’ for me, I learned that I was more than what they saw.”
- This is Walker describing her becoming more experienced, more aware of herself and how far she could manipulate her partners, and how she is beginning to realize her partners may only be viewing her as a sex toy.


“Sex could also stand to be liberated from pussy and dick and fucking, as well as from marriage and procreation. It can be more: more sensual, more spiritual, more about communication and healing.”
- Somewhat self-explanatory, but the physical act of ‘sex’ itself can be useful outside of the traditional box that we are framed to live in: wait until you’re married to have sex; only have sex with a meaningful partner; always use protection; in other words, the old school views on sex. Instead, Walker is saying that sex doesn’t have to be looked at as simply penis in vagina. It can be a healing process, a coping mechanism, or the equivalence to a feeling you get when receiving a hug. Why not explore that passion?


“Hiding in shame or running fast to keep from looking is a waste of what is most precious about life: its infinite ability to expand and give us more knowledge, more insight and more complexity.”
- Live life to its fullest. Experiment often, experience what life has to offer in regards to feeling something extraordinary, such as the gratification you receive from sex (the healing, coping, spiritual feeling, etc.). The more we experience, the more we know.


Fledgling Response:
Similar to Walker, Shori from the novel “Fledgling” begins her life somewhat very unaware of herself, lost and confused. Walker, from the age of 11 (very early on in life) begins to start having sex, which is very young by traditional standards. She starts young, and does it often, similarly to Shori. Except in “Fledgling,” Shori kills and eats the first animal that comes her way, and then continues to kill often (Walker pretty much has sex with the first man that came her way, then continued to have sex often).