Oh I do love my Friday's even more now. I love the freedom Challenge and all that it represents and I love to read what other people have to say and the many ways in which they say it.

I usually always write my post first before reading anyone else's, but this week I did have a look at @katrina-ariel post and it is awesome. I love how expressive that wonderful woman is and her honesty and those photos, damn but that first one is enough to cheer anyone up and bless you for feeling all modest about it. You are a goddess my dear, embrace it!

Thank you @eaglespirit for creating this challenge and for @freedomtribe for continuing to support it.

Freedom of Sexuality, well that sure ,has been a bit of a long road for me. Growing up in Ireland, any talk around sex was frowned upon, the subject was such a taboo. I certainly got no talks at home about anything that had to do with sexuality of sex. I was given a book and told to pay attention when the subject came up in school. And when it did it was all very science like, there was no personal identity with what they were saying, definitely no sense of our bodies being anything but motors which we rely on to get around and get along.

All my secondary/high school education was controlled by the church. So there was never any talk about sexuality, as a girl you would one day become a women, get a job, a husband and have kids, that was as far as any discussion of personal identity went. And the talk amongst us teenagers, well we all felt embarrassed and even ashamed at times to actually have any feelings that linked in with sexuality. For sure there were jokes and lots of teasing, but behind it all was a lot of young people feeling very uncomfortable with themselves and their bodies. Young adults who really didn't even understand what sexuality was, who just saw it as another thing that was not to be expressed or discussed openly.

I mean sexuality is all about how we relate to ourselves, it is not just about feelings and sex. It is our relationship to ourselves and those around us. But it is something I certainly didn't feel comfortable talking about as a teenager and young adult. All the shame and self doubt, that is something that really digs in deep and is real hard to shake off. There was always a very uncomfortable feeling in my home if anything to do with sex came up on the television and 9 times out of 10 the channel was changed or me and my sister were asked to leave the room. I realize now that this came more from my dad and him feeling very uncomfortable being surrounded by females and having to deal with a topic that he saw as unnecessary and inappropriate. Of course I didn't feel the same as him, but his actions, his reactions had a huge effect on me. From the word go, I knew there would be no talk of sexuality in my house.

And outside of the home, like I already said it was talked about, but not seriously. There were jokes and teasing, but always with an underlying sense of fear. According to the church we should not identify ourselves as sexual beings, we are committing sin if we do. Even thinking about it, is sinful. So really how was I going to turn out, surrounded by all of those oppressive walls.

It really wasn't until I left Ireland that I could begin to shake off all that guilt and shame, and really begin to feel comfortable identifying myself as a sexual being. To stand strong and proud in my body and celebrate who I am , all of me, embrace it all. Wow that took a long time, because tied in with that, were long standing feelings of low self worth and low self esteem and we can never really experience freedom of self, if we do not love and accept ourselves for who we are. Who we are and where we have come from. And I come from a culture with a long history of guilt, guilt just from bloody existing and breathing, seriously it was engrained in us. I know I am not alone in that and that there are a lot of other countries that were suppressed by guilt.

So yes it felt good to really be able to shake all of that off, to really stand tall and proud. To see and accept sex and sexuality for what it is, sacred.

To move away from these unhealthy opinions that are forced on us all. I feel lucky that I did realize the negative influence of the media, at a young age and that I was able to distant myself from that form of oppressive control. That really plays with the ideas of sexuality in a way that is dishonouring us all. I have never had any problems with how people express their sexuality, as long as they are not hurting anybody else of course. It really is up to the person how they wish to express themselves. It is having the freedom to express themselves that is important and that is what I was missing as a teenager and young adult.

But not now, Now I am a woman, a mother, a lover and I see my sexuality as part of my creative expression. Some thing to be honoured and enjoyed, something to embrace and grow with. A part of me that comes in many different shades, different colours, that changes like the seasons and grows and matures as I do. It flows through me and around me and at times engulfs me and when I surrender to it , it sets me free.

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