Mary Jean cringed when I first posted a picture of my Flying Vulva.
I didn’t see her do it, but I could hear it in the comment she left on my facebook page. Our conversation continued over the weeks, as I posted more pictures and finally came out with my Flying Vulva Decal.
And as we ‘talked” I could see Mary Jean becoming more comfortable with the idea of the Flying Vulva.
“You know,” I wrote to Mary Jean at one point,” I’m going to send you a Flying Vulva Decal.” She reluctantly gave me her address.
It took Mary Jean a while to figure out where to put the decal. Finally she sent me a picture of it on her washing machine.
It wasn’t right for her car, she told me. Her car never meant freedom for her, she’d rather stay home.
“But” she wrote, ” the washer is my favorite appliance. Dirty clothes in, clean clothes out, ten minutes of fresh air and usefulness standing on the front porch hanging it all out.”
She thought I wouldn’t understand, “… I thought you would think I was going all tight assed Suzy Homemaker.”
But I do understand.
I bless my washing machine every time I throw a load of laundry into the wash, then walk away to do something else. I think of how women used to spend a whole day doing wash. I even go so far as to picture them down at the river, rubbing the clothes clean on stones, and rinsing them in the rushing water.
The washing machine and all those other appliances freed up lots of women over the years.
My Flying Vulva is a continuation of that story. The story of Women’s Freedom.
So I think MaryJean’s washing machine is perfect place for her Flying Vulva Decal. And now I’m wondering where else people are putting them…..
Maria,
you writing about women washing clothes on rocks. In the early 80s a team of us went to Liberia to help build a school. while there a young teenage girl named Pinky offered to do our team’s laundry. i just happen to see her. she was on the river bank literally slapping our clothes on the rocks. i quickly ran and got our VHS recorder! i am glad I did. when I showed it to the team when we got home they were shocked. they had no idea what work went into doing our laundry. i have never forgotten that visual image. yes we do need to bless our washing machines and the freedom it has given us to live more creatively. it’s not that we have forgotten. we just don’t know how blesssd we are in 2018.
Thank you for this story Janis. I actually always thought about this effecting women in the past. Your story has opened my eyes to the fact that it still goes on. A reason to be even more grateful.