Ultimate Piercing or Ultimate Insight

At first, the eyes of this woman scare me. She looks terrified. Then I see her mouth. What? Really? Calm down, I think, this is just a photoshop image. But that’s a HUGE problem. This image says and does a lot. What I HATE is the caption or title at the bottom that says “Ultimate Female Piercing.” To me, “ultimate,” has a positive connotation. Like ultimate dirt biking or the ultimate adventure. Who made this? Who the hell thinks that the ultimate piercing a “female,” not woman, can get is to pierce her mouth closed? This picture does nothing to zip my mouth shut. If anything it makes me want to scream or yell. It makes me want to talk and talk and talk about the symbolism of the image and the world is trying to do to women. I want to talk about how someone, or maybe many people, would be pleased to have women’s mouths pierced closed. I want to talk about how this is represents our culture’s desire to keep women silent. This country wants women without opinions or thoughts or insight. To me this is not the Ultimate Female Piercing it is the Ultimate Truth about how the world wants women and how I refuse to be.

I am woman with a voice. I am a woman with a voice who loves and needs to be heard. I have a lot to say and I have been encouraged to say it, especially when people don’t want to listen.