It’s the only thing we have, really: our bodies and the pleasure we experience in them. Everything else is window dressing—clothes, jobs, cars, even friends and family. It can all come and go in a split second, and nothing is guaranteed or promised to us. We could lose anything— and everything—in an instant.

That goes for our bodies, too, of course. An accident, an injury, a disease, a terrible twist of fate. We could lose the very center where we dwell. But, despite their fragility, our bodies are our one home, our one strength. They are the closest thing we have to a guarantee. And they are the only—the only—things that truly and irrevocably belong to us.

Sadly, as women, we are often led to believe that this isn’t true, that our bodies belong to our families, or to the public at large, or to religion. But I’m here to tell you—that simply isn’t true. Not in any way, shape, or form. Our bodies are ours.

Now. Tomorrow. Forever.

Why is that so important? Because the only way we can derive power and strength from our bodies is by taking ownership of them. There are lots of ways we can do that. We can dress as we like, eat as we like, take part in the activities and work of our choosing, share our bodies with whom we please and refrain from doing so as well.

But there is another way we can reside in our bodies. There is another, more ancient, more primal, more spiritual, and, truly, simpler way—by experiencing pleasure in them.

Now hear me out. If we only experienced pain and suffering in our bodies; if our bodies were only for the service of others; if our bodies were not our homes but instead merely vehicles that moved us from place to place—how sad that would be.

To have these glorious female bodies, to be the only gender that has an organ created solely and completely for pleasure (I’m speaking here about the clitoris, of course)—and then to ignore that? It’s not only a devastating crime, it is also just plain foolish.

If you believe in intelligent design; if you believe in a higher power; if you believe in a universe of awareness; if you believe in God; if you believe in something more than randomness (and, believe me, there is nothing random about the mighty clitoris)—then you have to also believe in not wasting the human ability to experience and enjoy pleasure. Specifically, sexual pleasure. More specifically, female sexual pleasure. Even more specifically—female sexual self-pleasure.

We were designed for it.