When Will My Body Be My Own?

At home, my body is as regulated.

“No facial piercings.”

“Why do you need highlights in your hair? Those aren’t necessary.”

“Tattoos? Absolutely not. Think of your career.”

My mind yearns for freedom over my body. I want to be able to express myself creatively and shape myself into the person I want to be, whoever that young woman will look like. I want the power and control to be able to do that. However, as a young woman in a Hispanic household, the power lies not with me, but with my parents.

In today’s society, I have no control over my body, whether that be at home or to the highest form of government, where I have no say in the regulations that male politicians make concerning my body. 

With the recent news that Roe VS Wade will most likely be overturned after a leaked draft opinion was published in May, many women in the United States have been in uproar.

What right do men have to make over our bodies? Bodies they have no knowledge on. 

A woman should have the right to an abortion if she so chooses. It’s become clear that in many Southern states, it doesn’t matter if it’s a personal choice or a decision made out of precaution for one’s health. 

I’ve recently become angered with this knowledge that nowhere in my life do I have the personal choice to do with my body what I want and what I please. I have hope that one day things will be different. That I’ll be able to express myself through any hairstyle, piercing, or tattoo I please. That I’ll have full autonomy over my own body. 

But that day is not today. 

All I can wonder now is when will my body be my own?