Jeannette Rasch

Fun Park Uterus

Grand Forks, North Dakota

My uterus is an exercise in fun and fear.  It plays on what I see as both the joy of womanhood and the defensive mechanisms women have come to know as a result of societal structure.  My uterus is a fun park, a playground to be enjoyed in a multitude of ways over which I have control.  As my own sacred playground it also has a warming for those whom I admit and those who force their way in; a reference to those defenses I constantly feel even now as a woman in a committed and safe relationship.  I still walk alone with my keys between my fingers, i worry that at any moment someone could break into my home and rape me, or that some government bureaucrat will stripe me of my reproductive rights at any moment to protect some deranged sense of control he/she has developed.  In the end, my uterus is for my enjoyment and the enjoyment of the admitted and at all times I proclaim my right to refuse anyone at any time to share in its’ functions and glory.