This week has been difficult. Like many of you, I too am struggling to process the information and news that seems to arrive at a pace that makes it near impossible to digest in a healthy, grounded way.

From what is unfolding in Afghanistan to the abortion laws in Texas, it would seem that women and those with vaginas are the primary targets.

NB; Not all women have vaginas, not all men have penises and not all humans identify with those binary identities.

I believe that body autonomy is vital to communities in which freedom is held as value. That includes decisions we make about what we ingest, digest, and inject. And, in these times of pandemics (Covid, opioid crisis) it’s not simple nor is it easy. We are, after all, all still human trying to figure out a bunch of stuff.

And, here’s what I found to be particularly heartbreaking and painful this week; the co-opting of the phrase "My Body, My Choice".

As someone who has numerous folks in my extended community who have made the choice to terminate pregnancies for many, many reasons, or who have had to terminate them because of the health risks to their own bodies, let’s be clear that a person with a vagina making or having to choose to terminate a pregnancy is not the same thing as someone choosing not to be vaccinated.

Going to the pool, a bar, a restaurant, a concert, a fitness class is not a right. It’s a privilege. How do we know this? Well, because for generations people with privilege literally banned folks of Colour, Queer folks, disabled folks, poor folks, and so forth from entering, visiting, or participating in these spaces.

Here’s what privilege means:

If you hold any of the following identities, as I do, then you hold privilege. That means that a whole bunch of things in life are afforded to us simply because of how we look, how our body works, our ancestry:

• White

• Cisgendered

• Heterosexual (‘Straight’ for the folks in the back)

• Able-bodied

• Generational wealth (let’s be clear that this doesn’t mean you or I are rich, it means that our ancestors owned land, property, a home, business; that we may or did have access to post-secondary education)

So while I may not fully agree with the rollout of vaccine passport, and how that is impacting folks, what I am inviting us all to consider is that choosing not to be vaccinated is just that - a choice. You still have autonomy over your body, and yes there are consequences to that choice which may be extremely unfair, however, it is still a choice.

This is not discrimination based on your gender, your ethnicity, the colour of your skin, your sexual orientation, your physical or mental capacities. It is the consequence of choice, and that is not the same as a person with a vagina being denied the option to have an abortion, or a woman experiencing extreme oppression because of her gender.

So, please, if you want to protest or if you are upset about the vaccination passports, I implore you to please find language and phrasing that doesn’t co-opt or minimize or victimize people who have or are actually losing their freedoms.

Because here’s the thing, your privilege allows you to protest, to choose, to use your own language within the safety of your body.

That is not the case for all humans.

**I am not interested in a debate about mandatory vaccinations. Feel free to take that to your own page, what I am curiosity about is how we navigate our own inherent privilege, our body autonomy and do so in a way that doesn't harm. Because right now, that's what's happening - regardless of your stance on vaccinations, passports, and freedom.**