And I knew the words to "Let's Talk About Sex, Baby." Words that seemed scandalous but were so freeing. I don't know how men experienced that song, but it gave women control and voice. Intimacy is something talked about not something you're talked into or worse.
There are moments I shake my head with the new sex ed restrictions where we try to stop the knowledge and quiet the voices. If sex is not freely discussed in our homes and schools, then why would we imagine our children will find their voices when they are most needed?
But Carrie Fisher.
I finally let my tears run. I'm embarrassed to grieve for a star like this, but she was so much more.
Carrie Fisher as my friend described her was the first of the "badass princesses." She was so strong and capable. Princess Leia was our hero in the 70s because she was a woman with a blaster and a mission.
She was a woman with authority and grace.
I know it was a character, but Carrie Fisher was truly a strong and brave woman. Folks who figure out how to live with addictions are some of the strongest and bravest people I know. There weren't many women who modeled that for us as little girls in the 70s.
We had Barbies as our norm.
Women were breaking ground in new fields of work, but that was not the norm and often fodder for jokes.
The thought of female pastors in the Lutheran Church was still scandalous and slightly ridiculous.
Princess Leia changed it all in our minds. We could live with authority and grace.
I once had a woman drop her kids off at VBS and ask me if I would have authority over a man at any time while her kids were at the church. She would be unable to have them participate if I went against that Biblical mandate.
Yes, I have authority. And grace. It's part of the calling.
It doesn't stop the humiliation from bubbling up and biting at times; the shaming of sex and gender. But I like to imagine that Princess Leia gave us all some courage to blast our way through those times.
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