I Don't Have a Sexual Bone in My Body...

...she said as soon as we started her session. I cannot begin to express my sheer giddy delight in proving to her that she could not have been more wrong. Is it that we, starting from when we are little girls, are taught that our sensuality should be well hidden? Is it that we are raised to believe it's not "lady-like" to be sexual and to have a desire to seduce...to be so deliciously seductive? Or, could it be that we (women) all have been, whether consciously and powerfully, or deep down and even unconsciously, dipped in the feminist pool of "be one of the guys" so long that we simply don't believe we can be both? A sexual being that owns her body and her pleasure-seeking-self just as deeply as she rules a conference room, emergency room or even the pulpit?

We are living in a time when women have so much power, yet so little self-acceptance. The polar properties of these concepts are so fascinating. We can make billion dollar deals by day and crumble into a pile of mess at the site of ourselves naked in a mirror in the very same evening.

Can you be both? Yes. Do you need to have provocative, artful and powerful photos taken of yourself to prove this? No. But it sure is a hell of a lot of fun.

She was shy, pushing her nervous shoulders into her chin while she maneuvered her shirt so that when she moved I couldn't see her breasts. She giggled with her head down when I told her how incredibly sexy she is. But when I lifted my camera to meet her eye, all of a sudden the woman deep inside appeared. She was strong, cool, so seductive and in control. She was all curves and confidence. Her chin tilted to the ceiling. Her lips parted as she breathed softly through her mouth. Her eyes lazily taking in the lens as if it were a man she wanted to seduce. She was all power.

So yes, my beautiful dear, you have many bones in that body waiting to be reckoned with. ;-)

Stunning makeover by Hannah Conard of Hannah Conard Beauty.