An Open Letter to the Women of the Society | Teen Ink

An Open Letter to the Women of the Society

May 18, 2017
By Anonymous

Nothing new in terms of what you've listened to already. This is an issue I'm writing about with not only dawns upon the Indian society but the world we all exist in. What strikes in your mind when I utter the word 'Feminism'? Sexist? Women Empowerment? Mere human beings demanding for gender rights? Let me begin with an example of my personal experience, I was 13 when I first heard my aunt influencing my father to give birth to a baby boy, they said they were just having a discussion, something only grown ups could understand. Little did they know that this tiny soul and heart of mine was aware about it all, I had watched and read news channels and papers being bombarded and flooded with this idea, it was 2013 then. It's 2017 now, I've heard politicians and activists, poets and journalists spitting vows and commitments on eradicating this issue, but even though the society believes in women empowerment almost 90% of the families in our country believe that women are to be subdued. I was asked to keep my neck covered and legs hid behind the sheer cloth. I was asked to come back to my roof, before the ambience went aloof. I was supposed to make it look I was desperate for it, even though my heart ached when it did. I was asked to study with everything in me not so that I could get a job and earn my honour but so that they could find an appropriate man for me. They asked me to learn the household chores not for the benefit of myself, but for feeding and comforting the stomach and heart of the man they found for me. I was asked to remain fit "Oh look at you, you're growing fat" my relatives would take a hit, but it was not for the benefit of myself, but it was for the man they found for me. I was threatened to remain quiet and doze my sadness off with the face behind my veil. Oh it's not easy for me and it isn't for any mother, sister, or cousin of mine or yours. How long are you going to be the monster who'd shut up and watch the show? Why are we asked to lower our voices down and keep our eyes low, oh you dear dear men, what is it in you that you walk around with such pride and glow? I've got two hands, two legs a body with a layer of skin to cover my flesh, there's nothing unique in you my dear men that you flaunt it with such marvel. If you say that us humans are supposed to be the children of one, then oh my dear men who are you to judge who would be the upper one? For I've been silenced all these years it's time for me to rise, from the sands and times of past that have left me so suppressed. You can't no more ask me to do as you command, for I've got a brain and soul to feed, with my own wishes and demands.


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