Just another rant…

I had to struggle with the fact that it wasn’t my fault. I had to deal with the anger and the pain and so I repressed it. I let it flow and felt the anger take over all of me. And now I realize that it wasn’t me but you.

You who shaped me, moulded me and tried to get me to conform to what you believe is right. You who suppresses, who loves, who is the mother, the father, the child, the wise elderly, the doctor, the labourer, the rebellious teenager, the educated, the beggar, the corrupt, the honest, the hard worker, the leech, the scrooge and the philanthropist. You who lays down that rules that must be followed which include every aspect of my existence from the amount of clean air I breathe to the person I love (and how). You who controls what restrictions should be imposed upon me “for my own good”: what clothes I should wear, where I should go, who I should associate with, what I can eat, what I can do; what I cannot achieve because there is an endless list of what I must not do. These are the restrictions that you have imposed upon me purely because of my sex.

It is you who allows me to be viewed as an object rather than person. You treat my kind as animals rather than thinking reasoning humans with minds of their own. It is you who makes the streets unsafe for us to walk on. Public places meant for leisure are places where we feel highly insecure. Even in our homes we are not safe. In our homes we suffer all sorts of abuse that ranges from sexual abuse to mental threats. Beatings, burnings, acid faces, incest and other forms of violence. Don’t tell me about your long hard day at work. I have a daughter who has just been molested, a sister who has just been burnt, a friend who has lost her face because acid was thrown on it and I am the victim of constant rape, but since it is by my husband, it is not considered wrong.

Thinking about liberation is not right. Talking about wanting rights that will make our position in society better for us as individuals, rather than role model daughters, wives and mothers is dismissed as ludicrous by you. By you who I keep referring to, I don’t just mean the males among you, I also mean the women who have the ability and the power to make a change but prefer avoiding conflict. By you I mean the educated ones who decided to give up on careers and settle for meaningless socialising after having bagged a rich one. By you I mean those who once felt the blazing desire to change their position, but have now lost all their idealism. By you I mean those who have the resources to help but prefer to turn a blind eye. By you I mean the aunties to raise their daughters to fall into the same disgusting cycle. By you I mean those who advocate arranged marriages where females are put on display like prized horses at a grooming show. By you I mean the ones who will willingly allocate a lot more resources for their sons rather than their daughters. By you I mean the ones who stay silent. By you I mean those who allow horrific acts to occur before your very eyes because it serves your purpose. By you I mean those who don’t encourage those of us devoting our lives to make this world a better place for you and your children… those who scoff at the idea of women’s studies… those who say that there is no need for feminism, but there is a need for human rights. If you can’t place your own women in your position, if you can’t lower your pedestal for you own mother, wife and daughter, how are you going to do so for those who do not belong to the same class and religion as you?