I will not
Written on
Today I will not hold back
Today I will not brush away sexism as just another thing women have to live with
Today I will call out my family and friends when they say misogynistic things and tell me to just ‘take a joke’
Today I will let them know they aren’t funny if the only joke they can tell involves stereotypes and worn out cliches from days of yore
Today I will not stand objectification and Stories that make diamonds and pearls out of women (first because I am not a grain of sand or parasite that disturbed an oyster’s peace and second because I am a frikkin human being not a possession to be locked away in your prehistoric jewel box)
Today I will scream, ladylike, because ladies have vocal boxes and can run out of the infinite patience we are expected to keep
Today I will laugh at the faces of those who think we are less because of what’s between our legs
Today I will mourn the lives lost to the silly jokes and Whatsapp forwards that’s built brick by brick, the endurance of this culture of rape
Today I will rage against this growing tide of hate
that sees women as a collage of sexualized body parts and crevices that need to be filled
with force if required
Today I will not bite my tongue and hold my quiet
Today I raise my shaking hands and say:
Enough
It’s time to strike back
Nazreen Fazal
Writer, Wife, Mother, Indian, Muslim. So many labels, one me. I write, I rant, I ramble in order to make sense of everything happening around. Join me on this journey as I share snippets of my life, going about work, my parenting wins and fails, and the murky waters that's long distance marriage.
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