Follow your heart, because this world is misleading. Because all these rules are made by men. All these religious obligations, cultural impositions and regulations are made, built and cemented by men, for men, to serve men. To serve their dreams, their lives, their ambitions, for their entertainment.
THIS IS A MAN’S WORLD. How liberating it is to know that. Because I am not bound by their rules anymore. I can make my own rules, my own world, even if it doesn’t make sense to others. How liberating it is to know that I don’t fit here, in this society that was not made for me.
All these years, I tried, I tried hard to make sense of these rules. To make sense of the unfair burden carried on my head. To make sense of the fact that my life is controlled by everyone, when it is MY life. ONLY MINE.
Now that I know that it’s a Man’s world and all these rules are made to take away control of my life from me, I don’t feel confused anymore. Now things have started to make sense, and I can make sense of how intricately these rules, superstitions, laws, policies, cultures, and traditions are built, brick by brick, in the name of honour, civilization, only to crush half of its population under its burden, their dreams and aspirations for their lives in this man’s world. Unless you stay vigilant, fight, argue, negotiate, they will take it away from you. THEY WILL TAKE YOUR LIFE AWAY FROM YOU.
It is not a one-time battle, but an everyday fight. Fight for respect, recognition, to be treated as an equal, to not be boxed in a stereotype, to get an equal opportunity, to get paid for what I deserve, to not be harmed, to not be abused, to not be killed, for just being a woman.
To be born as a woman in this world is to fight against this world, to fight against the status quo. This is the price you pay, they say. And I am ready to pay it, over and over again. To fight against it, to build a world I dream of, and I deserve to live in.
A world where I am not forced to serve the whims and fancies of men, to not serve the system that is built for men. A World where I am not forced to serve the religion that was created for men, to not obey the God that was created by the men.
I want to build my own world. I want to build a world where kindness, love, respect, collaboration, empathy thrives. A world where I am treated like a human without discrimination. Where everyone gets equal and fair opportunity to live and lead a life.
A world where women are not forced to stuck in a cycle of marriage. Where they are not stuck being someone else’s daughter, wife, or a mother. Where women can choose those roles, where they can wholeheartedly embrace those roles, not out of guilt or fear or loneliness but out of love and care. Where Women have childhoods, where their bodies are not sexualized before they even know, before they even own it.
A World where women are not treated as fertile land, a breeding ground, where everyone is eyeing to raise their best crops in her. A world where women are not scared of their biological clock, the number of healthy eggs left in them, and where they are forced to settle for less than what they deserve. A World where the currency of her value is not her youth. A World where she doesn’t have to hide or lessen the number of years she was born, breathed and walked on this earth as a human.
A world where women are not treated as a responsibility, a burden on their families. A World where she is not treated as a servant, a maid, a babysitter and a child bearer.
A world where women are not expected to lose or gain inches of their precious bodies for someone else’s pleasure. A world where women are not shamed, for listening to their bodies, for listening to their conscience. Where they are not abused, assaulted and killed for loving, longing and seeking pleasure.
Women are more than all those roles, all those expectations, all those obligations.
A world where women can be at leisure without guilt, enjoying each moment of their lives with pleasure, confidence and joy.
A world where women love themselves, for being who they are and what they are becoming. Where women are not forced to hide the lines, scars and marks they have, to appease someone, to appease a man, but where they embrace that each line, scar and mark to cherish the lives they lived.
Where women don’t have to silence their thoughts, their instincts, their impulses, to comfort men and their fragile egos. Where women are not silenced to show how smart and capable they are. Where women are not humiliated for thinking, thinking out loud, for being confident, for being right. Where women are not seen as a threat for holding an opinion, a thought different from theirs, different from the status quo.
A world where women are not silenced for their anger, where their pain is not undermined and where they are not left to endure their struggles alone. Where they are not silenced to speak against, for being treated inhumanely, unequally and ruthlessly by men, by religion, by the system.
Where women can cry their hearts out, burst into laughter loudly, unapologetically. Where women are not being judged for being a human, for their mistakes, for their missteps. Where women are not killed for daring to live their lives on their terms. Where women can dream endlessly, without doubting their capabilities.
I WANT TO BUILD THAT WORLD. I want to live in that world. I want to live a hundred lives there as a woman. For now, in this man’s world, I hope I am not crushed before I build at least a room for myself, in my world, before I realize my dream, before I see care-free smiles of the women, without the fear of tomorrow.
WILL YOU JOIN ME TO BUILD THIS WORLD?!
