A very dear friend of mine from school told me she couldn't help but notice that all my blogs have a streak of feminism in it and that I wasn't so vocal about it in school. So I decided to dig deep and actually find out what triggered this in me.
I thought back and realized it wasn't one incident but different things at different times.
I first got vocal about feminism when my grandmother asked me to sleep on the floor because I had my period. I obviously didn't do it but I questioned her that day, why should I face something uncomfortable just because I'm a girl. "I go through cramps and backache and mood swings and still you want me to sleep on the floor? Nah! not done!"
Then it came out when I was studying in a girls college and the security guard pushed a girl back and told her she can't go just to hang out with guys. I fought that too. Joined my college in protest. I had started to think this is a trait common to uneducated people. But I was proven wrong when I met bigger families and experienced a different setting. I was raised in a nuclear family where my father respected my mother's views and she had always been a strong woman who practically raised my brother and me alone because dad needed to travel for business requirements. Here, I heard subtle words flying around, with educated men and women saying things like, "The men in the house are here to decide on things" .
It's in my nature that I might listen to some things you tell me to stay away from; some dangerous things. But if it's a normal thing you do and you tell me not to do it because I'm a girl, then I'll definitely do it! I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, but that's just how I am designed.
When I had a stroke and was in a hospital in India, one of my relatives visited me. It was a very sweet gesture, but when she saw me, instead of asking me how I was feeling, she asked," why do you have a tattoo on your arm?! Girls these days do all these stuff and then end up like this in hospitals!" Now if it was my husband, he would smile and let go. But me being me, I asked "Aunty are you more concerned about my stroke or the fact that I'm flaunting a tattoo?"
I strongly stand by personal choices and freedom, be it a man or a woman. And I've noticed people commenting especially about women making and standing up for personal choices. These situations are what make most women question them and then we are called "feminists"! People oppress people, that's when they fight back. This is what history has shown and proven! Racism, Feminism are all two sides of the same coin!
I can't promise, but I'll genuinely try to take it a notch down. I don't plan my blogs. My topic depends on what I feel like writing, when I sit at the computer. Hopefully my next one doesn't paint the town pink!
Humbly,
A true feminist :)
