Happy Women’s Day

Women’s Day post

‘’ Worry less about fitting into glass slippers, and more about shattering glass ceilings.’’

So, a Happy Women’s Day to all my lovely friends, sisters, mom, etc bla bla bla -.- (no wait, that’s not how I begin. Women are humans) 

Let me rephrase my statement:

Happy Women’s Day to my dearest people in my life who represent someone themselves- unapologetic, imperfect, dauntless women. 

Women’s Day... it all started with the suffrage (voting) rights and the struggle for basic rights. Oh, I’m not going to get into that all, but yeah this struggle to be recognised as a female human being took shape into the second wave for getting right to income equality and social equality, freedom of basic expression, etc etc. & then the third wave of feminism which has questioned society’s restrictions on women’s freedom of sexual expression and the internalised misogyny (girls hating other girls yay!). 

And now. We all claim to be in an apparently ‘equal’ world (lol no).

To be honest? We live in a world where the oppression faced by women in third world countries is addressed more than that in ‘first’ world countries. Because no ones wants to understand the genuine struggles faced by the modern, educated, liberal woman. 

Now the question arises, are we really free as women? 

Oh, let us reflect on our daily lives. If you’re a girl, you’ll be told hundreds of instructions before leaving the house. You’ll be questioned on every dress you wear. Oh right, we live in an (awesome!) world where the length of the skirt determines if you’re a ‘slut’ or not. 

Oh, and then you must’ve heard some people say ‘the #metoo and #timesup has been misused’.  So what do you wanna prove?? That other women (& men) don’t undergo sexual harassment? Should you silence a platform that helps the real survivors of sexual assault only for a small fraction of false allegations? Yes, false accusations must be punished with as it diverts people from reaching out to the real survivors for help. 

Let me tell you, the fear on the streets has always been more than the fear behind the bars. Now, tell me if we have achieved a safe atmosphere for women?

It’s 8 March. Women’s Day. That one day onwards from where we can stop acting ignorant all the time, a day from when we can stop calling other women b^tches. Have you even wondered why should that be considered derogatory? I mean, so many people find dogs cute and their puppies (omg yaas); but go around calling women they dislike as bitches. Basically, meaning to say: being feminine is a sin. 

Oh, and our society at large, has become more accepting of homosexuality and the LGBTQ movement. But has one really accepted freedom of sexual expression? It’s a total irony that some of the same dehumanise heterosexual women for being women. For being human beings with their own desires. 

Not only as far as sexuality is concerned, it also narrows down to menstrual health. Having a healthy conversation about menstrual health is still a taboo in many countries including India. Tell me once more, women are women?  We live in this land, where a goddess is idealised but a human being: a bleeding woman is shamed for being a woman?

And you must’ve come across people who say women should be respected because they’re our moms, sisters, wife, daughters, bla bla bla. Oh my God, I’m so done with this. 

Can you not genuinely respect a woman because she’s a human being and not because she’s related to you? Just like how you’d respect a man in a genuine way? 

The day we’d have the real women’s day is the day, when women are seen as humans beings. When women are seen as equal subjects who can walk on the streets fearlessly, without having been made to give a damn about societal expectations. When women  are someone, not someone’s. When women are not body shamed, slutshamed and so on. When freedom of expression lets them be humans. 

For, as the ReebokWomen ad campaign starring Gigi Hadid (oh yes she’s my favourite) says:

Perfect never, be more human. 

Let us all cherish the lovely, beautiful, unapologetic, outspoken, sinful human beings in us.  A happy Women’s Day xx.