Sexism
VIDHI SHARMA
Emma Watson wrote and I quote, “I don't want other
people to decide what I am. I want to decide that for myself.” Being a woman,
maybe this is one thing each of us should remind ourselves every single day,
not because we are the so-called weaker gender, or because we have to 'subvert
the patriarchal paradigm', but more rightfully so because no one has the
license to prove anyone else weaker when all they know is their own struggles.
Somehow, the society has blended into a form where
everything has a tinch of sexism in it. It's too normalized to even think of an
example to state when there's sexism everywhere around you. "You can't run
fast? It's fine you're a girl.", "You don't how to play action video
games? Well, there are very few cool girls around so doesn't matter.",
"Why are you acting so childish? Never mind, girls are like that”. You
see, it doesn't even take a blink of an eye to say something that suppresses
the whole idea of equality. A person who practices athleticism will definitely
run fast, it's not whether they're a girl or a boy that should lead you to say
that a specific gender cannot do things. A person who is interested in hardcore
action will surround their interest towards that kind of games only and it can
be both a girl and a boy. Similarly, its individual people who may act childish
or it might even be subjective opinions that someone else is behaving in a manner
they find childish but this, in no way, gives anyone a right to say that a particular
gender is more childish than the other.
The more
okay we are, with littlest of the things that show women as an inferior gender,
the closer we are to accepting this instilled male dominance naturally. This
has to end somewhere, but one person acting different, or going against the
norms of the society may look like another woman attracting unwanted attention
when all they want is to attract a better mindset which thinks in a more
liberal way. Maybe we need to start changing the smallest of sentences and say
them better.
Maybe when someone says, "It's fine because you
are a girl," let's stop them and correct them. "It's fine because I
want it this way, and someone else may choose different." Maybe when
people get surprised to see a woman being braver 'than they generally are',
let's tell them a woman can be braver than a man when she needs to be, and even
if they aren't on the upfront, carrying bravery in the heart might just be the
next best thing. Right here, right now, we have a chance to redefine femininity
and let's come up with choices so brilliant and so many, that they can't
remember no longer who a woman is, if not a little fire left in the ashes of
time.
Editor’s Note: Yes, let’s
redefine femininity. Let’s correct all the people who say “It’s okay because
you are a girl”.
Feminism is a small term
with a broad meaning and often misunderstood for its meaning. Feminism is not
fighting for a ‘woman’s right’. Feminism means fighting for ‘equality of all
genders’.
If you also have something
to write about or speak about, do it now. We encourage our audience to be the
‘voice of change’.
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