Women Opinion Culture gender equality society

The Society We Live In Is Always Going To Be The Same And It's Scary

( words)
*For representational purpose only.

We may be living in the 21st century but have we really progressed? We talk about equality between men and women, but our society is far from it. Be it choosing a profession or a life partner, does this society give us the rights we deserve?

They say Community, Caste and Religion together build a ‘Society’ - ‘together’, isn’t it? Or did I miss something? Yes, I did and that something is ‘People’.

It is becoming increasingly shocking to see how people in today's society think and behave.

Here I am, a young girl with huge aspirations, many dreams and a lot of courage. But instead of encouraging me, my ‘well wishers’ have always done the opposite. “You are a girl, you need to have a safe future”, “You shouldn’t choose any dangerous line of work”, “Go for a trouble-free and safe profession” etc.

I’ve always wondered, “Is there any place on earth which is safe and secure for a girl?

What is the real meaning of dangerous? Which professions are safe for girls and which are not?” As a girl, I’m always wearing a mask, masquerading as someone else to prove to others, to society, that yes, I am happy; I am safe. But am I not lying to myself?

When I grew-up, I realized that among much other discrimination, there is an important one that we often disregard, the language of self-expression. My mother tongue is different and so is my language of expression, because of which I’ve been disgraced, verbally abused and received hate speech from my own group of people.

People make fun of me, laugh at me and dishonor me by saying that I cannot speak my own language convincingly, that I have no idea about my own ethnicity. They tell me that I should first learn my own language before communicating in another language. I am familiar with the fact that customs, languages and tradition affect people extensively.

If I communicate in another language, does it mean that I am not aware of my own culture and tradition?

I belong to a very small community of people. I like someone who is not from my community. Recently, I changed my status from ‘Single’ to ‘In a Relationship’ on a social networking site. This resulted in my so-called native ‘Brothers’ - Aaditya Sinha, Rajen Sinha and some others from my community taking screenshots of my status, uploading them to our common chat groups and humiliating me. Not only this, they harassed me via texts, and threatened me too! Following these great ‘role models,’ some other guys have also been harassing me, abusing me.

Don’t I deserve to live the way I want? Don’t I have the right to Freedom and Privacy?

But I did not utter a single word because I ‘respect’ these people. I respect their thinking because I cannot change it. Some people suggested that I ignore their words; some suggested that I take action against them while others asked me to stay calm. There are some people who supported me and I am really thankful to them, but this kind of behavior cannot be accepted, not at all.

It is said that we women should be self-regulating, not for others, but for ourselves. We should work hard so that we are neither economically nor emotionally reliant on anyone.

Although we live in contemporary times, in our metropolitan cities, with so-called modern people, I feel that nothing has changed.

Is there any privacy for us? Do we have any rights at all? Is this the way of living in a ‘Society’?

If it is, then I feel ashamed to be a part of it.

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