We take too many things for granted - even when we know we're taking them for granted. We assume the next two days we're going to work on this project or that, finish this chore or the other, take our children to the park or the zoo. It takes only the suggestion of an illness to topple that confidence, to bring to surface the terrifying certainty that the next two days we're going to be invalid and all our beautiful 'well-laid' plans gone down the drain. No words can explain the emotion if that invalidity is expected to stretch for a lifetime.
We're constantly bound to our plans... or they are bound to us. We're also bound to a lot of other commitments, people, places and things. Some of them cast their chains upon us. Some too tight. Some too rigid. Some too powerful.
When we say Liberation - Women's Liberation and such - we are talking about breaking these chains. The people, specifically, that bind.
Imagine for a moment (if you could) that we have broken free from the first level of oppression. Imagine that we are beyond female infanticide, domestic abuse, sexual harassment and such atrocities that question human rights and dignity. Imagine that the world has been cleansed of these crimes.
Assume there is no man or woman to stop you from anything. As a woman you're free to walk, to roam, to fly, to rule, to manage, to lead, to learn, to do (almost) anything a man does, and more.
How long do you think you'll do it? Let's face it. After a while, as the novelty wears out, you'll be pulled back. Your home, your family, your husband, your child - they are the branches of the tree that's you. A woman can't really imagine herself without them. Without them she is a bare trunk, with amputated limbs. Without them, she is an empty, troubled piece of nothingness. They're forever bound to her, as she is to them. They are her responsibilities that she believes cannot go on without her.
Even if there is no one to harass her after dark, she wants to come home early.
Even if the maid cleans up and cooks every day, she wants to oversee the activities.
Even if the sick and old in the family can manage themselves, she wants to make sure they are warm and comfortable.
Even if she gives no damn about the society, she wants to make sure no one speaks ill about her and her family.
Even if no one cares whether she is around or not, she wants to make sure everything is just as it should be.
Not for anyone else. But for herself.
Even if no one cares whether she is around or not, she wants to make sure everything is just as it should be.
Not for anyone else. But for herself.
Even if there is a robust support system on which she could lean as she pursues her dreams and aspirations, there is still a magnet drawing her back. Sometimes it is called guilt. Sometimes it is called love. Sometimes it is called responsibility. Sometimes it is called belonging. Sometimes it is called the sense of ownership. Sometimes it is called struggle.
We're in a prison within ourselves. True Liberation means breaking free from the chains, from the wall we've built around us: Freedom from everything that makes us Women. Everything that signifies the essence of being a Woman.
And believe me, none of us want that kind of Liberation.
Therefore Ladies, please go back to your seats and carry on with your lives.
There is no Liberation happening here. Today or ever.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, somewhere up in the Himalayas, near Laddakh, women have ruled for centuries. They still loved their home, they were still caring...infact they loved and cared for more than one husband, a ritual that still exists in some families in Ladakh...STRI RAJYA is not a myth...it has been proven...liberation, power, freedom, family, love, care all can exist at the same time...but it do seem hard in todays world...
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Cheers!
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I think the font should be increased - For people reading from their laptops (like me), this font is very small. And yeah, as you say, the world is a viscous circle - for both men and women.
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