I am a woman but not…
I am not all about lipstick, mascara and kajal. I am not all about going to the parlor and getting my limbs waxed. I am not all about cooking over and over. I am not all about toiling in the kitchen day and night. I am not all about attending kitty parties and gossiping around. I am not all about posting PDA pictures on Facebook. I am not all about tweeting every moment of my life. I am not all about teddy bears and soft toys. I am not all about clothes and shopping. I am not all about glam-ups and high heels. I am not all about cleaning the house and handling your mess. I am not all about rash driving and accidents. I am not all about poor financial management. I am not all about being scared of cockroaches and lizards. I am not all about being a cleanliness freak. I am not all about crying at movies. I am not all about being a daily soap addict. I am not all about being an object of your sexual fantasies. I am not all about my hip and breasts. I am not all about docility and submission. I am not all about being used and dumped. I am not all about being my parent’s burden. I am not all about producing progeny. I am not all about being a mother. I am not all about chastity and devotion. I am not all about manhandling and subjection. To know my story, you need to dig profoundly. Your descriptions are only a simplification of my uncanny existence for your convenience. I am a woman and my personality has a lot more substantiality to it than your prescribed bunch of definitions embedded in stereotypes, prejudices and hypocrisy. For once if you attempt to excavate, your humanity will meet a new peak. You will realize how since time immemorial I have been battling against your obscure comprehensions of my identity. You will realize how brutally you have handled me. Keep yourself in my place and you will recognize the sheer ignorance you have shown to me. My presence has been a puppet of your presumptions. Astonishingly, the truth will be a shocker to your finding. What I have, you have never seen. Come, explore my life, my struggles, my identity crisis from a closer, tranquil, real, unbiased level, you will picture the reality, the one you have never seen, heard, known or imagined. And you may just end up discovering, I am the opposite of everything you thought I am.
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About the Author: This article is contributed by Ojaswini Srivastava. Ojaswini is a Respect Women’s contributor and a student of English Literature at the University of Delhi, who looks forward to study and work on gender issues. Believing herself as a feminist, an agnostic, thinker and writer, she aspires to become a respected writer someday!
