Why do we need feminism today?

If you read the title of this post and thought, "you've already done an post or two on Feminism" (which you can read here and here), you're right, congratulations.

But, you hear so many people clearly stating that they're all for gender equality, but they would never call themselves a feminist???why??? 

bro

This confuses me, so I thought I would go on another feminist rant highlighting it's importance in the 21st century  (you can thank me later).

So, I decided to make a list of why we need feminism today, voilà:

We need feminism because women and men still aren't treated as equals:

• The pay gap
• Lots of women around the world can't access secondary, or even basic education
• Women can't drive in Saudi Arabia
• Women pay more for everyday things (deodorant, razors, and sanitary products)
• We're underrepresented in government 

We need feminism because people say things like this:

• "I wish we lived in the 1970s when girls wouldn't argue back"
• "I don't need to know how to cook because I'm a boy!"
• "In a relationship, the man is the head of his wife"
• "sit like a girl"
• "OMG how gay"

We need feminism because the LGBTQ community needs equal rights as straight people:

• Being able to go to public toilets without any issues
• Being able to get married where they please
• Generally not being made fun of because of their sexuality

We need feminism because it represents men too:

• Male rape victims, who can't speak up for fear of not being "manly" enough 
• Trans men who are transitioning 
• Men scared to express feelings that aren't "manly" (i.e. the idea that they're scared or hurt etc)
• Men who shame their bodies because they don't fit society's rugged stereotype 
• Men who feel they can't be interested in cooking, or cleaning because it's just too "feminine" 

Well, that's it folks, I hope you are now a proud feminist (or at least you learned something there, that's okay too)

You tell em' girl. 

A woman's cry

She was told she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders,
so gently, she shrugged it off,
stripping herself bare,
her raw flesh exposed to the sun,
the curve of her breasts, the silkiness of her legs blazing under its heat,
yet she did not feel any lighter

Instead she swallowed your gasps and whistles,
impulsively, like air she cannot live without the shame,
which hastily weaves itself over her lungs,
so every time she breathes, she aches with the pain you put her through

And she collapses.
Because suddenly, the weight of the world is nothing compared to you,
sitting on her shoulders,
squashing her pride,
marking your territory.

Letting go

Your mouth is a weapon of mass destruction,
I swallow you whole like poison,
letting you dribble through my veins,
your warm hands encasing my heart,
squeezing it tight,
then tighter       then tighter        then ti..

putting your ear to my slowly rising chest,
you sigh,
my chest flattens again,
you press your ear harder,
I breathe, you sigh
I breathe, you sigh

You're gripping my heart so tightly,
if were to you let go,
your rugged hands would be forever implanted on my soul,
prying it open,
so that I lose myself through all the cracks you've created in my skin.

I breathe, you sigh
I breathe, you laugh
you laugh at your hands,
your blood stained hands, still clinging to my heart
you laugh at me,
I'm the punchline of your joke.

You laugh so much you cry,
and a tear falls onto my cheek,
you laugh so much your insides hurt almost as much as mine,
A hand flies to your stomach, trying to heal the pain,
your eyes still shut,
because, so are mine.



I began writing this poem about mental health, in particular, depression. Having said that, sometimes less is more, so I'm going to shut up and let you interpret this as you will. 

Who am I?

What defines you? 

A pretty standard question, with a not-so-standard answer.

So, when I first meet someone, I would tell them my name, where I'm from, and sometimes you can tell if the person you just met is religious, if they wear anything obvious (like turbans, head scarves or a cross around their neck).

That's pretty funny, isn't it?

We introduce ourselves, by telling people all about the stuff our parents inflicted upon us moments after we were born: our names, our nationalities, and religion (if you were born into one)- this isn't stuff we chose ourselves.

But does this mean that all of this doesn't define me?
Kinda.

The thing is, people are going to look at the scarf on your head, the colour of your skin or the name on your tag and come up with some judgement within seconds. That's just human nature, and the influence of society.

But their opinions of your name/ nationality/ religion don't define you- what defines you is your opinion of yourself.

You could change your name and stop wearing a turban if you wanted, but then people would just come up with something new to put you down. 

You HAVE to be comfortable in your own skin, and if making changes like the above make you feel that way, then do it. But only to please yourself, not that judgy old lady that lives two doors down.

So, maybe you can define yourself by the amount of happiness within you, or the amount of self worth, or how much you value you give to people's opinions about you.

Either way, you should define yourself as something beautiful. 

I've been living in the future since I was seven

Back in his "High School Musical days" Zac Efron wisely said that "we should all live in the moment" (or something like that...give me a break it was like ten years ago).


Anyways, being a major Troy Bolton fan, seven year old me thought about this for days and days and noted how many times I caught myself worrying about the future:

• What am I having for dinner tonight?
• How many never-ending lessons until lunch?
• Am I going to watch "H2O" tonight or "Hannah Montana" tonight (probably both, if you were wondering)

And now it's more like:

• Am I going to pass my A levels???
• Am I going to get into uni???
• What's am I having for dinner tonight???

So, ten years on, turns out I'm still worrying about the future, I just have different questions ( kind of). I guess that means I've been living in the future since I was seven.

And, that's okay, thinking ahead is just part of who I am. But, sometimes I'm afraid I'm not appreciating the moment for what it is, which is a bit of a loss.

I mean if your friend has just fallen up the stairs and you didn't catch it because you were so spaced out worrying about next month's rent, well, you missed out on a great opportunity to laugh at them, and that sucks. big time. 

So, from now on, every time I find myself thinking two hours ahead of time, I'm going to give myself a virtual slap and just take a second to appreciate where I am and all of the amazing things going on around me. 

I hope Zac Efron is proud. 

It's not all black and white

Isn't it ironic how in western society, we crave darker skin (as seen by the surplus amount of tanning salons), but white supremacy still exist?

Isn't it ironic, how in Eastern society, we crave lighter skin (as seen through the surplus amount of bleaching cream adverts), but there's still stigma surrounding white culture?

Having lived in England for pretty much all of my life and having grown up attending an all girls school, I've become accustomed to the popularity of fake tans. 

Party coming up? Fake tan.
Birthday? Fake tan.
Summer? Maybe go for a real tan. 

People lust over achieving that sun-kissed look because they think it helps define beauty what beauty is.

On the flip side of things, certain places in South Asia (namely Pakistan and India), people dream of having whiter skin, because in their society, this is what is considered the epitome of beauty. (Seriously, it's like someone could reject your hand in marriage because your skin is more pigmented- *rolls eyes forever*)

So, just to recap:

• In white society, people crave darker skin
• In brown society, people crave lighter skin

And this tells us:

• Both societies put us down for not having the perfect skin tone
• which in turn makes us feel like crap 
• so we turn to tanning salons and bleaching creams to fill the growing void inside us 
• but we should really just accept ourselves as who we are 
• screw you society

So, in Western society, we may love being tanned, but we also love being white: white supremacy.
Note: this is not an idea all white people, or even the majority of white people seem to agree with.

You may think racism is over, but boy are you wrong!

Did you know there were more than 87 000 racist incidents in schools across the UK in 2012? That's pretty much teaching kids that it's okay to make fun of someone because of where they're from (boo).

Now, back to South Asia: when I visited there this summer, I couldn't help but notice that people there were less open change, I guess.
Note: this again does not apply to all Pakistanis and Indians. 

For instance, the LGBT community is something which is a lot more accepted in England. This is probably down to a few things: the media not including lesbian/bi/trans characters in TV shows; religion; etc. 

So, don't you find it ironic that:

• In white society, people crave darker skin
• But some (not the majority) of these people may believe being white is the same as being the best
• In brown society, people crave lighter skin
• But, white culture may not be accepted by many 

So, what I'm trying to say is that, society will supply you with a vast amount of crap, and all you've really got to do it accept yourself and others for who they really are. 

#prayforhumanity

All my thoughts are prayers go out to those affected in Paris.
Going through my timeline on various social media, I've seen mixed responses to the monstrous attack that happened yesterday. Most-if not all- people have changed their profile picture, showing they stand behind Paris. This makes my heart swell a little; maybe not all humanity is lost.
However, over the last couple of years,we've witnessed an unfortunate amount of terrorist attacks , and in most cases, the victims did not receive nearly enough support.
Do you remember the 2014 attack on the Peshawar school? 141 killed. 132 of them were children. We dismissed it pretty fast, assuming atrocities like this to be the norm in somewhere like Pakistan. But did you know that during this attack, masked murderers poured fuel over a teacher's head and made ten year olds watch as she was burned to the stake? This is not the norm.
More recently, hardly any media coverage was given to the families of the 282 victims of the Lebanon attack, where corpses were found scattered all over the streets. Do these lives not matter?
At least 19 were killed in Baghdad, attending a funeral on Friday. A funeral.
And what about the numerous cowardly attacks that go on in Syria every day? Why do we only recognise the absolute horror of them when they hit close to home?
Why did we not change our profile pictures when these unjust tragedies happened? Why did countries worldwide only light up their buildings when terrorism hit France? No one life holds any greater importance than another.
So, of course I am praying for Paris, but I am also praying for Pakistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and wherever else terrorists have struck.
The second thing I noticed as I scrolled through Facebook and Twitter was the incomprehensible amount of Muslims actively saying they condemn what happened in Paris, and that they are not terrorists. This goes unsaid.
It's sickening to think that every time something awful happens in the world, the majority of the time, Muslims are at the backlash of it. Why should they have to keep defending themselves if they're innocent?
As much as Fox News would hate to admit, not all Muslims are terrorists and not all terrorists are Muslims.
That's all there really is to it.