I was born unfortunate. I was born female. As a young child, I had become acquiesced with my roles – my place was in the kitchen. I was expected to look pretty, I could be clever as far as it came with a double dose of humility and I was to ultimately aspire to get married.
I once took part in an oratory contest in junior secondary school. I stood in front of a class of 30 students and read sentences I had spent the previous night composing. I lost sleep, only for the end of my speech to be met with a “such a beautiful piece, coming from a girl” comment made by my teacher. As a 12 year old, my teacher’s words solidified my knowledge that girls aren’t supposed to have such mastery of words, sewing maybe, but not words.
I remember the first time my mother gave me the sex talk. My body wasn’t mine, so I learnt that day. I learnt that I must deny every man I met in the journey of life the ultimate price of my virginity if I wanted a guarantee of my husband’s love. I learnt that my worth was tucked between my legs and cross legged I must remain till the time came for my husband to be bestowed his price.
In a society where girls are taught to shrink themselves,to make themselves smaller, where girls are told to aim not to be too successful as that could frighten the man, feminism has come to bell the cat. I write to tell you of the wars feminism has fought for me, the cat and won.
Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the genders. Society says men should be heard, feminism says women too should be heard with just as much ferocity. With feminism, I know that my place in life doesn’t start in the kitchen neither does it end in the bedroom and that there’s no limit to what I can achieve as a woman. I know, and I am able to support my argument that the compliment “beauty and brains” is a carefully crafted insult directed at myself and other females at large connoting that a woman should have either of beauty or intelligence and situations where both mutually exist, is infact a rarity.
Feminism has taught me that I can be a sexual being in the way that boys are. My body is mine and I can do as I so please with it. Feminism challenges the status quo. Why are women made to aspire to marry and men are not? I know that there’s more to life than male attention contrary to what society dictates and I must continually seek out my personal development not for the sole purpose of finding a husband but for my benefit first before anything else.
Lastly, where Society says I cannot because I am female, feminism says I can because I am human.