Dear Feminism, Stop letting others define you Use your voice Let them know you’re not all pink frills and quiet sobs and candle marches.
Dear Feminism, Don’t let them use you the way they want You aren’t just a word or an object or a sister or a mother or even a friend You get to be whatever you want to, scratch away your labels with your razor sharp manicure.
Dear Feminism, If someone assaults your dignity, rapes you off of your self-respect Let them know loud and clear that consent is a basic human right, You deserve a basic human right, Because you are human.
Dear Feminism, Silence those who think that you like being catcalled, You are not the animal, They are, they are the loud, crass beasts and they think they can ‘get’ you? You are not a trophy or a prize or a sandwich or a promise or a mistake. Let them know.
Dear Feminism, Teach wives who have given up on their dreams that it is okay to not always live in reality, Let them know that if their husbands forcefully consummate their marriage, It is not okay It is a CRIME And they don’t always need to be victimised.
Dear Feminism, Let young girls realise that you don’t need to win over a guy through his stomach, You don’t belong in the kitchen, You belong out there in the world changing it with your ideas.
Dear Feminism, Let men know that they don’t become feminists if they have a female relative or female family member, They don’t become feminists if they use you as a word to ‘catch’ women like Pokemon, They also aren’t feminists if they think a girl needs their stamp of approval that she looks pretty or that she’s smart or that she can work after marriage, If a man thinks that way then he’s not even a real man.
Dear Feminism, In the end, let them know that you’re here to stay, Let them know that you’re strong enough to carry yourself and you aren’t here to pull the men down, but to push yourself up to their level, You can be mislead and betrayed by women too, But that’s what you’re here for, to let them know, let them know dear feminism.
– Aarushi Z.