A Peaceful Letter With a Harsh Perspective

Hi,

We don't expect you to understand, but we will never give up. Were you ever taught to hide? You roam the streets that are made for everyone, owning them, letting your friends spew vulgar catcalls at us. 'Us' including our daughters, our sisters, and our friends. Standing there, either disgusted or emotionless, you do nothing because you make up excuses. What excuses? "My daughter would never dress like that' because if she did, it would be clearly her fault." Yes? When a woman unrelated to you gets harassed, it suddenly becomes so hard to entertain your male privilege, when you were so fine going out at 3 a.m. unworried. However, we were told to do specific things, because what is a lady without her productivity? Without her washed dishes, or cooked meals?

Were you ever shamed for the way you dressed as a kid? You see, some of us are forced to be modest in the scorching sun, because it seems like, otherwise, we get blamed for your actions. The greedy ones that prove our inferiority and threaten us for the rest of our lives. The ones so small like words, and the ones as large as your imagination. A small disclaimer: you were raised into this.

We are aware of toxic masculinity, and the pressure that falls on your shoulder from society too. However, our lives are at stake. Our mental and physical health is endangered. Standing up for each other is what we should do.

All we want is equality, and it starts by erasing many cultural ideologies that plague our minds. Maybe you will never feel the privilege you obtain unless it gets stripped away, or you actively fight for women's rights. No woman deserves to be blackmailed, assaulted, or harmed for whatever reason, even if you can't realize that your reasoning is just a product of denial and ignorance with a dash of indifference.

Whatever you do, always fight for us, until we get strong enough to be heard. And in the end, we fight for you too.

Bye.