When a young girl tried to speak against an uncle, teacher, cousin, she was told, “Shh I don’t think that is true and anyway don’t tell anyone, they won’t believe you.”
When a teenager tried speaking up, “You think you have become smart. Just shut up and first learn not to wear such clothes, stop going out with your friends, do not answer back. Boys are that way.”
When a young married girl tried to speak up, she was told, “This is how marriages are, men have high testosterone, they get angry, they need more sex, they wander around and sometimes they may slap you, just forgive.”
When working women spoke up, “Well, that is the price for going out to work, you have to be ready for all this. Just put your head down and work, if you work quietly, no one will bother you.”
When women decide to speak up together, “Oh, now they are getting influenced by the westerners. We don’t need women on the streets, they need to take care of their families.”
When we speak against sexual harassment, we are told, “Till the time everything was going great, you didn’t complain but when it goes against your wishes then you object.”
When a friend’s husband hits on you, your friend says, “At least he didn’t blame you, I am sure you too had a role in it.”
When a woman wants to leave an abusive marriage, she is told, “You manage it, it is your marriage, we all have to compromise.”
When you object to abuse in public transport, you are told, “If you have a problem with the crowd, then travel in a taxi.”
When we speak, we lose our jobs, friends, family, get acid on us and sometimes, lose our lives!
So, yes, girls and women have been trying to speak for years… they speak every day, every moment…they speak through their words, actions and silence…
This is not against a gender. In fact a lot of the above statements were made by women, mothers, mother-in-laws, female friends, female boss, female psychiatrist and counsellor!
BUT if we need change, try to introspect- how many times have you REALLY heard them… without any judgement or need for explanation.