bird down

we are like birds whose wings have been cut off. we cannot fly. we live with anxiety and fear. we fear men and their actions. Jyoti Singh was only one of the billions of girls and women that have been victims of the brutal crimes committed by men. and she was blamed. for being out of the house at 8:00 pm on a sunday, coming home from a movie with a friend. for having a normal life. for being like anyone else. for doing something that only guys should be doing- living. her and her male friends boarded a bus where he was beaten and she was gang-raped and murdered. her intestines were pulled out of her and, when they met their “needs”, they threw her out on the side of the street and went about their lives. four men were arrested and, after over a month of protests on the streets, day after days, so that justice would be served, given the death penalty. the juvenile, who also raped and helped murder her, was put in a “special home” for only three years. “if the law thinks it’s right to marry a girl, a girl at the age of 12 or 13, then a 15-16 year old boy who rapes or harms a girl, why can’t HE be punished?” -mother of Jyoti Singh. in India, more specifically, Dehli, India, it is a “man’s right” in society to do as he wishes with any girl or woman.  Jyoti lasted 3 days in the hospital, the last thing, the last words, that she said to her mother was, “sorry mummy, i gave you so much trouble. i am sorry.” society has done this to us. men in our society have done this. to call them humans is to give humanity a bad name. if we call them monsters, even monsters have some limits. they went beyond the limits of the devil.

  • Australia: 35% raped, 15% reported
  • Canada: 1 in 3 women are raped, 6% is reported
  • Democratic Republic of Congo: more than 400,00 women raped per year
  • Denmark: 1 in 5 reported rapes result in conviction
  • Egypt: 96% have experienced genital mutilation
  • Ethiopia: 60% of women experience sexual violence
  • France: 1 in 10 women suffer domestic violence
  • Nigeria: 10 of 36 states’ law allows husbands to use physical force against wife
  • South Africa: women is raped every 26 seconds
  • Sri Lanka: it takes 6-12 years to resolve a rape case
  • UK: 33% of girls ages 13-17 have experienced sexual violence
  • USA: over 17.7 million women have been reportedly raped

1 in 3 women, globally, is beaten, raped, or abused.

1 in 5 will be a victim of rape or an attempt of rape

IT IS NOT OKAY!

it is somehow always the woman’s fault: she shouldn’t have been wearing that. she shouldn’t have been there. she shouldn’t talk to a stranger- she shouldn’t live a normal life.

even a police officer, from Dehli, believes that it is better that the girl is murdered, because if not, she will just be a walking shame, a walking corpse. i am not judging their culture or anyone else’s. but i do question their mindsets.

women have rights. the right to live, speak, smile, and be whatever a man can be. be proud to be a woman and take a stand for our ladies! we’ve only got each other ❤

end of the week lesson: you CAN choose your friends. and you are who you hang around with no matter how many            times you tell yourself you aren't. momma was right... you won't get anywhere if you surround yourself with people who drag you down. surround yourself with God. because even on wednesday when you skipped church to go hang out with your "friends",                                                   God was still your friend. and those people, they won't be there when you're in college struggling to pass because instead of paying attention in grade school, you wanted to text, gossip, and "live your life". they won't be there when you have to keep paying off your student loan. and they certainly won't be there when you're 67 and you're being sent to a retiring home.

to the boys that broke my heart:

i refuse to sit here and tell you all about how much you hurt me. how much i cried. about the countless tears i shed. or all those nights i didn’t sleep. i refuse!

instead… i thank you. for leaving, for cheating, for lying, for screaming, for hurting me.

you, sir, have helped me grow. you showed me what life is. it is pain, smiles, sorrow, sunshine, hell, paradise, tears, and laughs. and you were only a single, simple sentence in my book, in my story.

i am better off without you. i am a stronger woman. you pushed me down and stepped all over me, but i got up. i am a taller woman than when i was “yours”. i am a braver woman today than before. i am a prettier woman, because i stand alone. i am a smarter woman,  because i let you go. i am a woman.

and i wish you luck on finding one of those…

… a women of passion, love, and strength. a woman… and when you find her, i pray that she breaks your heart so that you, too, can grow……………

 

…… A PAIR OF BALLS AND BE A MAN ((:

Five Year Old Indian Girl Kidnapped, Sexually Assaulted and Left For Dead

The Belle Jar

Trigger warning for rape, sexual assault, abduction, torture and murder.

A reader from India asked me to blog about this at the end of last week. At the time, I told her that I was feeling burned out, but promised to write about it on Monday or Tuesday. I’ve been procrastinating, though. As much as I know that this is something that’s important to talk about, I’ve had a hard time bringing myself to read about it, let alone write about it.

But I promised that I would. And it’s important. So let’s do this.

In India, a five-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped, tortured and left for dead.

She was held captive for four days.

Her parents say that the police ignored their reports that their daughter was missing.

Her parents say that the police offered them money to keep quiet about their daughter’s rape.

She is now in…

View original post 1,004 more words

Decolonial Love Notes to Myself

Decolonization

by Jana-Rae Yerxa

photoI want to be fucking great!
Amazing!
Not in an egotistical way
Where it’s about dominance
No, not like that
This wanting
This desire
This need
Is rooted in love
Only love
A humble, righteous Anishinaabe love

I want to be fucking great!
Amazing!
Where I feel alive and exhilarated
I want to be seen
Surrounded by people that truly see me
I want to be celebrated by others
For the very things that I love and admire
About myself
Where I am appreciated
Because I know I am incredible
And they do too

View original post 205 more words

Being A Girl: A Brief Personal History of Violence

The Belle Jar

1.

I am six. My babysitter’s son, who is five but a whole head taller than me, likes to show me his penis. He does it when his mother isn’t looking. One time when I tell him not to, he holds me down and puts penis on my arm. I bite his shoulder, hard. He starts crying, pulls up his pants and runs upstairs to tell his mother that I bit him. I’m too embarrassed to tell anyone about the penis part, so they all just think I bit him for no reason.

I get in trouble first at the babysitter’s house, then later at home.

The next time the babysitter’s son tries to show me his penis, I don’t fight back because I don’t want to get in trouble.

One day I tell the babysitter what her son does, she tells me that he’s just a little boy, he doesn’t know…

View original post 1,529 more words