"Sexual objectification of women has become more than prevalent, whether women seek being the ideal "object" by dressing scantily and showing their bodies to get attention, or "preserving" their bodies against their wish, just because they've been told to view it as a commodity that goes bad by being looked at.
To the women/girls out there: Your body is your medium of going out there and being active in the world. Learning, working and making your surroundings better. It's not anyone's business what you choose to wear but your own. And as a woman, you should take pride in the image God has created you as. You're not made to please any other human being if it does not include your own pleasure.
To the men out there: False empowerment it is to feel you're superior to the other sex. God has created you as equals in everything; you complement each other. Leaning on the pillar that women are weaker than you, and therefore should submit to your image of them will eventually leave you hurt. Why, you ask? Because there are women out there who are much stronger and much more able than you would expect. Women who changed and continue to change the world they live in for the better. So, you can't always rely on being "stronger" as an excuse for their objectification. And I dare ask you to stop exploiting the lack of self-esteem that many women around you have, and start empowering them instead."
I wrote that part after watching a TEDx talk about objectification through "sexiness". Now, since that kind of objectification is quite abhorred where I live, the opposite kind is the first prize winner here: forceful chastising and condemning of any kind representation of female sexuality (except of course, in "art" where most objectification is Type 1).
The problem with women is that they spent so many years thinking their worth is tied to them being sexy things, whether made to gratify the lust of men by being perfectly ogle-able statuettes, or to curb it by dressing in a certain way that allows no temptation to befall the men. So we can say the idea stuck.
However, women were not created for men, women were created to be with men. That means a woman's role as a human being is to live, I dare say equal to and the same as the way a man does!
Girls, your role is to envision a life for yourself that's comprised of your own hopes and dreams, your own adventures and mishaps, your own mistakes and lessons learned, because frankly, the rules forcefully imposed on you for your "protection" have successfully failed to protect many other women who followed them word by word.
That means that "what she was wearing" does not justify her being raped.
It also means that although in Afghanistan the women are covered head to toe quite literally, they still suffer the world's highest sexual harassment rates, often justified by -wait for it- how a woman is walking!
It means that my beloved country back in the 60s and 70s was more accepting of a miniskirt than it is now of a girl walking without Hijab, and in many a case (one of which happened before my very eyes) women wearing Niqab are ogled and groped while walking down the street!
It means that every time you are blamed for something because you're a woman, you are blamed for NOTHING you have done. In fact, you're blamed for being the way you were born, which is the most absurd form of discrimination, and quite horrifically, the oldest..
Misogyny's worst proponents are the women who believe they deserve it. So, next time you see a woman working to support her family while her deadbeat husband dozes off at home still scared of divorce, next time you see a woman accepting to be belittled by a lower ranking male employee just because she's a woman, and next time you see a mother passing down demeaning ideas to her daughter on sexuality, patriarchy, body image or self-worth...do something.
To the women/girls out there: Your body is your medium of going out there and being active in the world. Learning, working and making your surroundings better. It's not anyone's business what you choose to wear but your own. And as a woman, you should take pride in the image God has created you as. You're not made to please any other human being if it does not include your own pleasure.
To the men out there: False empowerment it is to feel you're superior to the other sex. God has created you as equals in everything; you complement each other. Leaning on the pillar that women are weaker than you, and therefore should submit to your image of them will eventually leave you hurt. Why, you ask? Because there are women out there who are much stronger and much more able than you would expect. Women who changed and continue to change the world they live in for the better. So, you can't always rely on being "stronger" as an excuse for their objectification. And I dare ask you to stop exploiting the lack of self-esteem that many women around you have, and start empowering them instead."
I wrote that part after watching a TEDx talk about objectification through "sexiness". Now, since that kind of objectification is quite abhorred where I live, the opposite kind is the first prize winner here: forceful chastising and condemning of any kind representation of female sexuality (except of course, in "art" where most objectification is Type 1).
The problem with women is that they spent so many years thinking their worth is tied to them being sexy things, whether made to gratify the lust of men by being perfectly ogle-able statuettes, or to curb it by dressing in a certain way that allows no temptation to befall the men. So we can say the idea stuck.
However, women were not created for men, women were created to be with men. That means a woman's role as a human being is to live, I dare say equal to and the same as the way a man does!
Girls, your role is to envision a life for yourself that's comprised of your own hopes and dreams, your own adventures and mishaps, your own mistakes and lessons learned, because frankly, the rules forcefully imposed on you for your "protection" have successfully failed to protect many other women who followed them word by word.
That means that "what she was wearing" does not justify her being raped.
It also means that although in Afghanistan the women are covered head to toe quite literally, they still suffer the world's highest sexual harassment rates, often justified by -wait for it- how a woman is walking!
It means that my beloved country back in the 60s and 70s was more accepting of a miniskirt than it is now of a girl walking without Hijab, and in many a case (one of which happened before my very eyes) women wearing Niqab are ogled and groped while walking down the street!
It means that every time you are blamed for something because you're a woman, you are blamed for NOTHING you have done. In fact, you're blamed for being the way you were born, which is the most absurd form of discrimination, and quite horrifically, the oldest..
Misogyny's worst proponents are the women who believe they deserve it. So, next time you see a woman working to support her family while her deadbeat husband dozes off at home still scared of divorce, next time you see a woman accepting to be belittled by a lower ranking male employee just because she's a woman, and next time you see a mother passing down demeaning ideas to her daughter on sexuality, patriarchy, body image or self-worth...do something.
Nicely written article Monica! Been too tired to leave a comment or write more but God Bless You! Amen!
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