Sunday, June 19, 2011

From Sexuality With Love

Being out of the country always gives you a more holistic vision about things that you wouldn't usually have the same perception about. Ever since it was decided that there will be a tweeting and blogging day about sexual harassment and gender violence next Monday and I have been thinking how I would contribute with something genuine. I m currently attending a Sexuality, Gender and Rights course in Istanbul, Turkey and without mentioning anything about what goes around as promised by every participant, it got me thinking.
It got me thinking about so many things. Mostly gender roles and consequently gender violence. The words that are on my mind now 11:10pm after the first day of the course and dinner with colleagues and organizers, and actually without any direct link to what we were discussing today is, the subordination of women. I kept thinking Why, and of course it would definitely sound as childish to wonder about all the reasons behind so many things, but truthfully, I am not just wondering I m angry. I am angry at us women, I am angry because of a glimpse of a second I just recalled the female sexual superiority back in the "before civilization" ages.
So without wondering anymore about what seems to everyone to be of the course of nature; I need to voice my anger. My anger is my right and I'm entitled to target it the way I want. The point is, I am anger at the silence that we carry with so much respect to it and so much appreciation. The silence over history and over our subordination and over our edginess towards feminism and over radicalism and mostly over decision making as a granted right as much as the right to choose.
As far as I understand it takes two to tango. If we were beaten then we let someone beat us, if we were sexually, verbally, physically or psychologically abused or oppressed then we let someone do that to us I definitely don’t blame us as females, I blame our history, we have to write Her-story and now is the time. We need to change our attitudes and that of our parents who told us never to answer back; along with our social heritage and our own expectations from ourselves and our societies. I m not saying that we are bringing this upon ourselves but I am just saying that we need to stop victimizing, we need to stand up for our rights of being. The images we so keenly and subtly help draw about ourselves.
Gender roles are not to be taken for granted. These gender roles are mostly created and not "instinct inheritance"; someone woke up one day and decided to claim women as less empowered then men, damn it we're not. We need to BELIEVE that if we think we will be granted the liberty of being then we are forgetting that this liberty can be taken away from us. Nobody will acknowledge us unless we start to acknowledge ourselves.