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Before our prefrontal cortex is fully developed, at the beginning of the journey of understanding our own bodies, women comprehend pain. We have to accept that life will be consistently uncomfortable for us, sometimes excruciatingly painful, and yet we must persist and go about our daily tasks. All while giving grace and making space for the woes of our community. We have to plan and think ahead, and accept that life is full of fluctuations, nothing is stagnant and stable for long.

Men run from discomfort, it takes tremendous energy to withstand and sit with something that they deem as painful. Even going so far as to putting themselves in situations where they know they will suffer, just to congratulate themselves for the experience.

Men find honor in pain because for them, it is a choice. Women aren’t given options, but we accept the ebbs and flows and find glimmers of hope when our reprieve from the pain finally arrives. No award, no recognition.

being the object of desire

they perceive this as love

when in reality they are prey

I just want to be soft

The room full of women whispered

I yearn for flowy dresses

Baking pies for my friends

Healing wounds I didn’t create

Raising the community children

Singing them to sleep

That right was stripped from us

The violence does not cease

For poise and grace

Muttering whimpers

Or booming disapproval

As they penetrate our bodies

Their feverish greed takes precedence

Forced to be this way

Independent, individualistic

Wary, feral creatures

Because to be soft

In the face of ambivalence

Only gets you scorned

In this world order

Our elders peered

Into our deep wells for eyes

Chanting their wishes

For our brighter futures

Hanging on to the hope

That change would be linear

Our destiny brighter than theirs

Bells clang for the feast

They clung to the dream

That their children

daughters and granddaughters alike

Would cease to be

The main course

For the gnarling

Slashing of teeth

“Osman Hamdi Bey's Mihrab (1901), also known as Genesis, is a bold and symbolic painting that critiques societal norms and explores themes of reform, religion, and gender roles in a declining Ottoman Empire.

The painting features a woman in a bright yellow dress sitting on a Qur'an lectern (Rehal), traditionally used to hold the Qur'an, with religious books scattered at her feet. Her back is turned to the mihrab (prayer niche).

This work, controversial and groundbreaking, has been interpreted as a commentary on women's rights and the need for social reform. The woman's possible pregnancy, suggested by the painting's original French title, La Genèse (Genesis, symbolizes the birth of a new era).

Plan for not being a stereotyped creation of your society:

1. Spend 3 days alone.

2. Take yourself seriously.

3. Whenever you are caught in a situation where you are made to feel girlish and helpless, bitchy and aggressive, or any other stereotype, leave immediately and do any action which you enjoy and is yours.

4. Rely on your own financial resources at all times.