#joono

we might have the right to walk out of the door more freely now (for relatively privileged women) but even for those who get to enjoy that, we don't and won't get to do it at par with men, under a patriarchy. i've seen my mom cover her chest with a duppata, or as white people call it, a "scandanavian scarf," before opening the front door to her own house, lest the stranger who knocked finds out she... has BREASTS?! sacrilegious!

the public, that is full of opportunities is way more accessible to cis-het able-bodied men than to anyone else, while women & everyone else feel safer and more comfortable in the confines of their own homes. the same home that comes with endless opportunities like cooking for the man, cleaning his underwear and dusting his books. as long as this divide persists, gender oppression will persist.

we women need to start going out without makeup, without bras, without shaving, just like men do and normalise the female body and feminine existence in its raw, natural form in public spaces. we also need to ban any products and companies into oblivion that are innovating on new ways to make women insecure instead of funding women's health projects. hopefully then, maybe one day, our daughters will not be ashamed of the same bodies we are fighting so hard to love!

i suppose this is a response to my previous post criticizing the public private divide. yes, the public private gender-based divide that confines women indoors, away from all kinds of opportunities, NOT women who want to stay indoors. no one is criticising housewives, please reread that post, with your brain switched on this time.

that being said, if it really were a free and self-made choice to want to get married and cook meals and do laundry for their family, and had nothing to do with the patriarchal social conditioning and grooming that literally prepares women to take on household responsibilities, a LOT MORE men would want to do it or participate more too. it is not a coincidence that men almost never dream of cooking and cleaning for their families. it is a result of patriarchal conditioning.

so no, it is not a woman's choice like we choose between coffee or tea. but nonetheless, i have nothing but respect for these women. it takes endless compromise, sacrifice, and emotional and physical labour to do what they do daily. same way i respect soldiers. i don't believe in war, but i empathise and understand a soldier's sacrifice.

but you will never catch me glorifying said "choice."

Context: the girls are fighting, referring to Musk & Trump's public embarrassing feud.

as much as i hated rue for being so fickle with drugs, despite everything her family had been through because of it, when my depression relapses, i can't help but empathise with her. when you're so inherently incapable of being happy, whatever helps you escape, you run, crawl, scramble to it. it might destroy you, it might make you worse, but for those few minutes, you live. you're free. and those few minutes makes all of it worth it. even if it doesn't, you need those few minutes— not like how you need dessert after a meal, but rather like how a drowing man needs air. desperately, hopelessly.