Feminist!

Every Woman has a story

Of being told “not possible” 

Yet breaking the “not” and making it possible

To stand victorious at the end!

Every woman has a story 

Of being told about her duties

Even before she learns her rights,

That makes her guilty to pursue her dreams!

Every woman has a story 

Of scavenging eyes and unwelcome touch

That is normalised as “natural instincts”,

But portrayed as “scarlet” if she exhibits them!

Every woman has a story

Of being betrayed of tiny promises

And being told it is “silly” to hold on to them,

By the “serious” people who own her life!

Every woman has a story

Of being measured against another

In color and texture and curves and hair,

To shatter her confidence and self worth!

Every woman has a story 

Of being abandoned from the shelter of home

And trying to turn to someone she is not,

To fit a new house which should turn “home”!

Every woman has a story

Of trying to prove her grit and mettle

In a man’s world with man’s laws,

But still maintain the feminine within!

Every woman has a story 

Of motherly instinct and hidden love

That’s mistaken as her weakness,

Until they know the wrath of her love!

Every woman has a story

Of survival and hidden pain and lost dreams 

That makes her vulnerable yet strong,

To enable her to take "man"kind forward!

Every woman has a story

Of emerging out of her fragile body

And the invisible boundaries it create,

To walk away with her head held high!

Every man has a story too

That can always create a “whataboutery” 

But my friend, I am not a “His”storian,

I am just a “Her”storian, and they call me a Feminist!

-Soumya Dharmarajan