I’m writing this with profound grief, but it was very important to put this issue in public domain, again. The most common issue “Sexual Harassment”.
Not that we are not aware of this already but we have normalized this issue like it doesn’t exist.
I am a local transport commuter and to be honest I experience a lot of sexual harassment in its diverse forms, just like all other girls do. But today when I left for the office in the morning, I was waiting at the stop for the transport when a very traumatic incident happened.
While standing there, other than unnecessary honking and gazing that were making me uncomfortable. I saw an altogether different side of that man who initially honked to an extent where he made it noticeable for me to look up at him. The guy had the audacity to stop his car in front of my feet, rub off his fogged window and invited me into his car while smirking at my miserable startled self. I got numb, couldn’t even move my body to run, or even confront the man for his sheer shamelessness. Somehow I mugged up my courage and went past him. It was only after I boarded a vehicle that I could understand what had happened and an unmatchable anger rushed in my blood. But all I could do was convert every ounce of that anger into a tear.
People might say that my crying showed my cowardliness or weakness but the truth is that I didn’t cry for only this incident but for all other such incidents I experience on an everyday basis or other girls do, irrespective of their age, religion, clothing etc.
Being a girl was not made difficult by the Creator, but we humans have constructed a society where it becomes difficult for her to exist.
Samina Rehman*
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