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What does it mean to be a woman in this world? Is it something to be ashamed of, or something to glory in?
She never hangs her lingerie on the clothesline.
She was told women are supposed to keep their undergarments
away from the public eye.
She never stores tampons and pads in places
easily visible.
She hides them
in the darkest possible plastic bags.
She never gets up
without asking one of her friends:
Peeche theek hai na?
Because heaven forbid if anyone finds out
she is on her periods.
Living her life as though
she is a member of some secret society,
she secretly wonders
if it is shame
that defines womanhood;
if to be a woman means
something to be ashamed of;
if to be a woman
means to be dirty;
like the dirty laundry
that stays hidden in the closet,
quietly stashed away;
like those used, bloody tampons
that stay hidden sitting in the trash.
If to be a woman
is to be dirty,
then I don’t want the dirt
to ever wash away.
Let the stench of this dirt
choke you
a little.
This poem first appeared in Secrets & Dreams Anthology, Kind of a Hurricane Press, U.S.
Image source: shutterstock
Prerna Bakshi is a writer, poet and activist, whose work has been widely published and anthologized and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her political essays have been published in The Hindu, The Huffington Post, Countercurrents, read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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