Why the World Needs Feminism

Feminism is a crucial topic, especially in developing countries such as Nepal.

There are the obvious worries, such as the practice of sati, where a Hindu widow throws herself onto her husband's funeral pyre, burning herself alive, since she is of no worth without her husband.

There's the child marriage, where young girls, even at the ages of seven or eight, sometimes even less, are sent into a marriage with a usually much older man, one who obtains his wife that young to ensure her virginity.

There's female infanticide-the abortions and murders of female babies due to the fact that parents and communities do not want to be responsible for the dowry that will eventually appear.

There's abuse. Whether it be marital, familial, child, or sexual abuse, it stems from the idea that women are weak and they must be punished in order to conform to the ideal.

It's worse within the most rural of villages, where communities are small and minds are even smaller. Tiny towns like these tend to stick to their traditional values, with their set ideas of gender, sexuality, marriage, rights, and treatments. They have neither learned nor seen anything saying otherwise, which is not entirely their fault, if done mistakenly. But we need a voice everywhere.

I bring this topic up not because I've seen any of the horrific abuses and tragedies I've described above, thank goodness. I'm talking about the smaller things that I've noticed.

Small things like the doctor asking me yesterday, "Are you sure? Is this really what's happening?" when I described my stomach and head pain symptoms. I didn't take his questions seriously (perhaps he asked this of all his patients just to make sure), but it occurs a lot. Read for more: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/emergency-room-wait-times-sexism/410515/

Small things like in the emergency room today, I had to remove my bra to perform an ECG, and my main worry became 'what will people think of me? will my body be sexualized?' rather than the fact that I was in serious pain and I had to focus on reporting my symptoms accurately so as to get the best treatment.

Small things like nurses and doctors only calling my dad over to talk over the diagnosis and medications with him, leaving my mom to walk up on her own and struggle to make any comment on her own daughter's well-being.

Small things like my dear aunt staying up until eleven, watching with worry out the window for our taxi cab to arrive, unsure if it would, because it was just my mom, my sister, and me travelling in the middle of the night. When we arrived, she told us never to go out on our own like that again-it's too dangerous for girls.

These issues may not seem important in the light of more drastic ones such as the ones listed before, but the actually are. Quite so.

What these incidents tell females and males alike is that females complain too much, so they should not be taken seriously; their bodies are for the enjoyment of males; males are the only ones who can understand such complicated matters-females have simple brains; girls are not safe-they'll definitely be attacked at night.
Psychologically, this shatters a female's sense of self-esteem, ruining her goals, hopes, dreams, prospects. It degrades her, makes her believe that she truly is worth less than a man.
In males, it does the opposite, but to a much greater damage. Men see themselves as more powerful, yes, but they also see women as simple things, playtoys that can be used and thrown away to their own liking,
This is why instead of teaching our little girls to be more careful, to not talk back, to dress carefully, always walk with a friend, and never in the dark, we need to teach our little boys to treat everyone with the same respect, to never hurt someone, to always be there to help.

I'm done with being apologetic.



That's all for tonight. It's getting late. I wish I could've updated sooner, written more, but wifi is spotty There and I usually don't get it, especially as we switch houses, and I've been pretty sick. But I'm doing better, don't worry! Tons of antibiotics for me. I'll explain in (probably?) the next post.

This is some heavy chevy stuff but I needed it out. Everyone needs to realize this.

Please leave comments and questions below--I'm totally up for discussion and clearing confusion. If you have any incidents you want to share, please do so.

Until tomorrow (I'll try!). Big hugs. Miss you all.