Women, Take Back Our Power

I was just reading the headlines today about the big rape cases in South Africa and India. It breaks my heart. Together with the persecution of Malala Yousoufzai, the young Pakistani girl being targeted by the Taliban, I feel we women in more progressive nations cannot afford to shake our heads and think how terrible it is for "them." We, women as a whole, continue to be part of the problem.

I'm not saying these terrible animals should not be brought to justice. What I'm saying is that women need to take back our power. Everywhere in the world. And it should begin here at home where we mistakenly believe these issues don't effect us as much. If you believe that, you are wrong.

Every time a woman tears down another woman because "how dare she wear that?" we are contributing. We are not giving each other strength. Every time a woman excuses a man's behavior with "it's in his DNA, he's a man..." we contribute to rape. Every time a woman behaves as a man might but is ostracized because "she should be better than a man" we are contributing to a double standard and helping to keep it alive. The truth is we are not that different from men except that we give away our power on a regular basis to them. Allowing them all kinds of excuses for bad behavior while simultaneously holding ourselves to a standard they are only too happy to exploit.

We are life givers. If you think about it, that is the most powerful force we have as humans. Yet we somehow are not properly revered and respected for having this amazing gift. Instead, in many countries, it is a shameful condition. We bleed and are in pain every month yet we go to work, play sports and hold down jobs, all the while trying to keep fit, hairless and young. We exhaust ourselves to do and be everything and on top of it. We are super strong. Yet we give the men and boys in our lives a free pass to be jerks. We are contributing to a mindset. We, the women of the world, have to stop contributing to the mindset that allows rape to be a sport. We have to start by taking back our power.

Don't believe yourself to be better than your sister. And don't laugh when your brother calls a girl at school a whore. Just because maybe she is sexy and the boys chase her and maybe you're a bit jealous. Instead tell your brother he is being a jerk and that girl is free like he is to do the same things he does. Why must we tear down other women? When were some of us anointed saints? This has to stop. If a young girl in Pakistan can stand up to bullies who want her dead for wanting an education, we who are free to have educations and good jobs need to continue to fight in our own back yards by making sure men respect us on an equal footing. Only by taking back our power will we eventually change the mentality that allows rape to continue to flourish everywhere.