This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UWindsor chapter.

A couple of years ago, everyone is upset to have a girl instead of a boy. This is the case of her parents, who are sad to have a baby girl. Why? Isn’t she enough

5 years later, she is undermined and is taught to look in front of the mirror and make sure she looks girly. She is always reminded that she must not be angry, to breathe, and count to 10. A smile is what they expect out of her. Why can’t she have any other emotion?

Just under a year later, her thoughts are clouded with how she is told to be quiet until he is done. She can’t say anything—she doesn’t even know what was going on. She is only 7 years old.

She gets hit in the face by a boy—the teacher tells her “he’s teasing you because he likes you.” Why hit her then? Isn’t love supposed to be caring?

As the age of 9 comes, she is forced to mutilate her clitoris for the mere fact that it will enhance male sexual pleasure and preserve her virginity. She doesn’t know what the hell virginity is—all she knows is that it hurts. It hurts like hell.

Now at 14 years old, nearly 7 years later, she is sitting there staring blankly at her parents as they yell at her for all the trouble she causes. Her heart bleeds as it silently begs, please listen to me. Only, when she does make them listen to her, they say that her words are insignificant. She is always forced to dress a certain way because she only has herself to blame for getting harassed.

She is told that it is disgusting when she leaves a packet of pads outside because periods are disgusting things.

Her heart breaks—she does not have support. She has fingers pointing at her while she curls up in a ball and tries not to cry.

2 years later and the only thing she writes in her diary, “I was told not to speak unless spoken to,” and she had to pick her father and brothers’ plates off the table when dinner came. Don’t forget that she must wash them as well.

At 18, after a couple of years, she is reminded that men only like women who are innocent and ladylike.

When 19 hits, a man hits on her, and she says she isn’t interested. He continues and only backs off when she says that she is taken.

She is told that she is too emotional and needs to calm down.—that she is too bossy when she speaks her mind.

You can see her getting smaller in her head and floating in the air as if she doesn’t exist.

When she turns 20, she is studying. She learns that women aren’t supposed to go through any of this.

However, when she starts to speak her opinion and interact with people, she is still undermined. It is almost like she is 6 years old again. They drive by her and whistle at her. She cannot leave the house past 10 PM because girls don’t go out late unless they are “hoes,” she cannot live by herself until she is married, and she cannot go on vacation alone unless there is a male with her. Is she incompetent? She can travel by herself and can sustain herself.

Fast-forward to 10 years later: She is married, and the degree that she obtained is hanging on the wall. However, her husband doesn’t let her work because she needs to take care of the kids, although she has a higher degree and can get more money.

She gets yelled at if she wears anything short or revealing. It is almost as if she is 14 years old again.

When she talks, she is shushed by her husband. Her opinion is irrelevant in public as long as he is speaking, and she is yelled at if she disobeys him. She also cannot leave the house without letting him know, because she is back to being 20.

Now that she is 40, she has a daughter…and her daughter is writing about how women cannot be treated like this. They are much more than sexual assault, beatings, teasings, empty words, and the like. They are a force to be reckoned with, their beauty can move mountains, and their intelligence can destroy armies.

This story is of a woman you know—they have been harassed sexually, mentally, and physically. Yet, they stand tall and graceful. They are capable of doing what guys do. They are soldiers, engineers, doctors, teachers, scientists, police officers, and more. They are wise and powerful.

They are women. They are humans.

(Disclaimer; There is much more that women go through that I have not included)

I AM A HUMAN

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