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I wrote this when I was groped by a passerby one day.
I am pretty sure everyone who has been harassed at some point of their life shares my thoughts.
Rape isn’t just intruding into one’s body and space without consent, it is mind shattering, it destroys people inside and out.
I feel raped
When you pass by me like the wind, whispering
Whispering words that disgust me
That send shivers down my spine
When you pass by me and tend to think that you are just complimenting me for how I please you
Instead you are scaring me
You are not calling me beautiful; you are not praising the Lord for creating me.
You are intruding me
My heart races; my blood pumps through my ears, I am scared, I am deprived in my own skin
I feel raped
I feel raped when you touch me
When you think I am your property to abuse
When you grope me or stroke me in public
There I stand perplexed about my next move. Maybe I have no identity to protect.
I am disgusted by my own existence, feeling foreign in my own body
I feel raped
When you look at me, when you look through my attire on to my body, into my skin, which even my clothes can’t seem to hide
When your gaze burns through my back into my soul.
When every shred of thread fails to protect me from your hovering eyes
I feel raped
Even when I walk alone, or with my family, or with my friends, just because I walk the streets?
Because I travel in the rikshaw, in the bus, on a bike, in a car?
Because maybe I am an infant without a mind?
A girl without a voice?
A lady without support?
A wife with hopes?
A woman with morals to look after?
A mother with responsibilities?
A teenager with dreams?
I am terrified of the passersby, of the drivers, colleagues, workers, teachers, students, of the boys, of the men!
I feel raped every day, not because I ask for it but because I was born to bear it
I know my modesty is not match for your hooligan touch
I feel raped
Day in and day out
Everywhere because I don’t know where to run off to. Who to confide in? Who to cling onto? Who to look onto? Who to aspire from? Who to talk to? Who will understand me, understand this!
But above all I feel raped because I am told to compromise, to understand and be silent, to blend in like all others, to lower my gaze and never see the sky
I am quiet because I feel raped
By the stares
By the thoughts
By the vibes.
I feel Raped Because I Am Quiet.
source: Tumblr
*Disclaimer: This is an opinionated piece.
