It’s not a sign of
submissiveness
It’s pain
She who
Could not meet your eye
Lowers her gaze
Looks the other way

Each one of us
Holding secrets
That would blow your mind
Break your heart
Marriage and relationships
Hiding
scared
With nowhere else to go
Bringing violence right here in my bedroom
Unspeakable brutality home
To your sons, daughters
Normalising what should never be
Stealing our dignity

She says
“Each day
The sunsets
Oh god
Shake my body
I want to kill myself
My life is hell
He drink and drink
And then
He come into my room
And-”

I’m so angry
At the inactivity of men
To change anything
This is not a problem
Of women

The violence of men
Upon your sisters
Daughters
Mothers
Cowards
you who turn your backs
Look away
Take advantage
All in your own way
Do nothing
To change the law
Make your own report
Get her to
Do what you want
Feed your sense of
entitlement

You have no right
No right
Repeat after all of us
No right
To take away our rights
Destroy us inside
We owe you nothing

Each one human
Each one equal
Each one fuming
With the indignity
Of her wasted
Precious time
Her exploited
Precious life
Her voice that was
Drowned out
Her unheard shout

If you could put
The screams
The horror
If all the worlds women
End to end
There would be
No silence
No indifference
No submissiveness
No war on helpless poor
Young girls who never saw
Any other way of life
No power cut

All our energy could
Light up cities
No silence
No quietude
No punishment
Of the feminine
No shame
No victim blame
No embarrassment
Just in feeding our children

No women’s problems
They belong to humans

We are sovereign
We are human
We are queen
We are you

Sex is not violence
Sex is not degradation
Sex is not
Against my will
Sex is not fear

Love making
Is not hate
It is not persuasion
Forced pregnancy
Pressure
Disregard
Exploitation
Anything
He can take
Pornography
Concealed
Sex tapes

It is respect
Equality

It is not domination
Overpowered
Terror
Pain
It is not
My indifference
My shame
It is not
My taking it
Again and again

© GS 23 March 2017 All rights reserved

I wrote this after speaking with beautiful friend from Gujarat- After I had just reported to police, I had assumed her silence when I disclosed, was due to lack of empathy- I was devastated to find out that she had gone through similar experiences. GS

Hands on wall photo by Max Bender

#WeareSovereign #Consentis #SilenceHurts #NotOkay #BreaktheSilence #RapeSurvivor