property of wo-men
why is it that we, as women, always fall back on naming ourselves property of men to protect ourselves? like, if you feel threatened, you say, “sorry, i have a boyfriend.” or when i was travelling and the guy next to me asked if i was married, i said no and quickly learned i should’ve said yes to avoid further conversation. even in my dreams, my instinct is to announce i have a boyfriend to stop unwanted advances. and why is it that when these tactics fail, we carry all the shame?
why can't it simply be enough to say, “i belong to myself, i'm not up for grabs”?
let's normalize women owning their own bodies, not belonging to men.
if i really think about it, i belong to my mother. and she belongs to her mother, who belongs to her mother, and so on. i come from a long lineage of women, each giving birth to the next. truly, we must dismantle the idea that we belong to men. instead, we belong to ourselves and to all the women who came before us. our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunties. women who love us, believe us, and support us.
so, i am not property at all. i am mine first, then my mother's, my sister's, my grandmother's, my aunt's, my cousins', my best friends', my neighbours', my coworkers', and all the women who've shaped me.
if i must belong to someone, i want to belong to wo-men.