With all the skincare advice females get, this one is the best of all! Why? Because this does not come from dermatologists or beauty experts. This comes from the place we least expect! If growing thick skin is something we can do, sure, why not! Keep feeding us junk and unhealthy nutrients, expose us to UV Ray lights without SPF 100 formula, and we will work on growing thick skin!
This lockdown induced a new trauma through the online learning system. Well, starting off with the fact that not everyone has access to laptops and computers to attend classes. Even I’m one of them, so no - we are not in this together, because you might not even know what it’s like to wait for your turn to use a laptop.
At an individual level, people's experience of reactance strongly depends on the most attainable goals and values when the threat occurs. In the COVID-19 case, fundamental goals and values such as education, the right to freely move, and religious practices are threatened. Two main factors that determine the reaction to these announced health-related measures are the absoluteness and self-relevance. If the threat is absolute, people rationalize it. If it is not, people respond with reactance. Both become stronger when the threat is self-relevant.
It's not happening to us. Death was a distant entity. The COVID crisis in no time has collectively given us the sudden realization that it is happening to us!! All our reassuring narratives and stories that soothed us have been questioned. The helplessness and powerlessness is making our minds chaotic. Our reality has been crushed. Truth came very abruptly. The truth of our mortality, our vulnerability, our weak existence in the face of this adversity.
Please stop dividing women. Modern or traditional, female is a female. In Pakistan, we all are suffering in our known and unknown ways. Living in a context where tradition wins over common sense or science, the transfer of intergenerational trauma becomes a part of the DNA of our society. Expressed or unexpressed, we all carry this silent mutation.
Many of us are hampered in advancing our careers because of our difficulty with self-promotion. Women have unconsciously internalized that self-promotion is shameless and in poor taste, is egocentric, and that indeed it is not “professional” to toot your own horn. However, this is not true.
I know so many girls in my country who want to wear jeans but are not allowed to do so because you see “decent girls need to dress a certain way”. Your jeans are too tight, your shirt is too short, lower your dupatta and cover your face, if someone touches you it’s probably because you dressed a certain way.
Gender roles expect girls to marry a man of their parents’ choice and if they don’t, they are labelled as characterless or disobedient. Boys are expected to follow the footsteps of their fathers. If a man has worked day and night to build his business, his son is bound to take over.
So much is going on in this world that I feel so sad like when I see innocent people suffering due to terrorism, genocide, racism etc. This is the case where people who have done no wrong are suffering. The major question is why? And nobody is going to answer this why and this is the thing that I am afraid of.
Everyone in this world is trying their best to contribute a teensy bit in this huge world with an ocean of knowledge. Some of us achieve the brownie points, while the others remain deprived until the right time. However, we all get paid for whatever contribution we make for the betterment of this world. Why are people trying to humiliate and belittle the efforts that others are making every day?
So, on days when it feels like you can eat up anyone who comes in front of you or tries to communicate with you, know that it is momentary. You must know the feeling, when in angst you spurt out on someone not realizing the damage it can cause. The very next moment you know you did wrong.
I'll even tell them I agree with them because I no longer feel the need to defend myself in the face of people who aren't even willing to listen to what I have to say. If they can't trust me and accept me and acknowledge me for who and what I am and for what I give to them selflessly, I'm not going to force them to. I'll step away, back off, and they won't even realize I've done so.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recorded 18 instances of fetal snatchings in the United States somewhere in the range of 1983 and 2015, which spoke to 6% of the recorded 302 instances of baby kidnapping. "Womb Raidings" and "Cesarean Kidnapping" are media terms for fetal kidnapping.
This world deserves so much better than what actually is happening right now. Our people need love, kindness, and a reminder that whoever they are, wherever they live, whatever they believe in, they should learn to own their identity, their body, their origin, and learn to love themselves.
Smoking is injurious to health”. Like everyone else, I believed it to be true but I often questioned myself that “why did they always show men smoking in the ad and not women?” Or “is smoking gender specific?”. I did not dare ask this question from my parents because some things do not have room for discussion in brown culture, especially coming from a girl.
