Wednesday, April 30, 2014

GOD IS A WOMAN

Living as a woman in the Arab Muslim World

Living in Morocco has been one of the most challenging experiences coming from the United States.  The open system of patriarchy here was very difficult because the American system of discrimination is hidden, but the most important thing I've learned about women's rights while being is how patriarchal the system in the west has always been.

The Middle East and North Africa are known for its system of inequality because of gender roles, (which have must be fulfilled by men and women)…then I realized that we in the US are constantly put into gender roles. 

The fight, the struggle, the movement, lives within each woman in EVERY country and it is our duty to overcome this system of oppression regardless of where we are located.  

This poem I wrote about how living in an OPENLY misogynistic environment has made me realize that we Americans are no better than any country. Inequality is inequality and we should not SETTLE. 
--We still have not passed the Lilly Ledbetter Act. The bill concludes women would essentially have wage equality, this bill was signed in 2008, twenty minutes after Obama took office…but there still has not been any changes within the system and it’s been six years. Let's not even talk about how rape isn't taken seriously enough within the court systems... their are so many problems within the U.S., but we constantly have our DIRTY fingers pointing elsewhere. I'm not willing to settle just because we compare ourselves to other countries.

At the end of the day misogyny is all about control. That's how some women are forced to veil in extremists Muslim communities…but also how western women are CONSTANTLY sexualized, why aren't women choosing what they want with their bodies? If we want to sexualize our bodies or dress modestly, we should have the ability to do so without having to dress to either A. try and avoid the eyes of men or  B. attract the eyes of men. 


SERIOUSLY AMERICA! WAKE UP!
 Change will come when every veiled, unveiled, sexualized, modest, intelligent, unintellectual, poor, and rich women come together to pursue every RIGHT we deserve.

I am A Feminist 

Morocco you have my soul
When we first me I could not stand you at all
All the things I’ve had to deal with to get here
I did not expect to fall---
FALL, FALL, FALL
MISERABLY, into the fate of others at my own will
I submitted my freedom to you like a slave to a master
I feared that if I did not follow your patriarchal leads
-I would stand out in the crowd, so…
I patiently waited for your arms—to accept me
For my brown skin, curves, and thighs
For that beauty mark I hold between my thighs
How could I be so blind
Without doing the research I had been told?
Adventures, adventures—to remember when I am old
Sitting in my rocking chair reading about everywhere
I went, I traveled, I ate
But I asked myself was it worth the pain
Of being a woman in an openly men dominated world
Where I can’t go to a cafĂ©
Without being looked at and scowled—I’m a woman,
Women don’t belong in cafes
They belong at home
With the babies and bread
Ya…Ya…I’ve heard it all before
 “What did you expect”
I EXPECTED to be treated like an equal
Like a human
LIKE A WOMAN
But I was treated the same way I am treated there (U.S.)
Being a female is a joke and she’s nothing if she doesn’t have
Long straight, silky hair
But here where a large majority of women cover
From head to toe
They are told modesty is the tradition
When [some] women cover
They cover for their mother, brother, father
Very small percentage for Allah
Forgetting God has anything we want him,  no HER to be
She, it animal, almighty, existent, non-existent
We women of the west don’t realize
We are subjected to the same—THE SAME patriarchal systems
BUT if it’s ACCEPTED by a white man holding a Bible
We think we are FREE
But we are caged
PRISIONED
Wearing Bandeo’s, tank top’s, Rain boots and Thongs (song reference)
SELLS our bodies; SEXUALIZATION?
WE are SEX
We created SEX
So what do we DO?
As women we must decide for ourselves
Must not let men decide;
What to…wear, eat, drink, buy, and smile
We stand together
With as little judgment as possible AND
Tell men; our GOD is a WOMAN
We follow the leader and if the leader is like us
We, Women were made in the image of God
Because men say to us, man was made in the image of God
Women was made from Adam’s Rib
There’s so must lost in translation it’s just glib
Human error depictions
White men’s agendas

Being in Morocco has taught me
There is no one standing in my way, but ME
RISE UP WOMEN
Women of color; pink, red, brown, black, Carmel
We CANNOT let these men control us
We Must Rise because our souls belong to no one, but
WE!





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