Anonymous

South Africa (limpopo)

Africa, feminism is power

I was five years old when I was taught how to carry myself as an African female. As in how to speak, sit, walk and so on. It made me feel so trapped because I couldn’t be who I really was. “Sit properly like a dignified girl,” do this, do that. I obeyed and lived by that for years. I was taught to fear men, for they hold so much more value than us “females.” “Boys don’t do chores, that’s a female thing.” The stereotypes kept going on and on. I grew up to believe what wasn’t right. But I knew deep down that this wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Females hold so much power. There is nothing wrong about femininity, feminism or being a whole female. Men can be feminists too, there is nothing wrong with that. These are viewed to be past problems, but they still live on. The stereotypes are still there; not only in Africa, but around the world. In Africa, being a female or an African female is the most powerful gift one can ever receive, and feminism is power. There is nothing weak about it and that’s how I chose to live my life