Envy - The Object of Desire

As a woman of color, I have always felt like I have had to defend my body. It began with the stares, then the whistles, then the gropes. Then the demands for the attention to be reciprocated, followed by the anger when it was not delivered. But then I became tired. I became tired of men assuming that my body was theirs to touch, to grab, to call. I was tired of men claiming me with their eyes, using their gaze to take what was not given to them. These are subtle acts of control and power that are so deeply entrenched in patriarchal systems and equally in our social fabric. And I became tired of fighting them, so tired that there were times that I gave in. In those moments, I knew that I wa...View all