Our Stories of #MeToo

How it started

I asked a friend (male), "are you a feminist?", shocked and

confused he tilted his head and asked, "what's a feminist

really?" I smiled at his courage and said, “let’s say, you

have 3 employees; a woman, a man, and a trans person, -

would you pay an equal wage if they do the same, exact

job?”

“Yeah, of course”, he said, still looking confused. I

continued, “And what about all these rape cases, assault,

injustice towards women and dowry murders, etc., does

all this make you angry, do you think it should all stop?

“Oh, yes, it’s hard for women, I’d definitely want it to

stop.” He replied, looking interested.

“Then you’re a feminist”, I exclaimed.

Sometimes, people don’t want to be called or even be

acknowledged a feminist because of things like peer

pressure, boy’s locker room talks, the word femme (a

woman) sounds feminine, the association of it with

“FemiNazi” or male-haters, there are so many. Feminist

can look like a big and scary word; one you might want to

avoid talking about. It can be intimidating to approach

even. People have broken it down, researched it, found

variations, intersectionalities. Basically, making it

complicated for the rest of us. Hence, we need to remind

ourselves and others to wear the feminist badge proudly

because all it means is a world where everyone lives an

equal and equitable life.

So, are you a feminist?

If your answer is still no, I hope these stories help

change your mind, and may your socks forever be

wet.

Dear feminists,

Join me in this journey for reading, listening, and

sharing stories that are buried deep within us. I know

that it can be scary and disturbing to open that can of

worms but trust, we need to let them out.

I decided to write ‘it’ (don’t know what is going to

become of ‘it’) after watching the movie “Bombshell”,

a story about #metoo on Fox News. The spark was

already ignited just two days back by Xavier- My

partner. Inspired by Heart Bound, my Facebook

page https://www.facebook.com/heartbound2020 -A

platform for women to share their stories of sexual

and physical assault anonymously, Xavier asked me

to compile these stories and write a book. I loved the

idea, but my goal was to keep the fire burning, also, I

don’t have money. I didn’t want it to become a 2016

Metoo movement. So, I decided to write it like a

magazine or blog that I’ll publish monthly or once in

2 months.

I promise to include inspiring women’s stories and

tales of empowerment so it’s not totally heartbreaking to read it.