Thought of the Day: Girls x Power

"Their cause is our cause, their griefs are our griefs."

- British imperial-era feminist Josephine Butler
 on the relationship between Indian and British women

"Perhaps sexism today is not a friend so much of men as it is of women. Women lobbied to play on the male chessboard, but have become content as pieces operating within a male-oriented, male-driven, male-centered game. Women compete to outmaneuver and outrank each other, competing to see who plays best with the big boys. Women show little of the same brotherhood shared between men. Women hate each other, cheat each other, slut-shame and two-face each other. Women hate other women. Women separate into small groups that create and maintain unfriendly relations with other small groups.  Male groups may be likewise separated, but they differ in that they harbour friendly feelings and sentiments shared over common goals, interests, and hobbies.

And what are women competing over? Where does the competitive nature come from? Men. Women compete over men, over attractiveness, women become jealous of other women or feel superior to an unattractive woman. Women loan no aid to their fellow women. Perhaps if a loyal sisterhood existed, women would defeat sexism in ways that men are unable to. 

Perhaps it is time for women not to excel on the male chessboard, but to start an entirely new game of their own. "