Perfect Blemish

So I wrote this exactly a year ago, although a few changes have been made. I’ve been contemplating whether to publish it here or not. well, I guess I finally made my decision. I dedicate this to KT, he was the first person to read this piece and his kind words really encouraged me. Again, I dedicate this to Edem, she is such a big inspiration and she totally loves it.

I am an African girl

“The weaker sex”, I’ve been called

As a girl I was taught a lot of things

I was taught to be mute

when males are talking

I was taught not to look a man

directly in the eye when addressing them

I was taught to be confident and successful,

but not more than a man

“It would intimidate him”, they said.

For me, my life’s purpose was marriage

Therefore right from girlhood I’m taught

how to play house and be

a good mother and an obedient wife

“A good wife doesn’t talk back at her husband”,

Daddy admonished

Any choice I make in life should be stimulated

by my aim to find a good husband

It is why I was born

But I always felt something was wrong

Why am I the only being taught

how to cook and clean and respect the opposite sex

Why isn’t my brother learning same?

As a growing girl

I was made to understand

That the more attention I had from men,

The more attractive I was

This flawed view of who I was supposed to be

Made me to see other girls as competitors

I was made to believe that

It would make me fulfilled and accomplished

As a girl in Africa

I was made to understand that

A boy can commit any sexual crime

and go scot free

But I would be criticized

Society would shun me

And worse of all

It would be difficult for any well-meaning man

To marry me

Because I questioned these standards

Because I objected to these ways

Because I voiced out my misgivings

THEY called me an abomination

Because I believed in the social, political

and economic equality of both sexes

They called me a curse unto men

They called me a freak

They called me a FEMINIST

Asiedua Yeboah © 2016