Strength In Numbers

I am the combined strength of everyone who I have shared my story with, the combined strength of everyone who has shared their story with me.
I am the strength of every girl who has fallen victim to a forceful invasion of her womanhood and private parts when she was raped. How she manages to survive, to pick herself up and face life even when every part of her aches for death
I am the strength of every battered woman carrying a home on her shoulders, taking care of a “man” who sees her as nothing but a punching bag. I am her healing when she puts ice on her bruises and gauze on her wounds.
I am the strength of every woman who has ever been lied to by boys who take on the guise of men. Women, who have given their all and loved deeply, truly and without shame to have their love thrown back in their faces when their partners had the audacity to plough into other women and come home to kiss them and lie to their bodies.
I am the strength of every woman who knows what it is like to find out that the “man” you loved, loved someone else. Everyone who knows that feeling that accompanies the discovery of infidelity; like a horse kicking your chest and whipping the wind out of you, like having open heart surgery with no anaesthetic. I am the strength of all those women who have gone through that and more and still have the courage to forgive, to open up and love again with no boundaries, no limits and no pretences.
I am the strength of the girl who underwent genital circumcision this morning. The girl who was told “no, you don’t deserve to feel pleasure when you’re a woman. All you do is provide it. How dare you think that as a woman you can feel pleasure? Let us help you remove that absurd idea from your mind and remove your clitoris”
I am the strength of every woman who experiences street harassment and is called a bitch if she doesn’t entertain it. I am her strength when she walks with her head held high, unashamed, strong and bold. She doesn’t retreat and stop walking the streets because they are littered with filthy pigs. She stores her pride and dares every single day to be called a bitch, slut, trick…
I am the combined strength of all these women and more. Women who have experienced the worst because of their genetic make up. Women who have stared hell in the face but never lose their smile, or their resilience.
I am the combined strength of every woman who has ever shared their story and said through it: “here I am, naked and hurting but brave”. I am the combined strength of everyone who has taken the time to listen to her story and offer her an embrace, taken her out for ice cream, borrowed her an ear or cried with her.
I am the combined strength of every woman who says to the boys in the guise of men who don’t know a woman’s worth: “yes you may try to bend us, but we will never break!”
#Women’sMonth #Strength #Numbers #Sisters