This week’s poem is a response to the claim that women and girls need protection, even when this protection means a great loss of personal choice and freedom.

Her Freedom

 

Spare her please

Your innocent assumptions

Of her assumed innocence.

 

The honour of your protection,

Protecting her honour

Which by a patriarchal twist of logic

Becomes your own.

 

Spare her kindly

The kindness of your attention

The intrusive attention of your kind.

 

The beauty of your expectations

In expecting her feminine beauty

With no room for strength or uniqueness.

 

Spare her your considerate sensitivity

For her delicate female condition.

Her monthly blood, her pregnancies

Are also your cycle of life.

 

Your puritanical assumption

Of her fear of masculine passion.

Show her the respect of believing

She has passions and wants of her own.

 

Spare her your wisdom on her needs

On drawing her plans

Believe she knows more than you ever can.

 

 

Dhaka 2016