I understand.

I understand now that you are offended by my generalizing men. You are right. I think I should be careful.

I would like to say though, that my article infuriated you to an extent that you labelled me a “misandrist”. That is your emotional response. You also told us women to “keep it in our bras”.

Just the same, the eyes of the men that surround me (I have written a poem about that too on here, it’s far from a great piece, it was spontaneous) infuriates me. While I was writing this article, I was thinking about the 3 gatekeepers that I have to pass on my way out of hostel, who pause their conversation every morning so they can turn their heads and look at us front and back. I was thinking about the guard on the college gate, who isn’t quite doing his job as we cross the gate. I was thinking about the male staff in the hospital that we have to work with, who….I can’t even explain in words.

Are you entitled to an emotional response and not I? (Please leave out the gender/sex part, just speaking as a person)

HappyAs, I go through this everyday. My senior colleagues have stopped me in the college corridor to comment on my gait. “hip hop, hip hop, hip hop” I cannot forget how that group of huge men surrounded and circled me so I had no choice but to stop.

I cannot forget when another senior colleague made a comment on my shoes as I passed “you come here to jog, girl? Girls don’t jog!” and when I told him to mind his own business, he said I should be scared of him, he could pin me down. That hinted rape.

I am a girl lucky enough to have escaped his “physical power”.

But I have been harrassed multiple times. I have been scared to walk to the grocery store. A man out of nowhere has slapped my friend on her breast. A man on a motorbike has pulled off my dupatta while he passed me. The list goes on and on.

You might not find this scary. You will probably roll your eyes. Because you’re a man, you can easily go red with rage and send your fucks my way. I do hope it answers your question if I know any men in my life who are rapists. Well, most of them.

Yet, you go as far as to label the victims as the trolls, misandrists, etc, become offended and emotional on one article and I still don’t have the right to vent about something that happens to me everyday!

Based on your reaction, I could also label you as a “misogynist” and a “troll”. I didn’t, because now I understand. You have a sensitive spot when it comes to men. I thought about it from your point of view.

So please try to walk in my shoes a mile.