Thursday, April 23, 2009
NUMERO ONE
I, look around and every one is talking about empowering the female gender, but I look at it from a different perspective, I believe every one whether male or female have principles or even act based on the experiences we’ve had as children and most especially as teenagers, which is what I want to share with us.
I believe in empowering the female gender, but lets make this start with the female teenager, lets hear her out, see her point of view, tell her the true facts about life, advise her in a realistic and practically way, be a shoulder she can lean on, help her to form her principles and beliefs which will eventually make who she becomes, this reduces the energy and time we will spend on, empowering her as she already has sound principles, values and interest of her own.
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yes, i agreed with you. like me, i believe that our female babies need us more than we need us. we need to give them love, peace and confidence to believe in themselves and we need change the training our forefather and foremother gaveus when growing up.life is about change.CHANGE we need everyday.
ReplyDeleteIt's a wonderful idea you've got here. But even as we share our experiences and ideas with our teenage girls, and empower them, let's also join in the fight against Brain drain. As we look up to ourselves, let's also look up to Nigeria and help her reach her peak.
ReplyDeleteKUDOS ON YOUR GOOD WORK.
I began my love-hate relationship with my body when I was in the 5th grade.
ReplyDeleteI was the only Black girl in a all-White private school. I grew up in a Black neighborhood. At home, I was surrounded by beautiful Black women. But when I went to school, I felt completely alone.
Every day, I would compare my body to the White girls in my class. My breasts had developed sooner than some of the girls, but more importantly, my rear end was much bigger, even at ten years old. I remember feeling ashamed to the point where I wanted to be a White girl. White girls were skinny. White girls had blue eyes. White girls had small behinds. White girls were pretty.
One day, as I sat in the breakfast nook in my family's kitchen, I asked my mother, "Mommy, why am I fat?" She looked up from the stove in amazement. "Why do you say that?" She asked me. As tears began to stream down my face, I told her I was ashamed of my body. I told her all the white girls were skinny and I was not, and why couldn't I be skinny too?
She took a seat beside me and held my hand. My beautiful mother, with her almond shaped eyes and brown skin, told me that just because Black women were shaped differently didn't mean that we were any less beautiful. It didn't mean God loved us any less. "It just means that you are beautiful in your own special way," she said.
I can't say that learning to embrace my Black female body is easy. As a single Black woman living in DC, it is a daily struggle. The story of Saartjie Baartman, who was nicknamed the "Hottentot Venus," comes
to mind. In the 18th century, Saartjie was kidnapped by British imperialists and locked in a cage, paraded as a circus freak show because of the size of her read end. Her story is reincarnated every time I deal with street harassment, with men's unwanted touching on my ass and breasts in a nightclub, with inappropriate comments from White men about my body while in college.
My story is not that much different from many other Black women. We are often taught at a early age to be ashamed of our bodies. By the mainstream media, we are taught that the Black female body is overtly sexual and therefore something that should be shunned and covered up. By some rap artists, we are told to "back that ass up."
Embracing the Black female body starts at home. Black girls need to be taught how to love their own bodies, and the ways in which a man or woman who is interested in dating them should treat them. They need to learn the difference between admiration and harassment.
And it takes the courage to grow and to explore the depths of our beauty. I had to grow to a point where I loved my shape so much that I wanted to take care of it for myself. I had to finally say that yes, I
am beautiful, sexy, and fabulous. I began to take yoga, to dance, to wear that hot sweater dress with the hot stillettos one Friday night. I looked in the mirror and admired my big butt, my thick hips and
thighs. But it first started by remembering my mother's words: we are beautiful in our own way. Written by Loryn Wilson - Loryn is a native of Los Angeles, California. While attending The George Washington University, she founded the Black Women's Forum, a discussion series for African-American female students. She is pursuing a career in media relations and has worked on media and communications campaigns for Microsoft, MGM MIRAGE, and the Service Employees International Union. Her personal blog, Black Girl Blogging, explores women and girls' advocacy, black society and leadership, and the 2008 presidential election. Loryn is passionate about public service, women and girls' rights, hip hop, and Womanism. A self–proclaimed foodie, Loryn loves to cook and to try new restaurants. She also enjoys music, art, basketball, and reading.
Thks love for your believe in us girls and with God on our side we will get there .we are looking forward to the day we will have a first female president in Nigeria!!!.
ReplyDeleteMentoring younger women is so important. Many of us might have had that informally through relationships with older sisters, mothers, aunts, cousins, etc. But there are still so many young women who don't have that opportunity. I believe that we all have something of value to share with others.
ReplyDeleteThat would help a lot in young women growing up into confident older women.