“Shit Men Say to Men Who Say Shit to Women on the Street” was inspired by International Anti-Street Harassment Week.
created by Anti Harrassment.
A poem by Abha Iyengar
In Your Face, Stranger.
We are always in a state of denial
We will not see what stares at us.
Eyes lowered, head covered, bosom well hidden
We will not see what stares at us despite it all
Eye to eye is only with the ground we walk on,
To make sure we can still move one leg in front of another
And not encounter some foreign stranger body in our path
That will stop us from moving. We try to find our way
Around obstructions , make our own paths convoluted
So much that we are lost at the end, when we lie in bed
And think of what it means to be born a woman.
So we begin to see with our eyes raised,
Return the look of
those who stare. Eye to eye,
Face to face, into the face
Of strangers, our hair open, faces uncovered,
In your face, stranger.
So we begin to cross arms over breasts,
draw attention to a specific body part
by crossing over them with arms,
challenging you.
In your face, stranger.
We are not hiding ourselves anymore.
The paths have to be cleared for us
To help us walk unblocked, unhindered.
Crossing arms over chest, eyes straight ahead,
We are letting the world know our stance.
I am woman and don’t you dare expect me to be anything less.
© ABHA IYENGAR, September 23rd , 2011
These bugs that are flying around here. They want to eat me.
One just bit me on my thumb, and it is itching. My thumb is now turning a different color.
What makes the bugs think they can do this she asks naively. It is in their nature she answers.
Why cant they leave me alone, she asks. They will never do so, she answers.
How can I defend myself. I am completely vulnerable. They could carry me away and take me to the ocean and drop me there to drown if they wanted to, she says. They would enjoy eating me up slowly the whole way there.
You can not do anything to defend yourself she says. You can only experience the bugs and tell the story as if it happened only in your mind, she says.
Is it true then?
Yes.
One day they will leave you alone. Or tell them you have children, if they hear that then they will leave you alone too.
But one in particular will capture your mind. And if you tell him that you find it sick that he is doing so, he will get offended and chase you. You will find him so close to you he will speak to you at night. He will leave you in a state of terror every morning when you wake.
Those bugs that get offended, what can I do? See the story. Write about it so honestly and it will seem like a story that never happened. Know that others know about it. Tell them.
He will fly away. He disgusted by utter blatancy. The nakedness of your mind will scare him away.
They can not do anything to you.
