WOMEN NEEDN'T A MAN'S PERMISSION TO BE

There is this idea that women need permission from the men in their lives to be or to do, and I have seen some women champion this idea by joining the bandwagon of "As long as my/her husband is fine with, it's none of your business".

And I say, you all need to stop it.

This whole mentality stems from the idea that women on their own are not deserving of respect, like men. Therefore they need to attach themselves to a man, possibly a husband, in order to be covered by the respect the society automatically bestows upon for the sole reason of being a man.

It's like a life insurance policy, but in this case, only men can have it. If a woman wants it, she has to get married to a man.

A single lady wearing a mini skirt on the road would probably get harassed by by-passers. But the moment the woman declares that she is a married woman, those people would probably stop and let her be.

She has been given permission by her husband to wear this skirt.

Take a look at this pre-wedding picture. This woman is smoking a cigar, and trust it to spark public criticism. What amazes me is that the people who came in her defence did not say: "What's wrong with a woman smoking a cigar? Hasn't she got the same pair of lungs a man has?"

Instead their defence was: "Let her be. Her future husband is not complaining".

How basic.

This is a grown up woman doing something that grown up men do all the time without anybody jumping on their throats. As a matter of fact, cigars are smoked in movies by bosses and wealthy men. Men gift each other cigars as a sign of respect and admiration. However, the moment a woman takes a picture of herself smoking a cigar, hell breaks lose. Defenders must cover her with the blood of her husband.

You all need a brain reset.

She does not need a man's permission to smoke a cigar. She can smoke all the cigars she wants. Na her lungs go hear am. She needn't anybody's permission to do what grown ups do.

We keep reinforcing the idea that marriage is the pass to freedom for women, freedom that she is entitled to for the mere fact that she is a human being. You withhold a woman's humanity and release it to her husband only after she has signed a paper that says that she is now part of a state regulated relationship. The man now becomes the person who decides what she can or cannot do. Isn't that crazy?

Women need to stop dancing to the insane tunes of the society. You need to reclaim your power. Do what you want to do and when they ask you why you are doing it, answer "Because I want to". Simple.

Nobody needs anybody's permission to be human.

PS: Yep, I removed the man from the picture because his presence is not required as a form of validation. She doesn't need one.