When women step out of the house, they have a lot to worry about, for the society has placed the reputation of a girl’s family right between her legs.
With every step she takes, she is all the more aware about her surroundings. She looks down while walking but she knows about all the footsteps around her, all the men who gaze at her and she hears all those who catcall her.
Isn’t it how it goes, ladies? Don’t you quicken your own pace when you’re on a lonely road and you see a man walking behind you? Doesn’t the fear of the worst grip your heart?
Noticing exactly this, slam poet Daaniyal has come up with a poem ‘Shukr’ for Spill Poetry. Yes, the shukr or relief that washes over you when you realise that you’ve saved yourself from sexual assault yet another day, the knowledge that your character won’t be assassinated, the realisation that your family members won’t have to go around looking for your body.
Taking the theme of rape anxiety, victim shaming and the fear that every woman lives with, Daaniyal has given words to every girl’s truth.