My Stories

Growing up as a dusky-skinned girl in Nepal, I often found myself feeling like I didn’t belong. The beauty standards in my society celebrate fairness above everything. As a teenager, my skin color became my source of major insecurity. People around me would make comments about my complexion, later defending it as a playful affection. But for me, it was something I never loved.  At the very young age, I was overwhelmed by the fact that I was the unattractive one among all because I was not fair like others. My friends proudly shared their stories about admirers and boyfriends, but I was never in that loop. This made me so frustrated that I became desperate to change my skin color. I researched for hours on ways to lighten my skin, hoping it would help me to fit in the society.  But things began to change as I grew older and got into the world of social media. To my surprise, I saw people appreciating skin tones like mine. I watched videos of white people tanning themselves ...

Every time any women speaks about being a victim of mansplaining or any kinds of prejudice, there is often a common response "Oh, but it's not all men". It is kind of like a  defense to justify all of the behavior they have shown. It also shows that people do not still want to talk about the patriarchy and the privileges that comes along with it.  Many people seem to be unwilling or unable to accept the reality that gender inequality still exists. Just because they see some women; sisters, friends, colleagues able to pursue education or have careers does not mean we have equality. Those freedoms often are for women in privileged groups and even then, there is intersectional inequalities that men don't face.  The painful truth is that I have not met single women who has not had an experience of abuse whether it be physical, mental or verbal. While there have been improvements, we are still having the continuous battle. From casual sexist jokes that is later justifi...