~Blog for Thought~

                                                                              

           

                                                                                                          How does it feel to feel sideline(d)
                                                                                      Discriminated and looked at every time
                                                                                  Still talking about gender equality, are we
                                                                                                            looks like the closet is full
                                                                                                    and the mainstream is still HE!

When a female is marginalized, which she is, she undergoes a lot of mental stress, very often that marginalization happens in physical ways, so suffering physical torture as well. Facing discrimination and oppressive unjust laws, rules and ideologies not just at working place but also in their very homes is no less than living in a secluded Pacific island with dark clouds welcoming some storm the whole time. Sometimes the thunder is loud and the lightning hits at such vulnerable places that many succumb to it. The very first thought which comes to mind after listening the term ‘marginalized gender’ is a female but there is another gender still inside the closet and that suffers marginalization in yet another unique way that is by the fear of it. One can only imagine what it would be like to step into one such shoe which not only fears to tie its own laces and walk but also is so afraid to call itself a SHOE because it has been told that it stinks.

Bhavesh and Piyush are two Gay friends I have and seeing them living with so much fear and so much going on in their head all the time about their existence, their future, their career, family, life overall is a cumbersome job but they are living it. “I’d leave this country and go somewhere else where its more open, yes I know I won’t have my parents by my side after a few years and this thought …” these are the words of Bhavesh when I asked him about his thoughts on his future.

The above statement starts a chain of thoughts about the depressing, fatal and dangerous set of thoughts dwelling in the minds of all such marginalized people belonging to a gender or no-gender as they say. People’s psychology is complex even when the waves are normal, but when their whole life becomes an eventful journey of high and low tides, it leaves scars on their normal psychological functioning in many deep un-understood ways. The psychology is affected rather it gets tinted by some dark colors of anxiety, at times panic-attacks, low self-esteem, constant fear of being judged: its like a layer of smoke, the whole day to day things work normally as it may seem but only you know, that you are living a poisonous life. Many resist and fight, many accept and give up. They often become less expressive and tend to form a very negative opinion about everything around them, the reasons of which are not hard to understand, we tend to give what we get. It’s a mad-mad world already however people have finally started to talk about mental health and have finally accepted that they need help and that is OKAY! Let’s also not just get lost in the black and white of everything, lets accept the grey and try to create a rainbow of equality, equity, happiness, peace, unity, support and LIFE!