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Shulina's avatar

Ouf, Sabrina, I do not only hear you, but I feel you as well. I grew increasingly anxious as the posts about the nudes overflowing my feed since the start of the week. Indeed, how can we be hopeful when the patriarchy still prevails ? Mauritius is such a tiny society. It threw me back to teenage years as well as it got my demons resurfaced as I recall to being poached by a very close family member. It only got me more confused and disturbed amid my messy attempts to dissociate danger from from a supposedly trusting caregiver. I feel for all the girls out there and encourage them to own their actions, eliminate the shame and to not hesitate to talk about it.

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sabrina's avatar

It's also very reminiscent of what happens to women today in Mauritius. I remember we were talking about the lack of sex positivity, even among adults today. We can't even talk about consensual sexual relationships that happen outside of rigid institutions like marriage, and yet we find that people wind up venting their sexual frustration by swapping nudes like Pokémon cards online. I really hope our generation and the next can lead the way, and break the chains of sexual taboo. I am so, so sorry that this happened to you, especially by someone who was supposed to protect you. We need to break this cycle.

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Shanda's avatar

It is inherently hard to be hopeful when the various safety nets and protection mechanisms are also shaped by Mauritian misogyny and hypocrisy. There are no redeeming features from our educational and cultural upbringing either. We need to start from scratch.

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sabrina's avatar

At this point, only Black Mirror reset, where we unlearn the gendered toxicity we have been spoon-fed with, will do the trick. *Manifesting* as the kids say

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Nastassia's avatar

Thank you for your voice, and for this piece. Mauritian Misogyny is a Multi-headed Monster, indeed.

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sabrina's avatar

The scary part is that when one is beheaded, another sprouts right back. It never, ever ends

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