OPPRESSIONS

 

You shall not raise your voice to an elder, neither shall you talk back, especially when they are wrong. They are older, and therefore the dregs of their foolishness is the height of your wisdom.

You shall not evade black tax. Rather, you must pay with maximum interest the years, time, and energy invested in you, or as we like to put it, “wasted on top of your head.”

You shall not act outside the boundaries of your gender, for to do so, is to undermine the powers that be.

You shall not speak nor write against bad governance, greed, and injustice. You must swallow each deed of wickedness like spoonfuls of ice cream, best served cold.

You shall not pick sides in family matters, rather you must defer to the matriarch and patriarch. They are the grandmasters, you are only a pawn in the game that they play.

You shall remain loyal to family at the cost of you. You shall smile at catty remarks and make no mention of thinly veiled insults to the recipients. This is the rule of the family.

You shall not engage in unseemly behavior. What is referred to as self-expression is only poison seeping through the very fabric of your humanity, slowly killing you?

You shall not make any efforts to be self-reliant until you are in the prime of life. You shall stretch your cap to your rich uncles, your back bent, your eyes begging. Why make an effort to be rich in your youth? Have you no respect for your elders?

You shall get married upon the continued insistence of your relatives. Your purpose will be aligned with that of your spouse.

You shall not have unusual ideas about training your children. Your child is the property of the family, religion, and the nation.

You shall repress your sexuality. You will not discuss it, neither will you explore it. Only women who have fallen from grace may do that.

You shall not live life outside of your husband and children. Your life is tied to them. All others come secondary. Your devotion is to your home, your god is your marriage.

 

 

All of these rules come from a very sarcastic place. And they are rather true. Our oppressions are distinctly familiar, each rule interlinking with another, until they form a chain so strong that when we eventually break a rule, we are overwhelmed by all the many rules that are lined up behind it. This sours our victory, leaving behind dust in our mouths.