My humble 200 word offering to the great Blank Noise project

Can you guess who I am?

I dress modestly. I don’t wear flashy make up.

I am not the kind of a lady one would mistake for a call girl or prostitute.

Yet, when I step out of my home, male eyes follow my every move – I often get asked "How much?"

I can feel that no matter what I am wearing, many of these eyes see me as though I was wearing nothing.

As I move about on the streets, the stares turn to whistles, thrusting pelvic moves in a queue, groping hands in a crowded bus.

I am not a caged canary but a human who has to step outside the four walls of her home – for meeting my neighbours, for buying my daily needs, for fresh air.

Yet, it is never easy.

Have you guessed who I am? Have you seen me on the street?

You must have.

I am the mother who bore you. The sister you feel duty-bound to ‘protect’. The girl you fell in love with.

I am the daughter you are one day going to have.

Will you let me be treated this way forever?

Or will you do something about it, today?

(A second offering, this time of 200 words, by Farrukh Naeem, dedicated to the blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com. The first 100-word offering is the post below...)