“My body is that power, into which I absorb all the energies of the universe. It’s that solace, into which I look for deeper meanings. My body is that truth, I am not ashamed of. It’s the compliment I wear with pride. My body is what I accept as definite. It’s my right to be essentially ‘ME’. I refuse to confine my body within social barricades, I refuse to define its borders by pointless measurements. I refuse to curb the fire that sets me ablaze, in the most withering nights, in the coldest of days. No curtains hide me, no sheets overlap. I am capable beyond measures, not just a woman a man can have. My choices are purely mine, my decisions self-made. I don’t live in denial, I relish what it takes – Whatever it takes to be a complete ‘Woman’.”

Why should anyone be ever ashamed of the most basic choices one makes, physically, mentally or emotionally? Aren’t we all born with a liberty to be ‘Real’ (As real as vulnerable, as real as sensual, or, as real as emotional)? Why our defense mechanism gets alert, every time, someone refuses to agree or challenge our ideology? Why, as humans, we cannot be more accepting? The above may have been said in the tone of a ‘woman’, but, it has a profound voice with an intimate effect encapsulating all genders and even those who choose not to associate with one.

-Manvi (Written as part of a story covering sexuality rights)