One of the first and greatest achievements you can get in life is getting into the college of your dreams. For me, the first month at Cásper Líbero has been wonderful: I learned many new things, enjoyed lots of opportunities offered by the teachers and, furthermore, met people with incredible stories.
The thing that most impressed me so far has been the feminist association organized by students: the Frente Feminista Casperiana Lisandra. During the firsts meetings, we discussed basic concepts of feminism, shared inspiring stories and went to the World March of Women, on March 8th.
In the WMW, women from different ages, political views, sexual orientations and social classes have come together to fight for the legalization of abortion and demand the end of violence against women. We walked about three kilometers, and at the meeting point, high school girls (*) made a moving speech, and a group of actresses showed the meaning of abortion in the Brazilian society.
The weight of being a woman is huge: your body doesn’t belong to you. Your sexual life’s a taboo. Your decisions are always questionable. Your career is affected by your appearance. Your paycheck is lower than your male coworker’s paycheck. And finally, you have no allies.
As girls, we’re told to never trust each other, and the competition between us is early stimulated. The pressure to be the prettiest, the smartest or the one that catches the boys’ attention generates unrealistic standards that can trigger many psychological disorders. That was my reality until the day of protest.
However, when I heard the voices of dozens of women together, spreading a sisterhood and empowerment speech, the hate bubble in which I lived was popped. And what have I felt? Such a relief that I cried my heart out. It was like all those wonderful women had taken the world off my shoulders. As if those 10,000 women were my sisters. And, at that moment, I swear they were.