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(Give me) One Reason Why


I grew up calling my vagina a 'chhee-chhee' ('Chee' being a Hindi interjection for 'disgust') Honestly,my vagina wasn't that bad a stuff, But,my mum taught me that, So,it got to be correct And I like a good girl,followed that. Years rolled by, And my vague thoughts;I just held them tight I grew up a bit, Influenced by the west, I learned another pickup- My vagina was now a pussy. Now,this got me a bit gritty. For I was resolute on what a pussy was- A small circle for the face,a big circle for the waist, Two dots for the eyes,a nose in the centre, adorned with some moustache and a tail - That was what a pussycat looked like Apparently,my vagina was nothing like it Then why call it this? Why? Muddled and Dazed and Confused and Mad,I grew up a bit more, Somewhere to be my present form, When I came across this movie-'Finding Fanny' More than the movie,the name intrigued me. And I took to the Internet To check what 'that' meant And Bingo! 'Fanny' was a vagina again. Why? You know,I fail to understand this I have eyes and ears and legs and hands But I don't go about calling them names I don't call my eyes 'ping pong balls' Or my hands 'Octopus tentacles with nails'.Do you? Talking about hands or eyes does not make people howl Then why is it so that when I walk up to you and say,"Let's talk about vaginal health",you raise eyebrows,ask me to lower down,take me to the side and whisper how my bra strap is peeking out as if my bra strap was your middle school crush,still giving you the chills as if my body was Johnny eating sugar and you were the Papa I was bound to conceal it from And my inability to conceal it becomes a joke everyone can 'Hahahaa' over Why? Call a chair a chair and People won't stare ,because, "Hey,that is what it is meant to be." But,call a vagina a vagina, and everyone gives me that scornful glare Why? I fail to understand when an apple is not 'A' A girl is not 'G' Then why does my vagina have to be a timid 'V'? Why does my sexual organ has to be a metaphor,a synecdoche,a noun,an adjective,a euphemism, an interjection or a pronoun and all parts of a speech But not a part of my anatomy. A body part that belongs to,well,me. And is no public property To be a laughing stock. Why? You know,we rant about rapists being bad And girls and boys not reporting assault cases, Well, we taught them that. We taught our little boys and girls that their genitals-they are bad bad words And that everything bad must be swept under the rag. You can call a vagina the 'V-word' or a 'chhee-chhee' or a 'pussy' But not what it is meant to be. Why? Give me One Reason Why.
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Yashna Arora

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