Do We Not Bleed? Reflections of a 21-st Century Pakistani

by Mehr Tarar

great deal has changed for females in Pakistan, but a great deal remains the same. There are still lines that she is not supposed to cross, and only she is taught what not to do. If, instead, we were to teach our boys what not to do, much would change in our society. If only ‘It’s a girl’ is celebrated with as much joy as ‘It’s a boy’, our society would slowly rid itself of the inherent misogyny it is not even aware of disseminating all along. Hitting

One incident affected her deeply, as she describes in her TED speech, ‘One day I came across this polio advertisement in which a little boy from a very underprivileged family was sitting on a wheelchair. And with him seated was his father crying, and saying to the world: “Give your children polio drops, or they’ll become like him.” That advertisement shook me from inside. I felt devastated. The way that boy was objectified as an emblem of grief, misery, mercy, lifelessness, nothingness… Such a wrong picture being portrayed in media about persons with disabilities. That’s what we are called. That was the day when I decided that I had to change the perception of people of those in a wheelchair.