A Woman Is No Man

by Etaf Rum

Where I come from, voicelessness is the condition of my gender, as normal as the bosoms on a woman’s chest, as necessary as the next generation growing inside her belly. But we will never tell you this, of course. Where I come from, we’ve learned to conceal our condition.

We’ve been taught to silence ourselves,

If you live your life waiting for a man’s love, you’ll be disappointed.”