Being a girl

Sometimes I wonder about how r girls being brought up or treated among family and friends. I, being the elder kid of my family have done almost everything one can expect a male child to do starting from going to market, banks, post office, depositing school fees and what not but its not the same with everyone. 

I should say I have been lucky that I was never treated as the 'weaker sex' in my family but was taught not to be dependent on anyone. But I have friends who rarely went out alone. I have friends whose parents won't trust them enough to send them in a school bus b'coz there are boys. Hence they would drop them to school everyday in a car. I have friends who never really enjoyed street food b'coz they were not allowed to step out of the car on the streets. I know people who wouldn't let their wife out of house very often coz she is 'too pretty'.

I have stayed out of house for more than 7 years and have seen enough around me to write it today that there is something majorly wrong with the way we think. If a guy cries, we say "Y r u crying? R u a girl?" Since when did crying or being a girl become an insult or a bad thing. A girl turns 23 and her parents will start looking for a match b'coz she is their "responsibility". Most of the times we let go of thing when a guy teases, stares or comments at us b'coz after all "Boys will be boys". A girl is being raped or punished to "teach her a lesson". I don't feel safe on the streets even during the daytime. I know that a guy is intentionally falling on me in a non-crowded bus and I am being advised to ignore it b'coz "Yahaan ye sab chalta rehta hai" ...

Its just not about me but many similar incidents that I have heard from many of my friends. Some oppose, others don't. But not opposing doesnot justify the wrong that happened. Its time to teach guys from their childhood that girls are not to be objectified but respected and to teach a girl that she doesn't need a guy to protect her or complete her.