By Yasmeen Begum:
I don’t know from where should I start from. I am a girl who belongs to the typical middle-class society where the children have to follow everything their parents say. According to them, a girl should know all kinds of household work, age is not a concern, even if she is just 8.
At the age of 7, I have had to go through sexual assault. At that time, I had no knowledge of sex. My parents have that typical mentality – talking about sex disturbs the line of respect. So things continued for almost 6 years. The feeling was very bad, I hated myself.
On the other end, my parents wanted me to be a perfect girl both in studies and household works, I was beaten up for not being perfect. I had figured a new way of dealing with this. I had started harming myself.
When I was 18, I came to know that what I was going through all these years. I broke down, for it was like my whole body was stinking, I hated myself to a great extent. This sexual abuse continued – with someone touching me in buses, trains, a few kissing me as if I was their property. I could not speak a word, it was like I don’t know how to react. Those times, I would only feel relaxed after harming myself. It was like my punishment.
Had my parents spoken to me about all this, I would not have gone through all this. I would have been a different person. Hence I feel, it’s high time that parents speak to their children openly so that they know what the kids have gone through and take measures to help them out.
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Image for representation only.