.#BeKind is drenched in the blood of all the women who weren't. It is as much of a threat as punching the wall beside someone's head, an indicator of what might happen. It never just means, "be kind". It means do as I say, don't make me angry, it's your fault you make me do this.
The usually unsaid, but sometimes vocalised, "or else" - be if from your mum telling you, "just you wait until your father comes home", or from the doctor telling you that if you can't relax then OF COURSE it will hurt more, you silly girl - is always, always there.
It is always there, and it is always a demand for compliance, capitulation and subservience. And every woman knows it. Those in a position of privilege, who can pretend that #VAWG isn't real, that it doesn't affect them, that #BeKind is simply a t-shirt slogan -
- they are protected by the fight, the blood of their sisters, grandmothers, aunts before them. The women who refused to #BeKind and suffered for it, who fought to give them the position they inhabit (the vote, the right to refuse sex within marriage, the ownership of property).
Women who subscribe to #BeKind - why are you not being kind to the women who campaigned, died for your rights? Why is it now that men are calling for you to be kind that you feel you can afford this sympathy? The patriarchy isn't giving you permission; it's giving you a command.
.#WomenWontWheesht, and sometimes we can't afford to #BeKind.
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