Random Thoughts Of The Lady Next Door

I remember how in uni, someone I'd considered a friend and run an errand for turned around to disrespect and even verbally insult me on top of that. Needless to say, she was never a friend as I'd been the one always sticking around to make our caricature of a friendship work when I simply should have settled for acquaintanceship. I remember crying so hard in my room that day because it hurt me badly that I couldn't retaliate. Well, I could, but the Holy Spirit had the upper hand and wouldn't let me give her a good dose of my pettiness and sharp tongue. Aswear, the thing really pained me and I literally told God in prayer "I'm only holding back because of you. Please help me get over this anger and hurt." Surprisingly, I handled that situation so well that I didn't even tell any of our mutual friends about it and I simply moved on from her, thus ending the 5-year friendship. (She came back a year later to apologise and I forgave, but that...

Image credit: Shutterstock   The three times in my life that I was sexually assaulted, it was by family members. Yes, you read that right. Male members of my own family, not strangers. These incidents no doubt have influenced my unwavering position that all men are potential rapists. By this, I mean that although not all men will commit rape in their lifetime, women would be better off not putting the crime beyond any male figure in their lives. As expected, this has gotten some disgruntled readers defensive and, more than once, I have been called broken and bitter — bitter feminist to put it more precisely. Although I know that many of those who disparage me would understand my position better and be a lot less vicious in their disagreement with me should I narrate the experiences that informed this world view of mine, I generally don’t give enough fvcks to care about their opinions of me anyway, and I don’t owe anyone any explanations for my opinions, so I keep it mo...