Dear Girls -- Here's Why Nasty Old Religious Men Are Terrified of You

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How do you threaten them? A girl, alone? By being  able, strong, confident and yes,  shameless. You may not "naturally" be interested in  domesticity, piety, purity and submission, and they rely on your commitment to those things to order their worlds. Their actions, from one end of the spectrum to the other, are designed to fill you with self-doubt and, ultimately, fear -- either bodily or spiritual -- because otherwise you, and the young boys around you, will be fully aware of your strength and potential.

Because of this, they single-mindedly focus their attention on you, your body, your clothes, your hair, your abilities, your physical freedom. When their "manners" and "morals" are not universally applicable, but different for boys and girls, you can be sure that this is why. They seek to teach you, subtly, through small slights and gendered expectations, that you are "different," weak, unworthy, incapable. The sadness is that, in their perception, if you are none of these things, then they are not strong, worthy and capable. This is not an excuse, but an explanation. It's why they find infinite  "benevolent" ways to undermine and disparage you, all in the name of "God's word." When that fails, they resort to  violence. All over the world, their anxiety is manifest in a spectrum of actions ranging from mild paternalism, respectful of " proper boundaries," to deadly  enforcement of their rules.

Fear is why these men  "officially" investigate Girl Scouts while  perversely shielding child rapists. It's why they  obsess over your "purity." It's why they  segregate you in public and private spaces. It's why they  instruct girls and boys that girls' bodies are either  shameful and dirty or sacred and belonging to men. Fear motivates them to teach that you  pollute others by your very nature. It makes them intent on making sure you  stay home and not be fully engaged in the world. It leads them to sanction marriages of  8-year-olds to old men. It convinces them that rape and its consequences are a " gift from God." It's why they  empower others to stone you to death and disfigure you with acid.

Even " beating the gay" out of children, especially boys who are "more like" you, is aimed at you. Because if boys are "more like girls," something these men  believe is fundamentally inferior, then you can be "more like boys." That causes ambiguity and destroys their carefully defined hierarchies and that is intolerable to them.

Fear is why they insist there is something fundamentally wrong with you. Don't believe them. Fear is why they want you to cover your body. There is nothing wrong with your body, and your body is not to blame. Whether you chose to expose your body or to cover it up, consider the degree to which  either choice is defined by a reduction of your character to narrow sexuality by a culture that refuses to hold men accountable for their actions and requires you to either radically display ourself for men's pleasure or withdraw from the world and be held in reserve. Either way, ask who is defining your worth and by what measure. Fear is why they tell you you are so different from boys. You, and the boys you know, understand that your bodies are different, but that you are far more alike than dissimilar. Threatened, insecure, adult men say otherwise. Don't give in. Even if you're quiet. The differences these religious authorities exaggerate are simply pillars of oppression used to teach boys and girls that women's subjugation is "natural" and "divine." Reject them and their ideas.