Dream lucidity
is a phenomenon in which
the dreamer becomes aware of
his or her dreaming state.
It is often caused by
a specific stimulus inside a dream
that the dreamer deems unusual,
cluing him or her into the false reality.
I saw God in a dream once.
She introduced herself confidently
with perfectly-plucked eyebrows,
a sleek slicked-back ponytail,
and tastefully dark red lipstick
lighting up her face
in the best smile you’ve ever seen
in your life.
Her eyes crinkled at me
as I asked her to repeat her name.
Surely I did not hear correctly.
See, something seemed strange
about the entire setting.
Something whispered in subtle tones,
it could not be real.
I knew I was dreaming when
the image before me did not align with that
which had been described to me all my life,
planted in the crevices of my mind
blossomed in the pit of my stomach,
seeds of internalized misogyny
perniciously poisoning
my conceptions about my own gender
with every bite of the shiny, red
societal apple as, with my help, it equates
womanwith inferior
woman with weak
womanwith secondary
As women, we should not be participating
in our own dehumanization.
We should not be baking arsenic apple pies and leaving them at each other’s doorsteps in the form of get-well presents
They will not mend the wounds that are self-inflicted.
We cannot pretend we are blind
Baby boys wear blue.
Baby girls wear pink.
The human eye can perceive seven million colors.
I ask, why not orange?
Purple. Yellow. Green. Red.
Hell, paint the walls of the nursery in unapologetic reassurances.
Let boys pretend-play as princesses.
Let girls be beautiful curly-haired Prince Charmings.
Do not spike your little girls’ pink plastic teacups with the notion of damsel in distress.
Do not teach her to count limitations
like calories
To check ingredients lists for gender-specific labels
To suck in her words like she does her stomach in the mirror.
One day if I am given a daughter, I will feed her endless aspirations instead of doubts
Teach her to make plans and goals
Give her a seat at the dinner table
where she is not served her salad with a side of preconceptions.
And at the end of the day, if, with everything in mind, she decides to be Snow White still,
I will personally see to it that she has the means to save herself.
Snow White
By:
Nada
Rahmouni