Lessons Learned From ‘She Called Me Woman’

I just recently finished reading the collection of stories by Nigerian LGBT women, the book titled She Called Me Woman, and I went through a whole gamut of emotions while reading it. There was pain in those stories – pain and hope, despair, upliftment, struggle, purpose. There was also one thing these women had in common: a determination to live life on their own terms.

They had a lot to say, and as I read, I picked up some of the things they said, which I will post, one at a time, while giving my take on the quotes.

LESSON 1

From the chapter, ‘She Called Me Woman’, JP had this to say:

“I want to bring up my children so they respect all people and it will be easy for them to relate to me. My children will be able to tell me if they are gay or lesbian or trans or whatever. My kids will realise that they have to respect everybody. I will lay this foundation in my children so that they pass it on to the next generation.”

Barack Obama once tweeted these immortal words of Nelson Mandela: “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate. And if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love. For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Prejudice comes to be because people are born into it, assimilate it, get conditioned by it, and then make it a part of who they are. Homophobes are made, not born. And so, I have always had this determination that if I were to have children, my priority would be to teach them to respect the humanity and diversity of the people around them. The foundation of every person is important, and whatever kindness, whatever love, whatever appreciation of life, whatever respect for another person’s right to live he is taught to have as a child is what he will grow up exhibiting. Making the world a better place for diversities starts from what we teach our children.

Written by Pink Panther