Dear editor: ‘As a mother, I’m paralysed with fear; as a woman, I’m filled with tremendous anxiety’

“[…] As a woman, I am filled with tremendous anxiety. I am fiercely independent, but I feel that independence disappearing—as I constantly have to adjust my movements to try and ensure my safety…”

The following Letter to the Editor was submitted to Wired868 by an anonymous contributor, under the pen name ‘Frost in May’:

I feel sick. Like so many people today, I am overcome with pain. Another woman, daughter, friend, niece, cousin was snatched and brutally murdered. 

As a mother, I feel paralysed with fear. Fear that I can’t let my daughter out of my sight, for even a minute. As a woman, I am filled with tremendous anxiety. I am fiercely independent, but I feel that independence disappearing—as I constantly have to adjust my movements to try and ensure my safety. 

Andrea [Bharatt] will not be the last. We will mourn again. We will keep mourning until women demand more for themselves. We will keep mourning until mothers realise just how much power they have in moulding their sons. 

We will keep mourning until women start choosing partners that can uplift them. Women have to change, for men to change.

I just feel so heavy and overwhelmed with grief. Andrea, Ashanti, Sharday… They could be me.

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Letters to the Editor

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