“Broken but Beautiful” is a weekly column by Faith Gor, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. She shares her story and healing journey to offer hope to other survivors.
The month of March is known to be the woman’s month. This is because International Women’s Day (IWD) falls on the 8th of March.
For a long time, I never had any interest in celebrating International Women’s Day. It made no sense to me. I saw nothing worthy of celebration in me. This day brought more blues than pink moments to me. It reminded me of my inadequacy, my weaknesses, and how much I detest being a woman.
The theme for this year’s IWD is #choosetochallenge. So I chose to challenge my belief system of feeling like a man trapped in a woman’s body, and this started by answering the question: who is a woman?
According to the Webster dictionary, a woman is an adult female person. And a female person is someone having a gender identity opposite to male. It’s confusing to have a female body and feel like a man. I never understood why I felt that way until I went for therapy. Then I was guided to understand the root of my confusion, and that is the sexual abuse experiences I had as a child.
When a child is sexually abused, they respond by detesting their gender. This is because, as a survivor, you tend to feel as though your gender is weaker; therefore, you prefer to be the opposite gender so that you can protect your gender. This knowledge gave me power to challenge my belief system, and I prayed to God to make me appreciate being a woman and to give me courage to still choose to be a woman even when I’m tempted to feel the opposite.
Today I choose to be a woman. I choose to celebrate my abilities and limitations as a woman. I choose to appreciate what others appreciate in me as a woman. You too can join in the celebration!
- Do you feel like a man in a woman’s body? Truth is you are a woman; you can choose to be ‘her’ today.
- Trauma may have oppressed you and you feel unworthy; you matter and someone longs to hear your story.
- You may feel broken because you have a child with special needs. It is not your fault; you are a beacon of hope and you are not alone.
- Your past choices may make you feel like a mess. God values you more than you can ever imagine.
- Disease and disability may have brought your life to a pause. Thank you for not giving up. You are a source of inspiration.
- You may have served and never felt as though your work is appreciated. Your labour is not in vain.
There’s a special spot for you in this world, dear woman. And every time you are not being the real you, then we are deprived of the beauty that you bring to the world as a unique human person.
Choose to be a woman today!
Love,
Fellow woman
Faith is a Children’s Content Creator at Learn & Grow enterprises, Storyteller and Mental Health Advocate. She tells her story to offer hope, help and healing to survivors of sexual trauma.