Every woman knows that word. Every woman has thought it, heard it, felt it. Obligation tells me that to be a woman in a society I must get married but stay pure, I must birth children but stay thin, I must be attractive and appealing but never vain, I must be an emotional support but never emotional. It tells me not to get upset over certain things.

Why would you? You’re a woman, you’re obligated to do them. You’re obligated to strive to be unrealistic, don’t you know that’s the only way to really be a woman?

Obligation tries to guilt you and smother you, like a heavy curtain pulled over your mind. It blocks out your other thoughts and drowns out your feelings. You ignore it, you cover it with other things. But you are a woman, and under every layer you stack upon it, it still clings to you.