BREAKING THE CYCLE:Glitch in the Matrix

 For years, I have been locked in a quiet war of conviction, trying to help those around me see that patriarchy is not a natural law, but a constructed system. It is a structure designed for male dominance; its inevitable byproduct is a profound inequality that leaves women in a perpetual state of identity crisis.

​In this world, the 'male' is socially engineered into the role of the provider—a title used to justify his position as the absolute head of the household. Driven by these unscientific gender roles, women are conditioned to believe their purpose is to serve and live in the shadow of men. Perhaps the most tragic element is how the system sustains itself through the support of women who have been taught to view their own subordination as a privilege.

​In such an environment, freedom is a restricted commodity. A woman’s autonomy is routinely dismissed by men who were, ironically, raised by women—women who were themselves victims of the system, yet remained blind to its machinery.

​My own family background, with the exception of my parents, is a microcosm of this mindset. In their eyes, 'feminism' is reduced to a shallow caricature—a matter of wearing sleeveless clothes or being 'anti-man.' Recently, during a discussion about a misogynistic speech, a cousin attempted to mock me by labeling me a 'feminist,' using the word as a slur without grasping its weight.

​But I carry that label with pride. While they see women as born subjects meant for domestic servitude, I see a world where our value isn't defined by how well we serve, but by how freely we live. It is exhausting to be the person constantly pointing out the 'invisible' walls of a system while everyone else insists they are simply part of the architecture.