Mera Jism Meri Marzi

My body my rules. My flower pot My rules; Your flower pot, your flowers (English+Hindustani the original quip:Mah badan, mah rulz..My gamla my phoolz..Your Gamla, your phool.) (Of uncertain south Asian origin)~Fatima Sana Shaikh, Actress

Mera Jism Meri Marzi (Urdu: میرا جسم میری مرضی, translation: My body my choice) is a feminist slogan raised by feminists in Pakistan in the context of women's rights. It was highly popularized by Aurat March held annually on International Women's Day.

Arranged alphabetically by author or source:
A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z · See also · External links

A

• But the chant ‘Mera Jism Meri Marzi‘ is important because of the vast injustices women in Pakistan and all around the world have to face at the hands of the patriarchy against their very own bodies. The message behind the slogan is important. Like a man, it is a woman’s right to choose whatever happens with her body. Whether she chooses to follow a certain religion or whether she chooses to walk around proudly without any clothes, it is her right to do as she wants and nobody else has a right to prevent her from exercising her choice.

• • Rameeza Ahmad ( A Pakistani feminist)

• Men, women and even kids need to learn this important lesson about boundaries and consent. Just like we teach kids not to let strangers touch them or let even those they know well touch them inappropriately, women have a right to claim their own bodies and not be forced to do things that someone else wants them to.

• • **Rameeza Ahmad ( A Pakistani feminist)

B

• "..When we say that people should have full bodily autonomy, that having bodily autonomy is a human right, we mean that people should have full control over their body and be able to freely make choices concerning their body (unless it means that your choice will cause public health concerns and outbreaks, making other people ill, such as within the case of refusing vaccinations)...Bodily autonomy is a human right, a concept that is applied not only to abortion, but also for ending human rights violations such as slavery, female genital mutilation, forced sterilization, sex trafficking, sexual assault, rape, to name some examples.....Your fight for bodily autonomy must be all-inclusive. If your fight for human rights are not universal, it is self serving and it allows unjust harm onto vulnerable and marginalized peoples. One should have full control over their body. Our body. Our choice..."

• • Shahzi Bokhari What Bodily Autonomy Means - Raise the Hammer May 29, 2019

• "...Trans persons should have the right to access legal and safe healthcare which includes medical procedures, surgeries, and hormones without discrimination. Folks who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and two-spirit should not be forced into conversion therapy and should have the right to engage in sexual relationships without violations towards their bodily autonomy...."

• • Shahzi Bokhari What Bodily Autonomy Means - Raise the Hammer May 29, 2019

C

• '..My fans love the fact that everything I’m doing is my choice. It’s my body. I want what I do to be memorable and so do my fans – I’m just living, just being.’
  • Miley Cyrus, US actress

• “My Body My Choice” His Body My choice. His life My choice. His money My choice. His freedom My choice. His mannerisms My choice. His family My Choice. His decisions My Choice – Stop these double standards and then say this is a patriarchal society.

• • Cognizant Chennai confessions

D

• Mera jism, meri marzi literally means that womxn want bodily autonomy and have the right to make decisions concerning their bodies
  • Dawn.com
• Justice is a day where I can confidently say, “My sexuality, my decision. My body, my choice.”
  • Sara D.
• "I have been trolled a lot of times for my size, make-up, clothes, hair, for my low cleavage. ..... Sometimes I gain or lose weight, so they have a problem with that too. There are times when they don't like my clothes or dance, so they comment on that too. I want to tell these faceless people it is my body, my choice I will do what I feel is right. I have earned it,"

• • Rashami Desai, (Indian Actress) Source TIMESOFINDIA.COM Mar 8, 2020,

• “....My body, my choice, my life, my karma… Free yourself from people’s judgement, feel liberated, live with a kind heart & love yourself, or change till you do… For when you truly love yourself, you can truly love someone other than you..."
  • Anusha Dandekar (Indian Actress)

• "I have poetry on my body and the idea is my body is mine to use and abuse,.....It's mine. It's not God's or anybody else's. It's mine. I'm a writer and I see myself as a canvas, as a space where I can write as well,"
  • Akram Al Deek,

E

• My body, my choice! has long been the rallying cry of the abortion movement. In recent years, advocates made a more concerted effort to substantiate the sound bite by pushing a philosophical argument for abortion they called the “bodily autonomy” (or bodily “integrity”) argument. ... The argument goes like this: The highest moral good is to have autonomy over one’s own body. This autonomy includes the right to kill the body of a preborn child attached to and reliant on my body. Therefore, abortion is moral.
  • Lauren Enriquez

F

• It's My life, my choice and my responsibility

• • Article name ‘I am who I am’ issue March 15 2003 page 163 Femina India Magazine (Times of India group)

• Still my body is not determined by my limitations. Rather I create my body through my choices and my actions, in this I have created myself.My entire lived experience determines my body. My choice...,my habits...result in what I may call at any moment - for that time - by body. My body is mutable chargeable living substance. It is continuous with my mind, which is no less subject to temporal change, mutability, growth, and decay, and no less a product of my exercise of choice and free will.
  • Sondra Horton Fraleigh in 'Dance and the Lived Body: A Descriptive Aesthetics'

• The right to control and make decisions about our own bodies is fundamental to women's freedom. Seems simple right? Logically 'My body my choice' should be met with "Her body her choice." But far too often it's not. Instead "My body my choice" is often is met with a resounding wall of "not really your body, not really your choice." And yes this makes steam comes out of my ears. My ears are in my body, by the way. There is good reason for this steam; A woman's right to access to birth control, abortion, and reproductive health care has all been increasingly under attack in the past several years.
  • Kristin Rowe-Finkbeine in Keep Marching: How Every Woman Can Take Action and Change Our World

• "...The lack of autonomy is a cruelty thrust on them by a society that has decided their value is in their biology, not their minds...To have a soul is to be human, to have bodily autonomy is to exist freely."
  • Emma Fraser

• One Instagram user "..“My body is not mine, but rather Allah’s..”.
• Another Instagram user "...“Don’t we need to ensure that we live in a world where your/God’s body is respected?.."

• • Rizki Fachriansyah in ‘My body is not mine’: Indonesia Without Feminists group starts online campaign, Jakarta PostApril 1, 2019

G

• "The public debate that 'Aurat March' has triggered is groundbreaking, Men, for centuries, believed they owned women's bodies, so a placard asserting a woman's right to her own body is not going down well with them."
  • Leena Ghani (Pakistani Feminist) Reported by DW.com

• ..Had you replied, "I had or have no regrets for being a porn star. I entertained you just like any other star on the big or small screen....I'm proud that I didn't have to use anyone else's body to hike the TRP or to hit the box office."..." I wonder how the next 18 minutes of the air time would've been covered! Sunny Leone, I was not at all surprised by his "around the bush? approach. I would've admired him had he interrogated you straight by giving the anti-porn feminist rap about "commoditization or objectification of female body; how it's a systemized degradation, and how it leads to proliferation of sexual violence etc.? Since he isn't smart enough to drop names beyond Aamir Khan, you could've quoted scholars like Andrea Dworkin, Catharine MacKinnon whose crusade has been to regulate if not eradicate pornography. There upon throwing Wendy McElroy's name who asserts that pornography benefits women both personally and politically, you could've asked, "If we as feminists believe in "my body, my choice?, why cannot pornography within the regulatory limits be my Sunny, this is a classic duel between individual freedom and social control. The present day hash-tags about intolerance erupt from this very conflict. Where do you draw the line between "allowed? and "offensive?? Who draws that line? Who gives them that right to override your personal liberty?

• • Sandhya Gokhale Indian feminist & Movie Director in an open letter to Indian Actress Sunny Leone

• ....The only concern you will be sharing with them is when the participation in such activities is coerced and non-consensual. When participants are under duress or are incapable of giving their consent (as in case of mentally or physically challenged or intoxicated persons), forcing them is wrong in every sense. Our dispute arises against their omnipotent audacity to claim that the consenting women are so damaged and exploited by the patriarchy that their consent is neither voluntary nor free. If my consent for my adult acts is alleged to be notional, why won't you call a wife's freedom offered by the institution of marriage an illusion? Is a married woman devoid of the patriarchal cultural dictate? Isn't she expected to present her sexy avatar to her divine husband and to surrender? Is it not objectification? When you are reacting to my actions on the screen, don't you think that I AM the owner of my own body? Can you think so about your wife when you are imposing yourself on her? Irony is that a wife's conduct has to conform to the approved text of patriarchy. Sunny, you are free of all this hypocrisy. Don't believe in the accusation of married women that you corrupt their husbands as was alleged by the interviewer. He conveniently hide the statistics showing the percentage of female surfers of the porn sites.

• • Sandhya Gokhale Indian feminist & Movie Director in an open letter to Indian Actress Sunny Leone

• I had an abortion. I just simply wasn’t in a place, financially or emotionally to take that on. I was and still am glad I had that choice because that’s exactly what it was, it was my choice, my body.
  • Linsey Godfrey

• "...Who do you know that has ever said, “I’m going to get really drunk and then drive around on public roads?”; Who do you know that has ever said, “I’m going to go out in public, but I refuse to wear a face mask?”

Both these questions can end in the same result to any of us in Gadsden.....If you choose to drive a vehicle when you’re drunk,..., you are putting everyone on our highways in danger of possible injury — or even death....It’s the same as choosing not to wear a face mask in public. You’re putting everyone around you in danger by possibly exposing them to COVID-19, ultimately leading to severe illness and even death for some....You’ll never even know that you injured someone or gave them the virus that caused their death.....I’ve heard some say, “It’s My body, my choice.” It’s your choice for your body, but not my body, or all the general public’s bodies around you that you are exposing to the virus...."

• • Diane Davis in Not wearing mask is like driving drunk,The Gadsden Times 2020 Jaly, 20.

H

• My daughter occasionally goes on a hugging and kissing strike....No, she doesn't have to....She doesn't have to hug or kiss anyone just because I say so, not even me. I will not override my own child's currently strong instincts to back off from touching someone who she chooses not to touch...I figure her body is actually hers, not mine....It doesn't belong to her parents, uncles and aunts, school teachers or soccer coach. While she must treat people with respect, she doesn't have to offer physical affection to please them. And the earlier she learns ownership of herself and responsibility for her body, the better for her.
  • By Katia Hetter

• "...Men, it’s time to stop body-shaming women. It’s time to tune into your what’s driving your comments and how they impact women’s opinions of themselves and one another. It’s time to support your wives, friends and daughters to see themselves beyond their body....My body is mine. Hers is hers. Yours is yours...My size, and the size of any woman’s body, is none of your business..."
  • Sarah Herstich in My Body Is Mine. Hers Is Hers. Yours Is Yours.My size, and the size of any woman’s body, is none of your business. huffpost February 19, 2017.

Danse Macabre (2006)

Hamilton, Laurell K. (June 27, 2006). Danse Macabre (1st ed. ed.). New York: Berkley. pp. 483 pages. ISBN 0-425-20797-8. 

• [Talking to friend Veronica, Anita Blake worries she may be pregnant.]
  Ronnie: I could ask, who's the father, but that's just creepy. If you are, then it's this little tiny, microscopic lump of cells. It's not a baby. It's not a person, not yet.
  Anita: We'll have to disagree on that one.
  Ronnie: You're pro-choice.
  Anita: Yep, I am, but I also believe that abortion is taking a life. I agree women have the right to choose, but I also think that it's still taking a life.
  Ronnie: That's like saying you're pro-choice and pro-life. You can't be both.
  Anita: I'm pro-choice because I've never been a fourteen-year-old incest victim pregnant by her father, or a woman who's going to die if the pregnancy continues, or a rape victim, or even a teenager who made a mistake. I want women to have choices, but I also believe that it's a life, especially once it's big enough to live outside the womb.
  • Chapter 1, pp. 4-5

• Samuel smiled at me. "Freedom and fairness are very important to you, aren't they?"
  I nodded, and frowned. "They're important to everybody."
  He laughed. "Oh, no, Anita, you would be amazed at the number of people who try to give away their freedom at every opportunity. They much prefer that someone else make their decisions."
  • Chapter 17, p. 151
  • Laurell K. Hamilton

• Translation:

• “.... If you can’t stand seeing me in my swim wear every weekend you leave insta(gram). Am enjoying the last weeks of SA summer before winter sets in . My life My rules..... This is my lifestyle, don't plan life for me,”.

• • Zari Hassan in Zari Hassan in online war with fans over these photos, pulselive.co.ke 2019, December 16.

I

• "There’s nothing to be ashamed on your body.I don’t understand why always more & more women get bullied just because of their body. w:Rabi Pirzada done nothing wrong. Its her life. It’s her choice. Shame on those whose cursing her. #IAmRabiPirzada #Nobodyshame #WestandwithRabi,"
  • w:Fauzia Ilyas on Twitter as covered by by DNA India Dt.Nov 04, 2019,

U

• You have to be a special kind of pervert or worse, deeply privilleged and entitled to assume that #MeraJismMeriMarzi is about asking for sex. Also, women are not responsible for how you interpret placards. The burden is yours to educate yourself.
  • @NidaUsmanCh on Twitter reported by Pakistan main stream media Dawn.com

K

• "It's stupid to have this conversation. Everyone has the right to their lives and to look the way they want to! Tomorrow I can put on 25 kilos... it's my choice, my body! She's at home taking care of her baby."
  • Kajol Devgan Mukherjee (Indian actress) in an interview

• "Beta (daughter in law), now if I tell you that you should also know how to cook a little, you will start with this new ‘My Choice’ thing. I went to the club yesterday and all my friends were saying that their daughters-in-law have recorded this video and play it at full volume. They were showing it to me; Hai Bhagwan, all these big words, ‘I am a snowflake, you are dandruff, I make brain freeze, you make head itch’. Beta I want to ask you, is this all you girls think about? Sex before, sex after, when do you find time to work or look after your children?”

• • From conversation of a mother in law from reminiscence of Twinkle Khanna an Indian actress.

• “Mummy, at the very least it makes people think about women and their choices. What choices did you have when you were younger? You had to stay at home, then get married, have kids and by the time you were forty, life was at a standstill; at least women can try different things now.”

• • From conversation with a mother in law from reminiscence of Twinkle Khanna an Indian actress.

• Why is #MeraJismMeriMarzi considered so offensive? Because the control of women’s bodies is the bedrock of our patriarchal system. If a woman refuses this & asserts that her body is her own, it shakes the foundations of patriarchy. Sugarcoat it how you like; this is the truth!

• • Nida Kirmani @nidkirm a Pakistani Feminist on Twitter
  1. MeraJismMeriMarzi means opposing:

rape sexual harassment child marriage physical abuse lack of healthcare domestic violence human trafficking bonded labour/slavery Opposing this statement means perpetuating a culture that produces all of the above.

• • Nida Kirmani @nidkirm a Pakistani Feminist on Twitter The tweet was subsequently noted in a feminist article

• Will say it louder now. Will carry more placards that say the same. Mera jism, meri marzi. Mera jism meri marzi. Don't touch me, don't make decisions for my body, don't police it, don't stare it, don't rape or abuse it. Mera jism, meri marzi.
  • Manal Faheem Khan @ManalFaheemKhan on Twitter

• 'Uh oh. Some of us mums are being chastised for pumping. No one bats an eyelid prepping their own breakfast, why choose to get flustered over my baby having his? Boobs were designed to feed....'How funny that some fat, cells and glands could so deeply offend so many. Being a mum is hard enough. ..... Seemingly, everyone knows how to raise YOUR baby except you.....'If you feed with formula, you're supposedly the devil, if you breastfeed, you're offending those that don't or can't and worse yet, the patriarchy won't be able to control themselves...stop titillating the men folk!'....'My body, my baby, my choice. ...my miracle baby. It's a part of our bond. I love, LOVE doing it for him....The photos of other women breastfeeding, pumping, normalise things for me and if mine, in turn, do the same for other mothers who feel embarrassed, judged or that they should need to stifle their baby under a Muslin lest they offend some wallflower with their life giving, breastfeeding skills, I'll continue posting....these mums deserve support and respect, not critique...'
  • Myleene Klass in [Myleene Klass shares powerful post in support of breastfeeding, independent.co.uk/] 2020 July, 16.

• “...When I say Mera Jism Meri Marzi, I don’t mean I want strip my clothes off and run around naked!...I mean to say that I am a human and this is my body, so it is up to me whether I allow you to stare at it or touch it, or not. It means that I can report you if you don’t comply. It means that I can take an action against you if you harass me because you have no right over MY body...”
  • Mahira Khan in [‘Mera Jism Meri Marzi’ means you can’t touch or stare at me without my permission: Mahira Khan, tribune.com.pk] 2021 February 28

M

• "It means that it is my body and no one can violate it, abuse it, harass it, grope it, or do anything with it without my consent."
  • Shehzil Malik A Pakistani Artist (reported by DW.com)

• "...the 14th amendment of the U. S. Constitution grants all citizens bodily autonomy, which is the right to be the master of your own body..."
  • Thomas Martinez
• "The girls own their bodies. I totally agree that my daughter and granddaughter own their bodies,....When you own something, like property don’t you get a consultant to help you?”
  • Yoweri Museveni Ugandan President, defending urge of Mansplaining @ International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25) 2019

• Finally, what I have said about the dog s obedience applies

also to my union with my body ; my body is only properly mine to the degree to which I am able to control it. But here, too, there is a limit, an inner limit ; if as a consequence of some serious illness, I lose all control of my body, it tends to cease to be my body, for the very profound reason that, as we say in the common idiom, I am no longer myself. But at the other extreme, pos sibly as a yogi I also cease to be myself,...., whereas in the mean position which is that of what we call normal life, such control is always partial, always threatened to some degree.

• • GABRIEL MARCEL in THE MYSTERY OF BEING Page 96

• "...The body being the instrument of the free-will of the

person, the notion of slavery is excluded. My body is mine, and no other person can appropriate it and display his will in it. Anyone who can appropriate the body of another is himself only imperfectly a person, and the moral effect of the attempt is as disastrous to the owner as to the slave. The right of personality is inalienable, because from its very nature it cannot be transferred. No one requires to get it from another: every one has it for himself. As a possession it may be defended, and hence arises the right of self-defence in case of sudden assault...." "...The mere fact of physical existence — conscious or unconscious — is recognised by the state, and is made to confer a right to demand physical sustenance or shelter..."

• • WILLIAM GALBRAITH MILLER, THE PHILOSOPHY OF LAW (1884)

O

• “...When you’re exposed to someone who is unvaccinated, that takes away your personal freedom....You’re infringing on other people’s choice...”
  • Paul Offit in Anti-vaxxers Stole 'My Body, My Choice' from the Abortion Rights Movement, vice.com June 19, 2019.

P

• "...I definitely believe that everyone has the right to be able to make the choices that they want to make for their own lives..."
  • Busy Philipps (actress)

R

• Don't understand the problem so many are having with #MeraJismMeriMarzi"-Mera jism meri marzi nahi toh kis ki marzi ho gi?? "My body is mine" is a critical component of the Life Skills Based Education classes we teach to help children protect themselves from abuse & harassment
  • Shehzad Roy @ShehzadRoy on Twitter referred by Pakistan's mainstream media Dawn.com

• Will scream #MeraJismMeriMarzi till I can’t scream anymore because millions of women in this country are subjected to pregnancies they had NO input in. None. Our bodies are not incubators

You know how many women I know who have children but had no say in it? Their husbands refused to wear protection? They aren’t ‘allowed’ to get or take birth control pills? I personally hear these stories. Every. Single. Day. #MeraJismMeriMarzi

To the woman who did not want a 7th kid & asked her friends to secretly get her birth control pills because her body COULDNT take pregnancies anymore. The young girl who got pregnant in the first month of her marriage cause her husband doesn’t like protection. #MeraJismMeriMarzi

These are REAL stories. Of REAL women. That I know. Stories that I hear. The helplessness women feel at not being able to decide what happens to their bodies has to END. and I march for these women. I march for the right to own my own body. #MeraJismMeriMarzi loud and proud!

• • rameeza @Rameezay (A Pakistani feminist) on twitter Taken note by another feminist in her article

• "Your Body Is a Bioweapon...People using "my body, my choice" to protest coronavirus safety guidelines are putting everyone in danger..."

• • Susan Rinkunas in Your Body Is a Bioweapon, vice.com April 21, 2020.

• "It's just the latest instance of people co-opting the abortion rights rallying cry as if it's a clever "gotcha"—that it's somehow hypocritical to support both people's right to choose to have a medical procedure and also requirements that protect public health, like wearing face coverings during a pandemic....Anti-vaxxers have famously weaponized the language of choice in an attempt to prove their case that refusing vaccination is simply exercising their right to control their bodies...But choosing not to wear a mask or not to stay home is extremely unlike the choice to have abortion—"my body, my choice" can neither be applied to vaccinations or emergency orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Abortion is entirely a personal decision that—and this is key—doesn't affect the health of your neighbor, or your grocery store clerk, or your bus driver. Abortion is not a public health issue, while measles and coronavirus absolutely are. Your body, in other words, is a disease vector...."

• • Susan Rinkunas in Your Body Is a Bioweapon, vice.com April 21, 2020.

S

• ‘Mera jism, meri marzi’ means ‘nobody touch us without our consent’ and there is nothing wrong about it(slogan).
  • Humaira Sheikh

• "My body, my choice" is an issue that is relevant to Pakistani women across all classes. When a woman is killed in the name of "honor," her body is attacked; when a woman is denied the right to choose her partner, her body and her choice are compromised; and when a woman faces domestic violence, her body is attacked. All other issues that our "Aurat March" (women's march) raised are equally important, but they all emanate from a deep-rooted misogyny in our society. Women do not have the agency over their own bodies and that is the main issue, in my opinion.

• • Marvi Sirmed, Pakistani feminist

• "A lot of people said it should have been Meri Zindagi, Meri Marzi, (my life, my choice) or Mera Wujood, Meri Marzi (my existence my choice). The point is, the slogan was so triggering to men because of the word jism (body). When they think of jism, they think of all things sexual. Whereas Mera Jism, Meri Marzi is women fundamentally saying you don’t get to set the terms of my life, my body, my decisions, my agency, you don’t get to dictate."

• • Mira Sethi

• My body my rules. My flower pot My rules; Your flower pot, your flowers (English+Hindustani the original quip:Mah badan, mah rulz..My gamla my phoolz..Your Gamla, your phool.) (Of uncertain south Asian origin)
  • Fatima Sana Shaikh, Actress

• “Why character is always related to size of cloth? Or Does really covering full body makes a difference? Answer is No! Most of us would have faced issues even after being covered up top to toe isn’t it? Eyes on us like they can see through clothes, which makes us feel like “Kuch dikh rha h kya ?” Looking for a chance every time “SHE” bends areee kya pta kuch dikh jaye. Stop being judgemental about me. It’s my body my choice who you are to tell me? If something has to be changed it’s you, your thought about woman. It’s never about the size of clothes it’s about how he or she is been raised up? Reason I am including “She” here is because there are also set of woman who provokes such things. This is not to offend anyone, I totally understand all men aren’t like this but unfortunately number of men who aren’t like this is very small.”

• • Pooja Sharma Indian Actress

• Anti-vaxxers Stole 'My Body, My Choice' from the Abortion Rights Movement....The problem is, deciding whether or not to vaccinate isn’t a personal choice—it’s a matter of public health.

• * Marie Solis in Anti-vaxxers Stole 'My Body, My Choice' from the Abortion Rights Movement, vice.com June 19, 2019.

• "...The problem is, according to medical professionals, choosing whether or not to vaccinate yourself or your child isn’t merely a personal choice—scientifically speaking, it’s a matter of public health, while abortion is not. Someone's choice about whether or not to have an abortion doesn't potentially affect the health of the people they interact with, while choosing not to get vaccinated does....There are people who should not get the measles vaccine for CDC-approved medical reasons (pregnant people, people with weakened immune systems, children under age 1) and those people could get measles from someone who chose not to get vaccinated because of personal beliefs...."

• * Marie Solis in Anti-vaxxers Stole 'My Body, My Choice' from the Abortion Rights Movement, vice.com June 19, 2019.

• "I woke up angry today cos of a conversation I had before bed. Women are so strong. So OBVIOUSLY strong. You sweat blood for a spot at a table that disrespects your sweat. Then you spend EVERY SINGLE DAY convincing people you belong there. And the damn table isn't even all that,...And when you say "Fuck it. My life, my rules." They ask why. It's because it never ends. Nothing is ever enough. And complaining is a waste of time.This is why most of the women that STAY winning have to win on their own terms. Ass-kissing is exhausting..."
  • Simisola Ogunleye (Simi (singer)) on Twitter, Reported by P.M. news Nigeria May 18, 2020.
• "...On International Women’s Day, a slogan mera jism meri marzi raised by Pakistani girls was severely criticised. Now it’s become a matter of honour of Pakistan. “I’m the mother of a daughter and the grandmother of a granddaughter. The meaning that was attached to the slogan in Pakistan was painful. I’ve never been part of the feminist movement. I’m a writer. But when I saw how men came out to say that they are the ones who are the custodians of women’s bodies (us ke jism ka muhafiz mard hai), it turned me into a feminist. ...”
  • Noorul Huda Shah on During key note speech at Women’s Conference at Arts Council Karachi March 2021, Reported by dawn.com March 6, 2021

S

• ‘Mera jism, meri marzi’ means ‘nobody touch us without our consent’ and there is nothing wrong about it(slogan).
  • Humaira Sheikh

• "My body, my choice" is an issue that is relevant to Pakistani women across all classes. When a woman is killed in the name of "honor," her body is attacked; when a woman is denied the right to choose her partner, her body and her choice are compromised; and when a woman faces domestic violence, her body is attacked. All other issues that our "Aurat March" (women's march) raised are equally important, but they all emanate from a deep-rooted misogyny in our society. Women do not have the agency over their own bodies and that is the main issue, in my opinion.

• • Marvi Sirmed, Pakistani feminist

• "A lot of people said it should have been Meri Zindagi, Meri Marzi, (my life, my choice) or Mera Wujood, Meri Marzi (my existence my choice). The point is, the slogan was so triggering to men because of the word jism (body). When they think of jism, they think of all things sexual. Whereas Mera Jism, Meri Marzi is women fundamentally saying you don’t get to set the terms of my life, my body, my decisions, my agency, you don’t get to dictate."

• • Mira Sethi

• My body my rules. My flower pot My rules; Your flower pot, your flowers (English+Hindustani the original quip:Mah badan, mah rulz..My gamla my phoolz..Your Gamla, your phool.) (Of uncertain south Asian origin)
  • Fatima Sana Shaikh, Actress

• “Why character is always related to size of cloth? Or Does really covering full body makes a difference? Answer is No! Most of us would have faced issues even after being covered up top to toe isn’t it? Eyes on us like they can see through clothes, which makes us feel like “Kuch dikh rha h kya ?” Looking for a chance every time “SHE” bends areee kya pta kuch dikh jaye. Stop being judgemental about me. It’s my body my choice who you are to tell me? If something has to be changed it’s you, your thought about woman. It’s never about the size of clothes it’s about how he or she is been raised up? Reason I am including “She” here is because there are also set of woman who provokes such things. This is not to offend anyone, I totally understand all men aren’t like this but unfortunately number of men who aren’t like this is very small.”

• • Pooja Sharma Indian Actress

• Anti-vaxxers Stole 'My Body, My Choice' from the Abortion Rights Movement....The problem is, deciding whether or not to vaccinate isn’t a personal choice—it’s a matter of public health.

• * Marie Solis in Anti-vaxxers Stole 'My Body, My Choice' from the Abortion Rights Movement, vice.com June 19, 2019.

• "...The problem is, according to medical professionals, choosing whether or not to vaccinate yourself or your child isn’t merely a personal choice—scientifically speaking, it’s a matter of public health, while abortion is not. Someone's choice about whether or not to have an abortion doesn't potentially affect the health of the people they interact with, while choosing not to get vaccinated does....There are people who should not get the measles vaccine for CDC-approved medical reasons (pregnant people, people with weakened immune systems, children under age 1) and those people could get measles from someone who chose not to get vaccinated because of personal beliefs...."

• * Marie Solis in Anti-vaxxers Stole 'My Body, My Choice' from the Abortion Rights Movement, vice.com June 19, 2019.

• "...Has my body ever really been..really mine! Has there ever been a time that I could do whatever I wanted with it and not fear other people’s judgement? I was born with my body and it is attached to my brain. I control the mobility of it. But do I really have control of it? I like putting clothes on it, and making a statement when I walk out my front door. ....Over the years I have spent a lot of time and energy on my body. But can I say that I feel 100% ownership of it? No, I can’t! Sometimes I feel like I am renting it and doing the best I can.....I noticed that if my body had over a certain fat percentage that I was not accepted very easily...When I got to college, the boys my age liked it if I filled my body with liquids that made me less coherent and more willing to do what they wanted me to do...After college I ... started dating. It seemed the main question between my potential boyfriend and me was when was I going to give him my body?..., these magazines put me over the edge as the women looked amazing!..I felt fat and ugly and sidelined from society....So, I had a 2 year old baby, my body was back in shape and I was feeling pretty good. Was my body mine yet? Did my husband like my body? I started to feel like his eyes were drifting to other bodies. Was I not good enough anymore?.. For years I continued to pour my energy into my body so that it appeared inviting and vibrant. I wasn’t ready not to be noticed and a lot of my self esteem came from being admired for my outside qualities. But, shouldn’t I be the one who accepts my body first, rather than worry if everyone else accepts it? Now that I am entering midlife,.... And I sometimes look at my body and feel that it is not good enough..not beautiful enough....But I am starting to realize that the true beauty of my body doesn’t solely depend on how it looks but what it does for me. My body held it all together for me when I was a child, it got me through trauma and confusion. It stayed strong and held me up so that I could walk away from the abuse. My body walked me to work and helped me to be proficient in my..career so that I could support myself and start my own life. My body would give me signals that helped me to figure out who was on my side and who just wanted to use me. My body felt relaxed and safe when I met my husband, and it let me know that it was ok to let my guard down. My body became more powerful when my daughter was born, as it filled with strength to protect her and guide her through life. My body has been there for me every step of the way.....My body has been beat up, tormented, used and taken for granted but it keeps honoring me, it keeps talking to me, it keeps telling me what is best for me. My body is my best friend. And now I have the power to decide if I love and honor my best friend or turn my back on her.

• • Peta Sklarz in Is my body really mine? – WOMANWHY November 17, 2018

T

• #MeraJismMeriMarzi means opposing:

rape, sexual harassment, child marriage, physical abuse, lack of healthcare, domestic violence, human trafficking, bonded labour/slavery

Opposing this statement means perpetuating a culture that produces all of the above.

• • Faisal Tareen @altareeno on Twitter reported by mainstream media Dawn.com

• "What about my choice? Shouldn’t my right to an intact body matter? Lerner doesn’t address the possibility that a man should have the right to make the choice for himself. Advocates of circumcision evidently believe the feelings of the human who is being cut are irrelevant. Anyone with an open heart who listens to the screams of a baby being circumcised cannot honestly believe that babies want to be circumcised."

• • Matthew A. Taylor

• Mera jism, meri marzi. It is not an expletive. It is not meant as an insult. It is merely a reiteration of a God-given right strengthened by the best of human values. My body does not belong to anyone but me. Whose rules, whose marzi should be applicable to my body?

• • Mehr Tarar

• Mera Jism Meri Marzi is .... assertion to take control of what is already hers, mine, yours. The issue is agency. The purpose is to define authority. The goal is real autonomy. What it connotes: my body is mine. Not to be used for ...-harm ... but to empower. My body is not to be touched against my will.... It is not a badge for brutal machismo. My body is not to be raped. Even my inaudible protestation through the resistance of my limbs must be the loudest NO in the world. My body is not a baby-making machine. The decision to have .... children must be my prerogative. My body is not a litmus test of my femininity. .... not a topic for societal notions of acceptable attractiveness. My body is not my spouse’s personal property. The right to say no is always mine as it is his.

• • Mehr Tarar

• Whose property is my body? Probably mine. I so regard it. If I experiment with it, who must be answerable? I, not the State. If I choose injudiciously, does the State die? Oh, no.
  • Mark Twain in The Complete Autobiographical Works of Mark Twain

• "..My body is mine, yet for time it was yours. I was made for you - my form created to be your habitat, all aspects of my being working in unison to support your growth and development. You grew and grew, becoming your own person within the liminal space of my womb..... You are of me, of us, yet separate, your own unique being. I housed you, gave you food and warmth through my body. Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, body of my body; yet spirit of your spirit. ... We were one body, and yet I could feel your distinct personality - your wriggles, kicks, your preferences, and the way you would respond when I ate foods you liked. I felt your distinct spirit in the way you would respond with glee to your father's voice and his hands...Sometimes when I would sleep you would begin your own party: Exploring your space..this way and that...It was a luxury to experience your being housed within mine during pregnancy. Sharing one body with two souls is an honor that I am so grateful to have shared with you for a brief time. My body was a house, a launching pad, a starting place, a foundation, a habitat for you to grow and develop..."

• • Isabel Thompson in My Body Is Mine: Yet For A Time It Was Yours nsuworks.nova.edu

V

• "...outer makeup and beauty is not modernity. Modernity is internal makeup and is about evolution. There are three paths of modernity. Path one is ‘my life, my rules’. One should not bother about other’s thinking on himself. One should take his/her own decision for his/her life. He/she should not influence others. One should be modern in thought process and in broadness. The second path is equality- gender equality. One should change his / her notions of equality. Gender equality is demonstrated to modernity. Third is body positive. One should have to raise about his/her body shape. One should not bother about his/her body shape. One should take it in positive way,..."

• • Dr. Falguni Vasavada in TED-Ed Organized in KiiT International School, KalingaTV 2019, Oct 23.

W

• "My body, my choice" is a feminist phrase that applies to many issues beyond reproductive rights, as well. The message that nobody should do anything or force us to do anything we don't want to do with our bodies is necessary for creating a culture of consent. In contrast to rape culture, which renders bodies (particularly women's bodies) the property of others (often men), consent culture allows us the freedom to do whatever we want with our bodies and gives us a say in how we interact with other people.
  • Suzannah Weiss in her article 5 Things That Are #MyBodyMyChoice, Because Respecting Them Is Essential For Creating A Culture Of Consent

• ...“My body, my choice” the women chant, “Her body, her choice” the men chant. The preservation of women’s safety, well being and rights benefit not only women, but benefit every human being and the health of the entire planet. ...

• • Joan Wasser (Song writer) About Song "The Silence" in Album 'Damned Devotion'; Source: her self explanation on ClashMusic.com

Z

• "My body, my choice,” was the most popular chant that I heard at the protests, as it should be. That should be a universal truth that women should be able to do whatever they want with their bodies, whether that is dressing modestly, showing more skin, sleeping with a lot of people or remaining celibate. No man or woman should be able to tell another woman what they can and can’t do with their bodies, and no administration, especially, should be able to tell a woman what they can and can’t do with their bodies. That was a really powerful chant and definitely an important one to me, and one that I really wanted to include in the song."
  • Zolita (Song writer of Feminist song Fight Like a Girl

Attribution

• Good sexual and reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being in all matters relating to sexuality and the reproductive system. All individuals have a right to make decisions governing their body and to access services that support that right (Starrs and others, 2018). Every individual has the right to make his or her own choices about his or her sexual and reproductive health, which implies that people should be able to have a satisfying and safe sex life, the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so (United Nations Population Fund, 2014; WHO, 2004).
  • Source Document: Background document for the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25) Nairobi summit on ICPD25

See also

• Abortion
• Body
• Consent
• Choices
• Feminism
• Free will (Free choice)
• Human rights
• Liberty
• Mansplaining
• Marvi Sirmed
• patriarchy
• Rape
• Women's rights

External links

• https://thoughtcatalog.com/graci-williams/2017/12/my-body-is-mine-and-no-one-elses/