Welcome, web-surfing women. Maintaining your culture through traditions is incredibly important. It can bring you closer to your family, your roots, and help you make sense of the world you grew up in. Passing down traditions to your children is equally as important. However, not every tradition is equal in value, and not every tradition makes sense in the modern era. While these traditions brought people together in times past, they might actually be a cause to tear people apart nowadays. Many traditions are rooted in patriarchal practices - even if they're only symbolic. Other traditions are straight-up misogynistic.
In our story today, when our protagonist decides she does not want to pierce her baby's ears - a common custom in her culture - her mother has the procedure done behind her back in the name of tradition and also to further feminize the baby girl. Our protagonist feels betrayed as her mother did the very thing she asked her not to do. Read the full story below.
