2023 Shapos

Re SHAPO ka anything that brings us down. Anyone that has malicious intent towards us and don’t wanna see us thrive. In 2023, we rebuke negative energy, we don’t accept disrespect, or giving up on ourselves. Here’s more of what we say no to

Disrespect

Waitse it’s almost as if the world does not take us teen girls seriously tu! Koore it’s almost as if we don’t have a voice, like we don’t have our own personal experiences to talk about, and we get a lot of disrespect for being our authentic selves. We get catcalled by men on the way to school but then we’re expected to be quiet and not react. Social media has allowed people to shame us openly and freely for our looks, our confidence, our choices, unprovoked. We do not accept that in 2023. Anyone who dares to perpetuate disrespect towards girls for just existing in their own skin shall be blocked! And the double standards never cease to amaze us, especially now since most of that has been trending and normalized. Re shapo ka tsone!

Period shame

Billions of girls and women experience menstruation in their lifetime. This is something natural that is biological to our female bodies. When adolescent girls reach puberty, we get to a stage where we start menstruating, and that’s normal. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. So, we should stand together as girls to make sure we fight against period shame and not participate in that negativity. These are our bodies, and we should love ourselves fully. Periods are not dirty. Periods are also different from one girl to another, but we can still help each other out when in need. Girls can still participate in everyday life activities on their periods by choice. Some people get mood swings, some get acne, or their boobs swell up, others get cravings, or very severe period pains. It’s normal, all we gotta do is learn our bodies, love them, and take good care of them.

Doing things to impress others

Hear me out—it’s okay to want to change to improve yourself to be a girl boss or to achieve your life goals. Sometimes that’s just growth and we love it. What we’re not going to do is to change ourselves just so other people can like or accept us. Like if a boy said he wants you to do something to prove your love for them, or making judgy comments about your body, now that’s a red flag sweety run the other way. There are people out there for us, find them and surround yourselves with those people that you can be your true authentic self with. Even if they are in another class. The trick to making friends easily is to join school clubs. What are your interests? Chess, video games, Basketball, debate, cooking? Join the club. If the one you’re looking for doesn’t exist, make one. Or join any, you never know you might just like it.

More things we’re NOT about this year!

Being judgmental

Cyberbullying smoking

Sharing nudes

Being uncomfortable

Racism

Homophobia

Peer pressure

Bad grades

Spreading lies

Self-sabotage

Lack of focus

Jealousy

Gender Based Violence