Nishtha Shrestha

Well-behaved, well-dressed and well-spoken are some of the adjectives used for raising a girl child. The attention to her body is given from birth as she is dressed in pretty clothes that focus on her beauty. It is an abnormal behaviour should a girl child want to run around and fight with her peers like the boys of her age. Parents stress upon the tone of her voice and the gestures she uses as being loud is not a feminine trait.
When the menstruation signals her entry into womanhood, the lessons taught in childhood are reinforced. Her body is a symbol of virtue to be preserved for the rightful man. It does not matter if the man is worthy of the sacrifice, for he is a saviour who will grant her freedom to enjoy her body. Should a girl dare to choose a different path, the hordes of men and women are on standby to question her purity. The honour of a family rests on the body of a woman which is a responsibility no woman willingly chose to undertake. This obsession with purity allows men to take advantage of girls and easily manipulate them to submit to their needs. Though the human body is the same in every woman, somehow a scandalous video makes the body of the concerned woman a target of ridicule and abuse.
The importance of the woman's body does not end with her marriage. She is expected to bear a child as one is not a woman unless she experiences childbirth. It does not matter if she has to undergo the criticisms or surgical procedures to achieve the goal. Her body is the property of the family to be used as per the guidelines laid down by the elders. When the child has been adelivered, it is up to her to deal with the scars and lines and transform it back to its original state. After all, a torn and battered body has no place in the books of society.
Like a cow which is useless after it stops giving milk, one who has crossed her fertility age is stripped of her identity as a woman. She is free to travel as now no men can misuse her body as it no longer has a purpose to fulfil. The life cycle of her body is complete and she is free to stop paying attention to her body.  This trajectory created by the society forgets the mental pressure women face to protect her body. The recent incidents of travel ban, rape, public threats of disclosing personal information are all an offshoot of the importance the society places on a woman's body. 
The human body is universal but the meaning attached to it differs. Defining a woman solely on how her body fares in comparison to the social standards is a leading cause for rise in body dysmorphic disorders, eating disorders, plastic surgeries to name a few. A body is only a collection of cells; a measure which is truly inadequate to summarise the true potential of a woman.