DON'T LIMIT PEOPLE
Since I was a kid at school there were sport activities for all students.
We were taught to do abs, aerobics ...
... so that we were always in good shape, in good health.
We were playing basketball, football and volleyball.
I spent thirteen years like this, and I always liked it.
When I workout I feel good in my body.
After high school, I left my hometown of Gonaïves, to go to University in Port-au-Prince.
In the neighborhood where I went to live there were many possibilities to continue practice sports.
This is how I and a group of male friends, we decided to join a gym.
There I started to practice weightlifting.
It was a way for me to overcome my limits to boost myself and to strengthen my body.
The more I muscled, the more the way people saw me was changing.
For them, a woman should not practice weightlifting.
The men had sexist and very out of place words towards me.
The women were getting away from me, because of rumors about my sexual orientation.
I was perceived as a lesbian because I do weightlifting.
Faced with all this discrimination, I stopped sport for a long time
Against my will.
During this period I felt a void in me, as if I was no longer myself.
I had to join another club, to feel more comfortable.
But the situation was not very different from the previous club.
On my parents' side, my mother always considered that I sacrificed my femininity.
She's afraid of me being called a tomboy. She treats me differently from my sisters.
For my boyfriend’s family, I was not the ideal woman
They often made fun of him.
They asked him what it feels like to be with such a muscular girl.
This kind of question created doubts, he even came to question our relationship.
On social networks they comment my muscular body to make fun of me.
Once, someone commented saying this girl is a beefy guy.
Another comment was to ask me if I intend to beat up men
Or if I have a boyfriend, if he's afraid of me.
I'm at a point where I wonder.
I wonder if I should live according to what pleases society
Or live the life I like.
Because I am a woman, should I limit myself because of what people think of me?
Does practicing bodybuilding means that I'm less of a woman?
Why so many people in our society...
... can't accept that everyone is different in their life's choices?