Quote by Taslima Nasrin: “My body belongs to me, not to any religion or state.”

Bodily autonomy is a fundamental right that is frequently claimed by institutions — religious authorities, governments, cultures — who assert the right to control how people live in their own skin. This quote is a refusal. The body is not a symbol or a territory; it belongs to the person inside it.

Nasrin went into exile in 1994 after receiving death threats for her writing and statements about women's rights and Islam. Her exile sparked international debate about free speech, feminist rights, and the reach of religious authority over individual lives.

Bangladeshi author and secularist activist, born in Mymensingh in 1962, known for her unflinching criticism of religious fundamentalism and her advocacy for women's rights. Her novel Lajja led to death threats and eventually forced exile, and she remains one of the most controversial literary figures in South Asian history.