The second reaction, when an American friend of Lemmon's who had been working with the women's units, urged her, "Come on, you have to see it," was: "No." In 2013, the organization's women members formed their own group, the Women's Protection Units (YPJ). Freedom to risk their lives to fight ISIS was a radical change from the lack of freedom many of these women faced in their younger years. Women of YPJ gather to mark the end of the fight against ISIS in Raqqa. I think what they focused on most was ending the notion that this kind of mentality could exist -- the mentality that said women had no value, women could be enslaved, women could be bought and sold.

Source: CNN February 20, 2021 13:52 UTC