Mia Oudeh, from Dunfermline in Fife, posted the letter publicly to Facebook to explain what it's like 'being BROWN GIRL'.

"It's something that has been brewing in me all my life. I had the idea of writing Being BROWN GIRL for a long time, and kept writing lists and examples as things happened.

"My whole life is a constant battle of finding my identity, torn between the West and East and becoming proud of it. It's a lesson that every person of colour who lives in a country other than their originating country goes through."

When asked what prompted her to post the message to Facebook Mia said "I posted it to Facebook because many people I have on it are the people who made me feel ashamed of who I am - people I went to school with, boys I've had romantic relations with etc.

"I believe that social media can have a particular impact on people, particularly if it's something personal. I guess it's also been written to myself, because regardless of how far I've come in identity pride, I still have moments of hating my looks and feeling ashamed of what people assume I am.

"The thing that sparked me to finish the piece today was people's response to a video I shared on cultural appropriation - the only people who argued against the video were white people. They are, sadly, too blinded by their privilege to understand the concept.

"Some who commented are good friends of mine. Despite my best efforts to reply with reasons why appropriation is problematic, we could not see eye to eye. This gave me enough fire and energy to finish Being BROWN GIRL to show them that it's not just a debate, their opinions are not valid - people of colour have an entire lifetime of systematic oppression and identity crises because of white supremacy.

"Being BROWN GIRL is a piece which is essentially saying to everyone I know - friends, family and myself, "Hey, I grew up completely messed up because of this messed up society, but my existence is real and my anger at all of you is completely justified.""

You can read 'Being BROWN GIRL' in full below.

Being BROWN GIRL - Mia Oudeh

Being BROWN GIRL when you’re the only BROWN GIRL in your class. Nobody holds your hand, skin to skin, they pull down their sleeves to hold your brownness when teachers force them to. Being BROWN GIRL is being called the ugliest girl in your class by the boys, because your features are foreign to Western beauty standards. Being BROWN GIRL is getting called fat because your body type does not fit Western standards. Being BROWN GIRL is having your primary teacher say “Poor Amira’s hair” to your entire class and turning red with shame at your ugliness, endorsed by your peers and educators.

Being BROWN GIRL is spending weeks crying in bed, unable to leave your room because you are too ugly. Being BROWN GIRL is screaming and clawing at your face, trying to pick at your oriental profile, ripping apart the bones and fitting them into a badly put together jigsaw. Being BROWN GIRL is wishing for the most Roman nose, the straightest hair, the bluest eyes, the hairless skin. Being BROWN GIRL is growing up in childhood, praying five times a day, only for the blessing of having straight hair.

Being BROWN GIRL is trying to reinvent yourself to escape your ugly culture. Being BROWN GIRL is having nice white people constantly mispronounce your name. Being BROWN GIRL is dreading a new teacher reaching your name on the register whilst your class mates giggle in anticipation at what the teacher will say. Being BROWN GIRL is shortening your name down to something more Western so that your peers don’t see you as foreign as you are. Being BROWN GIRL is skipping language classes, denying your heritage to fit in. Being BROWN GIRL is keeping your religion a secret then feeling shame when your peers discover you’re Muslim. Being BROWN GIRL is having your period and not being able to do water activities on a school trip because you can't use a tampon, having to tell your peers you're afraid of water instead, being called a coward when really the cowards are those who teach children menstruation should be secretive. Being BROWN GIRL is laughing with your peers when they make fun of your parents’ accents, and you feel guilt burning inside. Being BROWN GIRL is telling your parents to put down the music in the car when you get to school. Being BROWN GIRL is telling your mother she is being racist when she says, “All the problems in the world are from the white man.”

Being BROWN GIRL is people’s widening eyes of surprise when you say you were born in the same town as them. Being BROWN GIRL is people being surprised you have a native Western accent. It is when people say, “But where are you *really* from?” because your skin tone invalidates your identity. Being BROWN GIRL is saying where you’re from, then hearing your friend laugh at your people “dancing naked on the news when the twin towers fell”. Being BROWN GIRL is seeing your mother crying from fear when she puts her headscarf on.

Being BROWN GIRL born in a foreign country means going home and people of your race seeing you as foreign. Being BROWN WEST GIRL is brown men and brown mothers seeing you as a red passport of freedom. Being BROWN WEST GIRL is being seen as easy by brown men. Being BROWN WEST GIRL is brown people assuming you know nothing of your belief system or culture because you’re “not really from here”. Being BROWN WEST GIRL is having people who don’t know you lecture you on the importance of learning a language you do not want to speak. Being BROWN WEST GIRL is having your aunt pull down your top because BROWN WEST GIRL does not understand modesty.

Being BROWN GIRL is growing up, hearing your parents talk about a homeland they can never go to. Being BROWN GIRL is visiting your homeland with hand written maps by your father, taking home a handful of soil and him telling you it's the most precious gift he has ever received. Being BROWN GIRL is being strip searched, interrogated and banned from your country when you try to visit it. Being BROWN GIRL is seeing white settlers living in your grandmother's home, whilst she is forced to live in another country instead. Being BROWN GIRL is seeing nice white people visit your homeland to "help" when you are not allowed to visit at all. Being BROWN GIRL is white activists visiting your country for solidarity, but them not recognising their privilege in being allowed to go.

Being BROWN GIRL is constantly being assumed, your voice drowned out by the nice white people who will speak for you. Nice white people saying BROWN GIRL doesn’t drink because of her religion. Being BROWN GIRL is when boys don’t ask you on a date because you don’t go on dates. Being BROWN GIRL is when people don’t think you’re sexually active because of your beliefs. Being BROWN GIRL is being called frigid by white men. Being BROWN GIRL is people telling you you will have an arranged marriage when that's not even a part of your culture. Being BROWN GIRL is never being asked what you believe in, but being told what you believe in by nice white people and those who see you as BROWN WEST GIRL.

Being BROWN GIRL is when you are typecast to play “exotic” roles, prostitutes and sexually promiscuous. Being BROWN GIRL is having the popular girl in your school tell your friends, “She’s pretty in a different way.” Being BROWN GIRL is having multiple male teachers at high school say “you look exotic” to you from the age of 12. Being BROWN GIRL is when boys chase you so they can have a different coloured notch on their bed post. Being BROWN GIRL is when boys say “I’ve never been with someone like you before”, when they colonise your body and boast to their friends that they conquered you. Being BROWN GIRL is when boys don’t want to commit to you because you are different, life would be too hard, you and your life are too intimidating. Being BROWN GIRL is a sexual object – exotic enough to shag, ugly enough to only pretend affection, and different enough to shun away.

Being BROWN GIRL is growing up being told by your parents you need to work extra hard at school to have the same chances as your white peers. BROWN GIRL is having an application just as good as white peers. Being BROWN GIRL is watching white peers from younger academic ages progress in careers whilst your life is on hold for years, waiting for a first job. Being BROWN GIRL is telling people you cannot get a job because of your name, showing the statistics, and nice white people saying that’s not true.

Being BROWN GIRL is trying to show people your identity, escaping nice white people’s assumptions. Being BROWN GIRL is telling people your mother is from the same country as you, but she is white, blonde and blue eyed. Being BROWN GIRL is seeing nice white people’s shock at there being white, blue eyed foreign people in the world. Being BROWN GIRL is telling your best friend that your culture do not wear saris and turbans at weddings– that your country is countless countries away from that region. Being BROWN GIRL is seeing professional musicians and script writers put Indian music into an Egyptian show, and trying to tell production teams and casts that this isn’t accurate. Being BROWN GIRL is seeing a peer playing an Egyptian wearing a Malaysian outfit, telling the wardrobe lady that it isn’t culturally appropriate but being told “It’s foreign enough to get away with it.” Being BROWN GIRL is telling people that your food is not spicy – that world cuisine isn’t only curries or chopsticks. Being BROWN GIRL is telling people that there are more countries in the world than just “Africa” (a continent!!!), India and China.

Being BROWN GIRL is telling people about cultural appropriation, and having nice white people argue back because they are “only celebrating” a culture. That it is their choice. Being BROWN GIRL is growing up seeing your peers wear Arab scarves, and your father shaking his head and saying that they have appropriated your identity. Being BROWN GIRL is learning your scarf is a symbol of resistance to your plight, but nice white people have chosen to wear it to look cool instead. Being BROWN GIRL is being too tired to say to nice white people that they have not experienced life oppressed because of their race, that nice white people have no right to give you and the millions of other people out there this life of systematic oppression, shame and identity crises whilst they adorn ethnic minority trinkets, clothing and culture.

Being BROWN GIRL is learning to be proud. Proud of a hairy, fat, ugly body that your peers and teachers have coined for you. Proud of parents who listen to different music and speak with thick accents, who speak more languages than those laughing at them.

Being BROWN GIRL is being exhausted from not fitting in with the West or East. Being BROWN GIRL is learning that your mother is completely right when she says, ““All the problems in the world are from the white man.”

Being BROWN GIRL is waking up angry every day, and having someone tell you that your anger is unjustified. Being BROWN GIRL is trying to make sense of life, trying to find your feet, whilst constantly pushing against assumptions and stereotypes and people drowning out your voice, dismissing your passion and fire. Being BROWN GIRL is never giving up, committing to a life not of oppression but of resistance and fight. Being BROWN GIRL is being me.