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if
The world would be a better place if'

If three out of five women weren’t ***** around the globe

If 103 million women in Africa alone weren’t circumcised
And didn’t have to mutilate themselves in order to attract a husband

If 20.9 million plus weren’t sold into *** trafficking

If women and girls didn’t make up 98% of that number

If men didn’t make on average $7,000,000 more than women in their lifetime in the US

If one out of every six of American females were not *****

If they weren’t told
“It’s your fault”
“What were you wearing?”
“You must have provoked him”
“What are you complaining about? At least you had ***”

If one of every forth woman didn’t experience domestic abuse in their lifetime

If every 15 seconds a woman is saved from battery rather than experiencing it

If the 16% of seats in congress stood equal to the 51% females make up for in the population

If 73% of girls under the age of 13 didn’t want to change an aspect of their physical appearance
And if that number didn’t raise to 90% by the time of adulthood

If girls weren’t told “think like a man!”

If “running like a girl” meant to run the fastest you possibly could

If there wasn’t a national debate on what women can or can’t do to their own body

If girls weren’t sent home because her shorts were too short
But boys can wear a shirt saying “Cool story babe, go make me a sandwich” without anything being said

If girls could venture alone at night
Without being scared of the men hiding in the dark

If we got over this notion that cat-calling should be regarded as flattery
Rather than a threatening presence by an unknown man

The world would be a better place if
Don't "talk *****" to me.

I don't want that,
Not nonchalant naughty nouns,
Or violent verbs,
Or anxious adjectives.

I want to be drippingly adorned and intrigued,
By adjectives that ache and torment,
By verbs that are vibrantly vital and tantalize.

I want to be left longfully lusting after lambent language.
I want phrases
that are fantastically formulated
to keep my attention.
If only they knew
That the girl that makes them laugh
Cries herself to sleep
Every.  Single.  Night

If only they knew
Within those quick words
Is a cry for help
But it seems like everyone is deaf or just plain oblivious

It turns out silence can hurt you more than any ill intended words
 Nov 2014 Michelle Bowman
Taylor
anxiety comes as a haywire mind
a situation in your head
worlds away from everyone
words unsaid
scared to be anyone, much less yourself

but most of all
it comes
and it never really leaves.

— The End —