You want to be pretty but not too pretty
But does it really change anything?
They rape you if you if you have on too little clothes
They rape you if you have on too much
There are so many excuses
She was asking for it
I was doing her a favor
I’m the victim here
Is there any way to be safe?
Is there any way to know that this isn’t the day that your entire life could change?
They whistle, they shout, they holler at you like you are an animal
But you can’t fight back
Three against one
So you keep walking
Praying they don’t follow you, grab you
Or even stab you because you didn’t return their crude remarks with a thank you
Society says that
We should accept sexual harassment as a compliment
But I don’t need your opinion on my body
I don’t want you looking at me like I am a piece of meat
I am not a sexual object made to please you
I want to live in a world where I don’t have to be afraid of men
Worried that smiling at them is interpreted as an invitation
Or by not means I need to be taught a lesson
I want my son to look at women as what they really are
Beautiful, brilliant creatures
And not by what society tells him they are
Objects, available for your pleasing
I want to be able to watch my daughter walk out of the house and
Not worry that she might never come back because a
MAN decided that she was there for the taking
But we don’t educate
We don’t teach in our schools how common sexual harassment is
Or the effect that rape has on a woman because a man’s perogative is to get what he wants
Or how every woman is terrified that her body, her self will be taken from her
Why?
Because we’re uncomfortable
We don’t speak out because we don’t want to disrupt
I’m tired
I’m tired of these excuses