I run on the other side of the street.
I cover my chest with my one bare hand and
the other holding a purse.
It is snatchable,
and so am I.
They tell  me
“It’s because you’re a girl.”

And when I arrive,
all eyes are on me.
They say to just
stay in the corner and
leave the boys alone.
“Why?” I ask.
They look at each other and
take a breath.
They reply,
“You don’t want to get hurt. Let them have
space.”
“What is the reason?” I demand.
“It’s because you’re a girl.”

As the party goes on,
hard drinks are the source of
emotion and heart-attack fear.
I am asked to dance.
I can barely smell him I only see
a prince in him.
The dance we do
is ****** and I am
exposed by my
*******.
As I push him and the music stops,
I wrap my scarf around
and though embarrassed and
flawed,
“It’s because, you’re a girl.”
Is what the host says.

Shame on me for going alone.
Shame on the boy for his boarish
behavior and grabbing my
*******.
He only makes his own kind look
bad.
Shame on the adults for not teaching
self control instead
shaming us girls for our
****** embracement!

I am not candy and
never was.
You do not have power
and never will.
At one point you did,
but those days are gone.
Will there ever be a day a woman
can survive going to a party alone?

Forget genitalia,
remember the respect we
are taught so young.
Though when we are young,
there is segregation.
I remember being eight,
I needed friends and I needed
a buddy.

I saw a boy who looked like he
wouldn’t hurt me.
I did nothing and he said
he hated me.
I asked “why” with tears in my eyes.
Confidently he replied,
“It’s because you’re a girl.”
And I spent the next half hour
in the time out chair.
This is what happens when we humans
confuse attitude for
sexism
I take no blame.
And don’t you either.