I try to be a positive person
I acknowledge my strengths, which are also my flaws
I am passionate, devoted, and I strive for self-growth
These are all great things
except for the times when they aren't;
the times when I see news articles about little girls
who were ***** and impregnated
and killed themselves rather than deliver the baby
that their ****** put inside them
I am passionate about this subject
I am devoted to working for a change
so that the next girl has the rights over
her own body;
so that the next girl has the right to choose her own life
over a life ruled by violation
and I strive for the self-growth to be patient
but I am angry
I am angry for that girl, yes
and also for myself
I, as a woman, do not have the rights to make decisions
for my own body
I cannot walk into the doctor's office and schedule
a procedure to stop me from
ever having children
without my husband's consent
without having already birthed children prior
and I am also not allowed to have an abortion in
nine states, even at the risk of my own life
and that's just in the United States
I am angry because it is legal
for doctors to stitch me up extra tight after giving birth
to please my husband
at the risk of my health and safety
and they don't even have to ask me about it
I am angry because I as a woman am treated
like I am a weaker, lesser person
for the simple crime of being born with a slit
instead of a *****
And I am angry because there are still those
who would deny the existence of unequal treatment
between the sexes
simply because they have never experienced it
I am angry because women before me
have fought for rights to their bodies
that women today are still having to fight
tooth and claw to keep
and men have the audacity to say that feminism
is an overreaction
"Not all men"
but enough that women are still oppressed
even in a society where it has been
scientifically proven
that we are capable of making equality and equity
a reality
and yet deny its necessity