#genderroles
I'll never fit in your box
I'm too sharp,
Too big,
Too violent,
Too free.
Societies mold must have been broken
When they made me,
I'm not quiet,
Not docile,
Not submissive,
I don't have a button nose,
Or a small waist,
I don't have straight blonde hair,
I don't sneeze like a girl,
I take up space,
I have OPINIONS,
God forbid.
Apr 9
Apr 9, 2026 at 9:35 PM UTC
When the flower bloomed, it asked the bird,
"Why am I here on Earth?"
The bird smiled shyly and flew into the sky,
leaving the flower without a reply.
Then it asked a bee,
"How did it come to be?"
The bee buzzed and replied,
"To know thyself is to be complete."
The flower scratched the top of its petal with its leaf,
unable to still understand
the lament that felt alien to the other beings.
But they understood a simple fact.
"There, there," whispered the worm,
crawling out of the soil like the flower itself,
when it was birthed.
"The reason you're here is to complete
the cycle of life, so unique.
It needs the birds and the bees,
not just for blooming, but becoming,
to work together and ensure
flowers keep blooming in the fields."
The flower ruminated on those words and looked
towards the horizon. The animals fluttered, doing their work.
The flower humbled, thanked the worm,
and the worm buried away, leaving the flower content.
Feb 9
Feb 9, 2026 at 9:19 AM UTC
he said
i wasn’t feminine.
he said it twice,
hoping the echo
would re‑write
my code
of not being lady‑like.
he came to the conclusion
we should stop.
i talked like a mate.
and didn’t fit
his narrow idea
of a woman.
and i told him,
i won’t fold myself
to fit his frame.
no one
gets to offer lessons
on
how
we
should
be
shaped.
Aug 5, 2025
Aug 5, 2025 at 4:52 AM UTC
This is the law that supersedes all
Other laws:
Thou shalt not complain.
Thou shalt have a successful career
𝘢𝘯𝘥
Shalt be a perfect mother.
Thou shalt be innocent and experienced,
Rebellious—
But not too much.
Thou shalt never need help.
Thou shalt never age
Yet maintain a veneer
Of self-acceptance.
Thou shalt not be overly
Emotional
But thou art not permitted to be
Robotic.
Thou shalt be assertive
But lo upon the woman
Who dares express anger.
Thou shalt have infinite patience.
Thou shalt be progressive without
Challenging the status quo.
Thou shalt carry thy burdens with
Immeasurable strength and without
Disintegration or failure.
And ye shalt do these things, that
Ye might become the 21st Century
Woman.
Mar 3, 2025
Mar 3, 2025 at 9:24 PM UTC
Poison is a woman's weapon-
venomous like a snake.
It won't **** you
all at once
like the brute force of his hands.
Instead, it takes you slowly-
deteriorating your sense of self
making you wish for death.
Death that brings end to dying.
she has no moral qualms
when it comes to you and all your wrongs.
she only knows betrayal
and that's enough for her.
Nov 26, 2020
Nov 26, 2020 at 11:53 PM UTC
You’ve heard them say it countless times
Put on make-up to be “beautiful”
You’re a lady
Stand up straight
“Don’t wear skirts or tank tops”
Or the boys will get distracted
“Don’t eat too much” but
Confine yourself to the media’s
Version of what a woman
SHOULD be
Don’t be confident in yourself
And walk with your head low
“You’re not special
You’re like everyone else I know”
Don’t cut your hair too short
“Do you wanna be a boy?!”
Or maybe you have heard the other
Put on a fake smile
As you go about your day
Sadness is Weakness
And crying makes you less of a man
Don’t wear “girly” colors
Or you are “too feminine”
Refusing risks
Makes you a wimp
“Be a man”
They say
But what does that even mean
Don’t do things you love
But force yourself to
Throw on that jersey
How dare you want to
Pursue your dreams
Women can’t do this
Men can’t do that
All wrapped up in bubble wrap
Loving yourself?
What’s that?
Change yourself in ways
That deem YOU “perfect”
In the eyes of the world
But what does that word even mean?
Is a bird less perfect if it loses a feather?
Or a lizard less of a reptile when it sheds its skin?
The beach less of a beach when the tide roles in?
NO
I watch the world around me
Boys and girls of all ages
Being conformed to their gender roles
Hunted like the prey of a lion
Society stalking their every move
Making sure nothing is out of place
Who cares what the world thinks is “Perfect”
The absent minds of the world around us
Cannot be changed
Normal to you is not normal to them
Being “weird” is better than being generic
You are beautiful just the way YOU are
You are beautiful
You are perfect
You are…
YOU!
Oct 20, 2020
Oct 20, 2020 at 7:41 PM UTC
i do not play the part
of a princess or a
damsel
i am
the dragon.
the soldier.
the knight.
Jan 14, 2019
Jan 14, 2019 at 7:34 PM UTC
What are you looking at young child?
The two boys kissing over there?
It's fine. I promise. Love is love!
And the two girls holding hands?
That's ok too. Love is love after all.
No need to argue.
What are you looking at, kid?
The single dad with children of his own?
Smiling at their father as does other children?
He does his best, he works hard and never wants to let them down
He's a good dad in my opinion.
Yes, a very handsome one too.
What are you looking at?
The mother who tries to make her child smile?
Oh the child! I see he's wearing pink.
And is that eye shadow? Oh she did it well, his mum did.
Oh and her daughter! Oh she looks cute in blue jeans.
And I love that blue shirt on her.
Oh those two! The ones who like rock music
Wear leather jackets, spikes, tattoos, piercings and black
Yet they're the kindest couple on earth.
Is all this bothering you child?
You shouldn't need to worry. They're all good people, all very nice.
They're all human inside.
Give them a smile dear!
That's it.
May 19, 2018
May 19, 2018 at 3:05 AM UTC
Be **** but don't be a **** Be modest, but don't be a ***** Be smart, but not smarter than your man. Be independent, but not so much that you never need a man. Be everything and nothing at all- all at once and at any given time.
•k.p. 5.30.16•
May 29, 2016
May 29, 2016 at 10:10 PM UTC
jia jia of supple plastic face
gracefully arranged hair
hands that gesture, eyes that roll
a lifelike porcelain doll
docile ****** expressions
perfect height to weight ratio
fluent in English and Mandarin
soothing, well-modulated tone
what can I do for you, my Lord?
the creator's goal
to refine programming
until jai jai can laugh and cry
learn to interact naturally
he calls her his
robot goddess
a wet-dream confection
with none of the messiness
of a full-fleshed playgirl
though she is artificial
and cannot feel
I pity my non-sentient sister
controlled by design
submission absolute
maybe she can fill
the hole left by women
who abandon conformity
to seek being real
Apr 22, 2016
Apr 22, 2016 at 11:07 AM UTC
Don't speak
We are silenced
We are shutdown
*We are crazy*
Why?
Is it so impossible?
Is power really unattainable?
Is a voice that repulsive?
The rules aren't the same
Expression must be stifled
Love must be dimmed
Our thoughts, our hopes, our wants
They just aren't valid
Are they?
Mar 29, 2016
Mar 29, 2016 at 9:54 PM UTC
By Nabs
When I was little, I dreamed of being a princess.
Just like so many others do.
Imagining all the fun we will have.
Of Tea times and dressing in the finest dresses, wearing tiaras, and jewels,
all day of the week.
Princesses only seems to dress prettily in the stories.
We all dreamt of the same thing,
Happy endings that always come at the end, cherished and pampered.
Most of all loved by everyone.
Princesses were always loved because she was inherently kind. Inherently docile.
Inherently pure and innocent.
Inherently beautiful.
( Remember, Your purity is your worth)
None of them was because
people respected them.
All of them was because
Of their beauty.
( A princess have to pamper their self to utmost perfection, your beauty define your worth)
Princess is a symbol of perfection.
Symbol of Divinity.
A guideline for Goodness and womanhood.
Standards that shaped and pushed them self to little girls to be molded into a perfect piece of art that they them self would rarely get to enjoy.
( Art pieces, after all cannot admire them self)
We have to strive for divinity and no less, because less means
we will be condemned to be the wicked ones.
( No one bother to tell us that it is unreachable.)
No one wanted to be the wicked ones because history burned who ever were branded as wicked.
( we stood on a world
piled with their ashes
and everyone will claim it as a victory)
One of the lesson, that these tale seems to croons that there is no in between for us.
That there is only two archetypes for girls to grow up to.
The Princess or the Evil Witch.
Choose, the tale seems to shout.
( be obedient, be submissive).
(Good girls)
( Princess lives happily ever after).
(Fight, rebel, speak)
(Bad girls)
( Evil witch will always be burned)
( This are the endings we have set for you, girls)
Back then, after going home from school, I would read tales about princesses from all over the world.
From Africa
to Europe
to Asia.
I devoured them like they were gospels, Laughing delightedly when the princes save the day then marries the princess, and frowning when the villain managed to defeat the heroes.
Happy endings,
Happy endings.
( Death, is the only happy ending we will really get)
I learned that to have a happy ending, a prince need to save me,
from my self.
( Every princesses need a prince,
for a proper princess cannot save herself.
You need to be saved to be complete)
My parents called me their little darling princess, Their crown jewel,
Their most cherished treasure.
They would hug me, clothed me, spun me into a figurine that they like.
Telling me that I am theirs.
Flesh and blood,
Glittering orbs of red.
Ownership.
Another princess tales, which plot echoes through out time. Beggars can't be choosers.
The same way a princess can't choose anything for them self.
The tale said,
A good daughter is an obedient daughter.
Shouting and screaming is prohibited.
( Lower your voice,
princesses don't raise their voice.
They speak softly as soft as the flutter of butterfly wings
or preferably they don't speak at all.)
To be a princess, foremost is to sacrifice your whole being,
To subdued your self
To stop being human,
and start being a treasure, a jewel.
Being fought over for the rights of possession.
( Isn't that the most highest pedestal you can put someone to?)
As I grew up, these tales keep following me.
( Dont run, princesses never run.
They submit.)
Of Snow white,
Who was treated as if she was only an object of desire after the prince saw her dead in the glass coffins.
( You're mine, you got that?)
Of the sleeping beauty silence,
that was taken as a consent to ravished her until she woke up because she gave birth to twins.
( Babe, you like this don't you? You have to, you're made for this)
Of the little mermaid plight,
Discarding herself completely to be accepted on the lands, trading her voice and being in excruciating pain for her prince.
The one who will not love her.
( You look horrible in that, change into something prettier and for god sake, put some make up on)
Of Atalanta, who could not escape marriage
and forced to marry a man she lost a race unfairly to, because her father decrees so in the first place.
( My princess, you can't be with that person.
They're not suited for you,
We want the best for you.
You don't know what's best for you. )
Of Bawang Putih and Bawang Merah,
Echoing the morals, how your beauty define you, how you will be evil if you are less than beautiful.
( She's ugly, that's why she's jealous of her)
Of Putri Hijau ending,
That to be free from being under the power of men, you have to jump into the ocean.
(You are mine, forever)
Of the archetypes for Good and Evil,
Slut, *****
Whore, Saint,
Witch, Princess.
( A good girl says yes, A bad girl say no)
How The Tales, often than not,
parallel each others, as if trying to drill them self into our subconsciousness with these toxic message.
( Princesses belongs to the people.
She never belongs to herself. )
These unspoken rules followed me into adulthood.
Subconscious message of how to be loved you need to be less.
You need to submit,
to be obedient,
docile,
pure,
innocent,
most of all, you need to be beautiful.
That beauty is how you're going to get your prince. Never it is because your wit, your courage, your wisdom,
what use do you have for them if you don't have a pretty face.
No husband will find ever find you.
( Remember, wicked ones doesn't have a prince to set them straight.
You don't want to be a wicked one,
Now do you?
So spread your legs, and lay down.
Take it. Atta girl! )
These unreachable standards, bound us the same way they bound people feet to be dainty.
They are rules for us to be less human, to be a thing.
A princess, in this world is another term for a possession.
(There is no such things as an independent princess, object need owners)
The stories always put them in gilded cages.
Once I asked why?
Why do they need to be caged?
Why can't they be free?
The tales said that beautiful things needed somewhere to be kept.
The tales said many thing,
seemingly innocent but screaming about our worth, girls worth in the society.
(You need to be pretty for anyone to love you.)
(You're good if you are obedient.)
(You have no need for your voice,
Silence is the only voice you need.)
(You're made to just lay down and take it.)
(You need a man to complete you
and set you straight.)
(Never be yourself.)
I grew up wanting to be a princess,
Just like many others do.
What we realized, to be a princess
We have to be a slave.
We have to be dead.
Dec 8, 2015
Dec 8, 2015 at 7:16 AM UTC
You don't hear me when i say, mom, please wake up, dad's with a **** and your son is smoking cannabis.
No one ever listens this wallpaper glistens don't let them see what goes down in the kitchen.
Places places get in your places theow on your dress and pur on your dollfaces
everyone thinks that we're perfect please don't let them look through the curtains.
Picture, picture smile for the picture
Pose with your brother won't you be a good sister.
everyone thinks that we're perfect please don't let them look through the curtains
Jul 27, 2015
Jul 27, 2015 at 3:22 PM UTC
She likes to eat nectar-
ines. In the kitchen, on a bloated
summer day.
Hair tied back and plastered
to the crown
of her forehead.
Fingers lazily drumming out
some country
song on the kitchen counter.
She lets the pools of sweet,
stinging nectar
and saliva linger
on her fingers and pierce
her tear ducts.
Her mama used to
tell her to eat
like a lady.
Starched fingers,
and dry mouth.
But you just can't be
a lady
when you're playing
God.
May 12, 2015
May 12, 2015 at 12:53 PM UTC
Prejudice helps us
make snap-decisions
Labels help us
know what things are
Gender roles are convenient
Use them if you must
But don't be a c*nt.
May 5, 2015
May 5, 2015 at 8:01 AM UTC
Because when I was 4, my mom told me that I could not like blue because it was a 'boy' colour.
Because when I was 5, the kids at kindergarten made fun of me for my 'boy' hairstyle.
Because when I was 6, dad refused to buy me a toy car because it is a 'boy' toy. He got me a Barbie doll. 'Good for girls,' he said.
Because when I was 7, my teacher scolded my for my 'boy' handwriting.
Because when I was 8,after a bad fall, my mom lamented that I would never be able to wear a skirt, instead of asking if I was ok.
Because when I was 9 I watched as my relatives mocked my male cousin for cooking. "Leave it to the women" they said.
Because when I was 10, I was told that I ran like a girl. 'But I am a girl', I said. They laughed at my innocence.
Because when I was 11, I was warned my my mother that I would be too fat to be loved. As though his love had to be spread all over my fats.
Because when I was 12, puberty started and the acne set in. It was my mom's worst nightmare.
Because when I was 13, my mom reemphasised that I was too fat to be loved. I felt like ****
Because when I was 14, I starved myself so that I would be beautiful. I did look like a 'proper girl', my parents agreed.
Because when I was 15, the stress of impending national exams got to me and my hair started to fall out. My mom prayed for my soul, and my scalp.
Because when I was 16, in the car 37 minutes ago. My mom scolded me for my acne scars, saying that I was too scarred to ever get a job, or a husband. Most importantly a husband.
Because gender roles affect us all, male or female. Stop labelling people.
Feb 16, 2015
Feb 16, 2015 at 5:25 PM UTC
Never the knee
because god forbid
your thighs melted together
and then the men in toupees
wouldn't be able to stake their claim.
Dec 25, 2014
Dec 25, 2014 at 12:36 PM UTC
She swallowed her birth control
For she has learned the hard way
That it is her responsibility
To bear the burden
Of bearing a child
While the man **** as easily as he goes
To grab a drink with his friends
While the arms that belong to the body of a woman
Cradle a baby
That cries for milk from ******* that will be drained
And a heart that will be empty
And hardened by men
Who will *** and go again.
Dec 12, 2013
Dec 12, 2013 at 1:06 AM UTC