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I Need Feminism
Feminist:
A person who advocates
For the social, economic, and political
Equality of the sexes
I need feminism because
When you’re seven you shouldn’t wonder
Why ‘like a girl’ is a bad thing.
I need feminism because when you’re seven
If a boy hits a girl it’s
‘just so cute’
And
Oh,
He must like her
But when that same boy hits that girl
When you’re 20
it’s abuse
But
She brushes it off because
Oh,
He must like her.
I need feminism because when you’re eight it isn’t ladylike
To raise your voice
Because it isn’t ladylike
To fight back
Because it isn’t ladylike
To take up
Space.
I need feminism because when you’re ten
You learn that Joanne
Is the ‘J’ in J.K. Rowling
But
You learn she was worried that boys wouldn’t like
The book
If they knew she was
A girl.
I need feminism because when you’re twelve
And you see a boys’ magazine
It features leadership
But
The girls’ magazine features
How to get a beach body
As if the one I have
Isn’t
Good enough.
I need feminism because when you’re thirteen
And sitting on the biggest rock you can find
At the beach
Chattering with your best friend
Three grown men shouldn’t
Shout obscenities at you
And
At thirteen
You quickly come to find out
That ‘go away’ and ‘no’
Doesn’t work as well as
‘I have a boyfriend’
Because
You’re more respected as somebody’s
Than somebody.
I need feminism because at thirteen
People begin to say respect her
Not as its own sentence.
They will it drown in
Respect her because she’s
a mother
A sister
A daughter
Not
a human.
I need feminism because at fourteen
When I attend a family gathering
My brother is asked how school is
And how his
Grades are
Yet
I’m asked
If there are any
boys I have my eyes on
As if straight As
And never missing high honors
Doesn’t
Matter.
I need feminism because at fourteen
If I sit at lunch
Joking with friends
saying
‘I’m a lone queen’
Someone will always ask
‘But what’s
A queen
Without
Her king?
Well
Historically speaking
More powerful.
Just ask
Cleopatra, Nefertiti, Dido, Victoria,
Elizabeth
And the countless other kingless queens
Who ruled the greatest empires.
I need feminism because at fourteen
I know that a boy who has a strong opinion
Is
Loud
But
A girl with an opinion is
A
B***h
And that
‘With such loud opinions, I’ll intimidate boys’
As if my opinion
Isn’t only that my sisters and I should be
Equal.
I need feminism because at fifteen
Boys will mock us and ask
Why do girls
Travel in packs
When they go
Well
Anywhere
As they snicker.
We know that joke is a lot less funny
When
You realize that it’s because
We’ve had it scarred
And etched intricately into our minds
That we must stick together
Because
Maybe
Because
What if
Because
‘It’s safer.’
I need feminism because at fifteen
I know too well
That girls are in fact
Not ‘free’ to do as they wish
I know that
No girl
Can win
At the game society created.
Girls are ridiculed for
Everything.
I need feminism because at fifteen
I’m told
You aren’t like
Most girls
As if it was a compliment
As if my mother, friends, and sisters
Are people I want to be isolated from.
There are millions
Of ways to give a
Compliment
Making my others small
Is not one.
I need feminism because at fifteen
The teachers that
I looked up to
The teachers responsible for
Shaping
For creating
the future
Told us
To not bubble over
And
Distract the boys
As if they were speaking
About inanimate
Objects
Or
Boiling water
Yet
When they came to me
In my anger saying
They had not meant it in
That way
Only that
Boys were going
To stare
As if that didn’t
Send my rage to the boiling
point
Why had no one told them
To keep their hands to themselves?
To listen to my no’s
To not read my body like a book
Why were we
Taking the
Heat.
I need feminism because at fifteen
What do you expect,
You’re a pretty girl
And
Boys will
Be
Boys
Has stopped being
Good enough.
Everyone
Will
Be held accountable for their actions.
I need feminism because at fifteen
I’ve heard that men can be predators
But let me tell you
Women are not
Prey.
I need feminism because at fifteen
I know what it means when people say
misandry irritates
But misogyny kills.
I need feminism at fifteen because of
Tiffany McKnight, Tara Serino, Zhou Yan
Nadia El-Dib, Jennifer Paulson, Maren Sanchez,
Shemel Mercurius, Lavena Johnson, Nova Henry,
Mary Spears, Jessica Hampton, Cherica Adams,
Tiarah Poyau, Janese Jackson Talton
And the countless other women who were
Killed
Because they
Said no.
I need feminism because at fifteen
I know the argument
Not all men
But let me assure you
Enough men
That every girl I know has referred
To a man as a creep
And enough men
That every girl I know
Is afraid of
Most men.
I need feminism because at fifteen
I know that the price I pay
To go to college
Should not be a 1 in 5 chance of
Being raped or assaulted.
I need feminism at fifteen because
Nearly 75,000 black girls and women
Are missing in America
I need feminism at fifteen because
Boko Haram still holds
100 girls
They exchanged a few
For our ignorance
I need feminism at fifteen because
I refuse to let the plant of patriarchy
Root itself inside me
I need feminism because at fifteen
This is just the experience one
One girl
And what
one girl
has heard.
One girl
In one country
In one state
In one town.
I need feminism
Because some people still think
They don’t.
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I wrote this last year but it´s still very relevant. I hope you take something away from reading through such a long poem.... if nothing else I hope you´ve thought about the world from my eyes - if only for a brief moment.