No one ever told me
That I didn’t have to be pretty
Beauty was a preference not a requirement
Instead, I refused to wear pink and they chuckled to themselves
“Every little girl goes through that phase”
Well, if you didn’t shove pink down our throats, maybe we would embrace it
I tried to be Superman for Halloween but they made me be a Princess
Because every little girl wants to be a princess
They stopped me from climbing in the trees because, “Boys won’t like girls who do that”
Did you ever consider that I didn’t care if boys liked me?
I didn’t care, but then you made me.
I had to wear bright dresses and make-up
You bought me dolls, but I didn’t want them
You took them away from my brother when he preferred them
I wasn’t allowed to cut my hair short
I was 9 when the little boy next-door told me I couldn’t play pirates with him, oh no.
I had to be saved as the damsel in distress.
I cried.
And then I stabbed him with my fake sword.

See, I could be the Damsel in Distress, but I could also get up and save my own ass.
Disliking dolls didn’t make me masculine
And liking a color didn’t make me feminine
How deep is the hole we’ve dug ourselves into,
When we tell little girls they shouldn’t do things, because “Boys won’t like it”.
Teach them that they should limit themselves and what they love at the cost of a man’s approvement
But where have we landed in our society,
To care more about the color of the toy a child plays with,
Then what lies inside them?