"Legs that shine like they've been giftwrapped"
They belt and dance around
The hour-glass models of this one size fits none advertisement
Inadvertently telling us all to sell our bodies as race cars not temples
They spin in their short skirts
The chubbiest sits in the back like the last pick for dodgeball
I am so sick of Schick, Venus and Bic
Trying to tell me what they and the rest of our screwed up media deem as beautiful
I don't care about the glow of my legs
Because that does not grant me the mileage it'll take to reach the top seat of that corporate ladder
Where I'll half-assed gladly accept my paycheck to the one out of seventy-sixth power
Because I have to have that much more endurance than a man
That much more patience than a man just to reach the same income
I am sick of being called a distraction for exposing my shoulders
You should put the infraction on the boss that lists the things he'd do to his sixteen-year-old employee
The high school girl raised right says "no"
And he says he'll reduce that seventy-six-cents on the dollar
She's not even out of school but she sees the flood, the debt she'll drown in
When she gets her degree
She is being prepared like it's turkey day for the world that turns her down
When she thinks that the depth of her mind is valued more than the depth below her zipper
Because I have been called a "know it all", a "b****", a "girl trying too hard to fit in a man's world"
When my hand throws up faster than the boy sitting next to me
When my head knows the answer better than the boy sitting next to me
When my heart isn't afraid to speak for itself unlike the boy sitting next to me
I have been trained fight the tide of society rushing to my body like a Picasso painting not be unveiled
But they sneak a peak anyways
Because there is not clear definition of how a woman is supposed to act in society
Just a whole bunch of archetypes and categories they'll throw you into and criticize you for anyways
I am the obnoxious feminist who refuses to let her roar be silenced
Who sometimes walks down the street with her lion mane in full view
Because she is not afraid to let the world know that she doesn't mind being king of a concrete jungle
I was made fun of all through middle school for my deep voice
Perhaps it's because the boys weren't comfortable when a female was not just meant to be seen
Perhaps it's because the boys weren't used to a girl who knew how to bellow
They did not know how to react when a girl had a way with words as weapons
Instead of gossip and sissy fights: she knew how to confront the enemy
Because she had seen fatal situations flash before her eyes
And she was not about to let a bunch of idiot school boys make her cry
I will not let my daughter be sent home for straps less than three finger tips
I'll tell the school that maybe they ought to teach the boys not to be distracted
Versus calling my daughter a distraction
Why cage the prey when you could catch a predator?
Why connotate confidence with skin and then tell me to hide it?
Why make health a requirement but not talk about eating disorders and how our society fosters it?
Why make us take physical education when gender roles are the stampede of elephants in the room
Throwing their trunks in the air, screaming, screeching, begging
For the boy behind bars about his desire to be a fashion designer
For the girl who wants nothing more than to be a runningback
For the boy who is so close to the edge of the cliff, he can feel his feet loosening like the strap to your airplane seat
For the girl who just wants to raise her hand in class but fears being thought of as intelligent
Because academic intellect and maternity just don't seem to coexist in what society tells us is the perfect mother
And the boy who feels the surge of anxiety in every gym class because he's no athlete and does not want to be
Women are more than the size of their waist
Men are more than the amount of muscle resting on their arms
Women are more than silkiness of their hair
Men are more than words they yell
It is beautiful when a woman knows how to hold her own
It is incredible when a man knows how to be gentle
It is more than what we have for hormones
It is, we are
Humanity