Boys Will Be Boys

Boys will be boys,
But girls will grow up in a world,
Where their body determines their worth,
Wearing a crop top somehow inviting--
The visible thoughts flying
around your head.
They will soon learn to notice
slow eyes slithering, searching, studying.

Boys will be boys,
But women live in a world
where they are touched and grabbed,
Assaulted, stalked, and stabbed,
Silenced while screaming,
Holding in all the stress,
Because if they take one breath,
One flicker in the guard,
One moment of peace,
A man can swoop in
and steal their humanity.

Do I not matter to you?
Am I just here to flatter you?
To love and praise,
While in my head silently praying--
praying for your choice to be easy on me,
For masculine hands to go easy on me,
I have already accepted such a feat,
“So stay quiet, it’ll be quick”
My predetermined fate
apparently isn’t worth trying to save.

Boys will be boys,
But I must learn to
only accept a drink from someone I trust,
But even then, pepper spray and rape whistles are a must
But even then, I don’t know who to trust,
Because in my hour of need,
Boys will be the ones asserting power over me--

Boys will be boys,
But I must soon learn how to
hold my keys between my fingers,
To fight off all the dangers,
But even a hidden knife will never protect me,
Because the cards are stacked against me,
I have learned that I will most likely
Become one of those one in three.

My daily internal conflict:
To be pro-choice,
But to never have a choice
Because I can never be the one with the loudest voice--
That power is left up to the boys.