What’s not going to happen here is an excuse
The idea that something so horrid and hurtful can be swept away as “guy talk”
Should be something that makes us all balk
And not because you have a mother, sister, wife or a daughter
But because you are simply human
Why do we have to bargain, to prove our right to exist?
Why should the length of my skirt, or curve of my hip
Or heaven forbid, the kissability of my lips
Be at fault for someone else’s deviant actions?
I was five maybe six the first time my lips came in contact with a man’s penis
I didn’t do anything wrong, I was a child, at the level of kindergarten
What could I have done to make a young man want to know what grows in my garden?
NOTHING!
By the time it happened again, I was six or seven, and this time an older girl did me in
She made me strip down to nothing and let a little boy hump me
While she played to her own satisfaction
My cries and tears, all of my reactions
Meant NOTHING!
As I grew older and withdrew from the femininity within me, everyone assumed I was gay
And if I was, whose business was it anyway?
But perhaps I was just hiding my own beauty, my womanly curves
Perhaps I cursed them because I thought it was my fault
And you see, I can’t count the times my backside has been grabbed,
my breasts pushed up against, the times I’ve been wrapped up from behind while a semi-erect penis pressed into my back
But see, I bet you didn’t know this all the times you called me awkward
I kissed a girl once, I was still a child and so was she, and I never stopped feeling guilty
Because I was six years older than she and I should have known better
Did I do to her what had been done to me?
I’ve painfully contemplated this repeatedly, over a kiss
But I find it’s easy for others to dismiss the actions of full-grown men
Who can’t be told “No” without devolving and giving in
to lustful rage and taking what they think belongs to them
We excuse, we say prison would be too much for him
Yet the survivor is questioned again and again about what she drank
And if she leadingly tempted him?
See, society seems to think “men are only men”
And that somehow that gives them an animalistic pass when dealing with women
That they are only at the mercy of their lusts
And that because of our curves they can’t resist us
And it’s all our fault, and we mean nothing
And our lives are put on trial
And we become a spectacle for a while
Our lives pulled apart, everyone attempting to detect our lives
Excuse me, lies
But we would hand over the highest office to a man who gets off
On preying on someone’s weakness
As if we’re so star struck by wealth and fame
And he considers women a game,
young girls a thing to be toyed with
While the morality crowd tosses him their kiss
And blames actual victims for not fighting back
A moral center is something you lack
When you tell a victim she should be ashamed
That she is responsible and to blame
For the reprehensible, unbelievable things that happened to her
“Maybe you should have…”
Perhaps YOU, yourself should take a step back
Heaven forbid you have to walk an inch in her shoes
And have to fight the feelings and demons she powers through
God bless your soul if you had to pay the same toll
See, I was a child left in hands of protectors, who turned out to be predators
Yet I consider myself lucky to only face what I did
I had to learn to forgive, no not the perpetrators
But myself
I had to set myself free from that closet floor
The place where I wasn’t strong enough to hold closed a door
And part of my innocence was left behind
I did nothing wrong
I’m not the one who needs to be excused
And I won’t excuse the behavior of those who chose to hurt me
I won’t let my little self be their excuse
But I also won’t let this bruise remain on my soul
I will champion the hurt and broken, we share a bond of words not spoken
I won’t let the continued silence of victims be turned against them as violence
You can’t excuse this as lewd words, because there are women behind them that have been hurt
Stop the excuses, reveal the lies
It’s not OK, to continually make survivors cry
Find your moral compass and follow it back
To a place where we’re not blamed for our attacks
If you think I’ve said too much, or that maybe I was too graphic
Perhaps what you should stop to see is that’s a bit tragic
I’ve freed myself from my own fear here
Through these few words I’ve shared
You’ll have to forgive the pain of their truth
I’ve lived through my own nightmare
So you’ll have to forgive me and take this as my proof
Because actions that lead to this kind of pain, are not something I will just excuse
