Do you realize the power of your words?
Do you think before you speak?
Are you proud of your behavior?
Breaking others just to boost your own ego.
Maybe she wasn’t there to see it
Maybe she heard it third hand
You still said it
You still broke her
And she’ll never tell you that you did.
Recently, I’ve noticed a trend,
A casual shorthand exchange.
Have you noticed how most high school guys speak about women
As if they are nothing but a trophy?
Degrading, dehumanizing, disgusting
Their words make me twitch
Yet it comes out so naturally
They don’t even flinch.
So I ask these guys
Who talk about women like its common place
Have you ever remotely considered
She has a brain inside that beloved body.
You’d be outraged if you overheard some guy
Talking about your mother or sister this way.
If you ever have a daughter,
I hope you realize that you were once
Exactly like the guys who made her cry.
Why are my curves the first thing you notice
Not the twinkle of my ocean eyes.
Why are we judged based on a level of “hotness”
When the person inside has value.
I never really thought about my body prior to high school.
I never cared about what I was wearing.
Never had that little voice in my head
demanding I wasn’t enough.
These men do not realize how
Their words ruin everything in our heads.
Their taunting and small objectifications
Play back in our heads like a broken record.
We feel defined by their idea of us,
Unable to live up to their standards.
Yet they’re not the only ones with ridiculous expectations.
I’ll never look like a doll or model,
That’s just not the body I was given.
In an age of photoshop and influencers,
Comparison feels almost natural.
Yet we do not need the men around us to fuel
the comparison we already feel.
Women are fascinating people and there’s so much more than just our bodies.
Maybe it’s time that we open our eyes,
Realizing that most guys seem far more concerned with appearance than personality.
We are all so much more than our bodies,
Saying you only see the outside first,
Talking about women as though their
Merely accessories in your story;
It’s insulting.
This behavior was never acceptable and shouldn’t be condoned.
I am more than the reflection you see of me.
I see myself as a full person,
Beyond the intricacies of my figure.
I wish you could see the real me,
But to them I’m just a body,
And that’s all I’ll ever be.
