a message from a young women.
|this could be triggering to some people|
if you wish to rant in the comments, please do cause im furious.
i grew up in a system where showing my shoulders, my thighs, my chest was considered sexual. i was told to cover myself while men can freely show off there bodies.
when i was 7 i was told to "cover your thighs and don't wear those shorts again cause they are distracting". im sorry what 7 year old boy will be staring at my thighs in a sexual way?
i grew up hating this system, i grew up finding ways to avoid teachers so i didn't have to deal with the lecture. i grew up having to bear the countless presentations where i was told to cover all skin, while men were allowed to show off there chest.
i grew up having to complain to my mom from the age of 7, explaining asking why i need to cover myself? why did i need to hide my young body? why did i have to grow up terrified to wear shorts, or even a tank top cause someone could look at me in a creepy?
when i entered middle school, the beginning of the year a friend was dress coded and was forced to wear a shirt where it said "loner". i was then put into a room, with countless other girls where we were told to "no shoulder showing, no short shorts, no cleavage showing, no dresses shorter than above the knee". we were sexualized preteens who knew nothing about our bodies. many of us just now starting our periods, staring the new stage in life. yet, we were forced to not only deal with our bodies changing but the need to hide our bodies as well.
when i entered high school, the dress code was complete different. yet girls still got coded for clothing styles, but the rally's oh it's fine to have the senior men be shirtless and perform a sexual dance in-front of the whole school.
since the age of 5, i was entered into a system where i needed to cover everything. at the age of 12 i was asked for my first nude photo, i was sent a message asking for me to show myself. at the age of 13, i was recorded in a store by an old man wearing only shorts and a t-shirt. at the age of 14, i was followed by men in a store. at the age of 15, i was asked hundreds of times asking to reveal myself. at the current age of 16, i have been recorded, followed, catcalled, requested for nudes, even stared at sexually multiple times by a teacher, all at the ripe age of 16. but yet this does not strike out as concerning, or worried-sum to the public. but you can continue to put you're ridiculous laws on my body.
all these incidents, yet the only person being punished here is me. and for what? for me being born a female? for the fact i have breast, a vagina? why should i be punished for these, why should i be victimized for being a gender? why should we continue to let men control us, why do we keep letting them win? why do i not have power of what goes on with my body?
i am a young women, and now terrified to even grow up. im terrified to become an adult, and deal with the harsh environment of being a women. i am terrified for the day i became pregnant, and be forced into a role i might not be able to handle. and there will be nothing i could do, because men decide to control my body.
they always say my body my choice, you control your body, you control you're actions. yet here i am feeling that 'my body my choice' seems more like my body mens choice. i have no voice, i never did. and yet we let men continue to put there laws on our bodies.
when will it be enough, when will we be able to control ourselves. be able to live a life where i don't have to be scared to go to a store, to walk at night, to even post on social media, to even wear clothes that show my shoulders or my legs. to be able to get an abortion cause we were placed into a role we cannot stand in. when can i finally not be scared.
when will i control my body.
