You Young Wild Thing

The Perfect Victim

The perfect victim
A straight, white, cisgendered, woman
Who carries great pain within her eyes
But only reveals it gently
And with care
Because if she presents herself as broken
With a loaded gun by her side
She is cold and cruel
She is not good enough

She must wear tight fitting clothing
But she must be sure that it's not too tight
She's sure to avoid looking skimpy
Because then they'd call her a slut
And she's sure to not cover every pore
Because then they'd call her a prude
And nobody likes those

She's a nice Christian lady
Good will comes with great faith
She prays to God
And carries a Bible by her side
Letting everyone know
She is a woman of religion
On her hands and knees; Bible in hand
She prays they won't call her a whore

She must cry
But only a little
There is a fine line between a woman
Who cries over her violated body
And a woman who is vindictive
Who is manipulative and mean
Who cries so the judge will convict
The innocent man sat there in his seat

She must carry herself with great poise
She must be polite, demure and soft
She must speak only when spoken to
And she must do so with a smile
But make sure to stray from a smile too enthusiastic
They don't take kindly to those
When she speaks her voice must be gentle
She must be kind
In the face of this heinous crime
She must remain nice

She mustn't raise her voice
Not even when they demean her very being
They will tell her she should have protected herself
And if she has protected herself  
They will tell her she shouldn't have fought back
Because that is not what an honest women does
Hell, that's not what anyone does

They will tell her she should have walked away
And when she tells them she tried
They will say "you should have tried harder."
They will ask why she didn't say anything
And she will point out the irony
That now as she stands begging for help
They sit there perched in their seats
Judging her and her surviving
Her words are nothing more than waisted breath
In this bullshit they call a justice system
That in the end protects no one at all

They will ask her how many men she's slept with
And they'll hone in especially on the past eight weeks
Around the time of the crime
Implying she wanted it all along
As if there's any reason for it
They'll ask about her work
Just to see if she has good ethics
And If she's lucky she's a stay at home mom
The standard woman
But in todays society that's highly unlikely
You can't even afford an apartment with one paycheck
Let alone a home and three kids

But then they'll contemplate what this rape means
Did she cheat?
And is this why she reported this man
Was it just a one night stand
That she calls a rape to avoid the reality of her failure to be faithful
They'll talk to her husband
"Is she trust worthy"
His words are the backbone to this investigation
Men only listen to men
So whatever he says goes
And her words are cast to the abyss
Where they sink into silence
And are forgotten

They will ask about her relationship with
God
And they'll ask how serious it is
How bad it would be if she were promiscuous
As if rape was just that silly 
As if you could define it that easily
She will be expected to defend her worth
But she is to do it gently
It would be in her best interest to disagree softly
Or better yet to never disagree at all
Avoid raising her voice
And smile carefully
But again not too enthusiastically
Because then that's just annoying

Then she shall forgive him and his sins
And she must mean it wholeheartedly
But she should avoid being too caring
Because then they'll doubt her honesty
"If she's so eager to forgive him then did he even rape her in the first place."
And if she refuses to forgive
She is vindictive
"What a mean old bitch. She ruined his life and now she can't even forgive him."
Either way, she can't win