Rape.
R-A-P-E.
Four letters,
One syllable,
A thousand shudders sent down spines.
It is not a joke,
Not the next punch line in your comedy set,
Rape isn’t funny.
It stands for so much.
Violation,
Losing control of your own body.
Each letter has meaning.
R stands for real.
Real.
Rape isn’t just something that happens in movies to advance the plot,
It isn’t something girls say happened just to them to garner sympathy.
Rape is real.
In the United States, a person is raped every two minutes.
Is that real enough for you?
A stands for anyone.
Anyone.
It’s the reason our minds are on high alert when walking home alone.
The reason fists clench keys between fingers like daggers.
The reason hearts begin to pound at the sound of footfalls behind us.
The reason you never leave a party without all the people you came with,
In fear of roofies and ecstasy,
Slipped into drinks with backs turned.
In fear of getting a phone call from your best friend in tears,
Telling you of the cute boy who had stared at her all night,
Having a lot more up his sleeve than just charm.
In fear that we’ll become another faceless victim of an infamous attacker.
This is what’s wrong with our society.
We make the attacker famous,
But we forget all about the people they’ve broken.
They feel so abandoned that some feel the need to take their own lives.
What is it going to take to make us understand that rape,
Leaves scars that don’t fade with time,
That are in visible to the eye.
P stands for Permission.
Permission.
It is what differentiates rape,
from a one night stand.
Violation,
From embarrassment.
Trauma,
From choice.
But what our society doesn’t seem to understand,
Is that women speak in words,
Not outfits.
That alcohol cannot be used in lieu of consent,
That too many drinks doesn’t mean she’s signed on the bottom to line,
To be some guy’s fun time for the night.
That women means human,
Not property.
Don’t say she was “asking for it”.
Don’t say that it’s because she’s easy.
Don’t say anything at all,
If it isn’t a n apology.
E stands Enablers.
Enablers.
It’s what we all are.
Every time we see a girl whose drunk off her a**,
so drunk she can barely speak,
being harassed by a 40-year-old man,
and we do nothing.
Every time someone makes a rape joke.
It’s the same as making it okay.
It’s the same as making light of someone else’s trauma.
It’s the same as making new wounds.
And we do nothing.
Doing nothing is the same thing as allowing it.
Doing nothing makes us no better than an accomplice.
Blind eyes and tight lips help no one.
Rape.
R-A-P-E.
Four letters,
One syllable,
A thousand lives torn apart by selfish hands.
YOU ARE READING
Fair or Free
Poesia"See, I know life isn’t fair or free Never turn your back on family And even though you love me, let me be I’m sure, I don’t need you anymore." - Loyal Friend and Thoughtful Lover by The Wind and the Wave A series of poems stemming from one of the m...
