Catcalls

Ok. So if a boy comes up to me and calls me beautiful I should feel happy right? I should be glad. I should talk to him. I should be grateful. I should tell him my name and give him my number. Right? That’s what he thinks at least. He thinks that it’s ok. He thinks that I feel all those things.

In reality, I feel unclean. I feel dirty. I feel scared. I don’t want to be near him. Growing up as a girl, I’ve been told to never be alone. Always be with others. That’s why girls go to the bathroom in groups. When you’re little you think that it’s so you don’t look like a loser, but as you get older you realize why you had to be in the groups. You were in the groups for safety, so that you had people to protect you if you needed it. As a girl you can’t walk alone at night without feeling scared. You could live in the nicest, richest area of town and still feel scared walking alone at night. There’s always a fear in the back of your head.

We are told to cover up. Make sure that you aren’t showing too much skin, be modest, be kind, don’t lead boys on, but don’t date just anyone. If you date more than one person, you’re labeled a “slut” if you don’t date, then you’re a “prude”. Don’t even get me started on “Slut Shaming”, if she wants to wear it, let her.

If a woman gets raped, the first thing that people always tell her is that she probably should’ve covered up more. SHE WAS SEXUALLY ASSAULTED, YET SHE IS BEING BLAMED FOR IT. 9 times out of 10, the woman is blamed for getting raped, they say that she should’ve been more careful, that she should’ve worn less revealing clothes, that she shouldn’t have been drinking. The man who raped her is almost never blamed. Girls are taught ways to try and avoid rape, but boys are rarely told to just not rape girls. I don’t care what the girl was wearing, she was never ASKING TO BE RAPED! Especially when little girls are raped. Were they asking for it? Were the CHILDREN WHO GET RAPED AND KILLED “ASKING FOR IT”!!!????

Little girl’s bodies should not be sexualized, they should just get to be little girls, and not have to worry about what they wear. No little girl should have to worry about that. Let them be kids.