Creative | Posted by Caroline B on 08/20/2015
Unmasked
I begin peeling off a layer of the mask that once covered my wounds. Starting with the
rehearsal smile hung high on my face
Revealing anger, torment, loneliness, vulnerability
I had to ignore the brewing storm of
frustration in my head
Just as they said to
Work
On moving on
Work
On healing yourself
What about working on justice?
What about having control over my own body?
That didn’t matter. Not to them. Because
somehow they had come to the conclusion that rules could be broken
By the man who held me down by my neck and told me not to scream
By the boyfriend who never made her comfortable enough to say stop
Because somehow suffocating the cries of violated women is the best way to solve a problem
No one wants to hear about
Because those I once trusted put a limit on the amount of skin
I was showing
The way I had my hair
The way I talked
Walked
And smiled
They asked me if I was drunk
Or high
Or alone
As if wearing a low-cut shirt was an invitation
A bottle of beer, sign of consent
As if the way I walked made me deserve what he did
As if the amount of makeup I wore determined the amount of damage he was allowed to do
As if the time of day made any goddamn difference
As if teaching girls to hide themselves from the world gets rid of the problem
Silencing the suppressed was easier for them than standing up for what is right
Funny, like rape is a joke
People with power play by the book as long as it’s written in their favor
They fight only battles
They have no chance at losing
They practice hardening their hearts while preaching about
Compassion and persistence
They are afraid of risks that need to be taken to achieve justice
They have more interest in protecting their reputation than their people
Why do we not teach our boys that women are not objects?
That women have a right to their bodies
That relationships do not validate perverse actions
That no does not need a reason to follow behind it
That they can no longer hide behind excuses
That they cannot force someone to do something they don’t want to
NO
The mask others forced onto my face
Was about an attempt to suppress the reality
I peel away the last bit of my mask
It’s about time I revealed my scars.

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Post Your Comment
Jannessa Staat @ at 11:52 am, December 13th, 2016
I think this is really something that people can relate too.