Legs Do Not Mean Sex

I don’t like the way the men look at you
my father says
you should take care
wear pants in the city

No
I reply
over our espressos in a shitty gas station coffee shop somewhere between Rethymno and Chania

Men need to learn to control themselves
legs do not mean sex
yes but in Greece if a woman is raped
and she takes a man to the courts
if she is wearing less clothing
the judges will say she was asking for it

I shake my head
feel fire rise in my belly
I don’t need to wear more clothing
I say
to wear more clothing means to lie down in everything that is wrong in our world
and I was born to rise.