This Is A Speech About Rape

Women. We’re taught to not walk alone in the dark instead of men being taught to not prey on a lone woman. We’re taught to never leave our drink alone instead of being taught to not drug a human. We are taught to pull our skirts down as the skin of our legs simply makes a man too ravenous, he won’t be able to resist us. Everything is put on the woman – It’s our fault if we get raped. Maybe we simply drank too much or didn’t wear enough.

Why, when I list those examples are you firing back at me with statements I have heard more times than I care admit? Why does your facial expression turn furious? Why do you ask me if I’d “leave my car unlocked” or the door to my house wide open? How dare you have the audacity to compare me to something made of bricks and cement, an object that lacks in power and can be destroyed. My legs are not a door that you can simply open and close as and when you choose. You cannot walk over my body, trampling your dirty shoes over my purity until I reek of your sweat and your beer stained breath.

No one should ever overpower you. There should never be a time that you fear for your safety for having a bit of cleavage on show.

Now, now is the right time. It is the right time to get rid of the ridiculous notation that we are inferior to men. I have the power to grow a baby within the space of my stomach in just nine months. I can have multiple orgasms and feel as though the universe is exploding within the entirety of my body. How dare you put yourself on a pedestal built from the bodies of women. I grew you in my body and yet you have the audacity to refer to me as less than you? We are not the damsels in distresses that we’re made out to be. No, I do not need a man to rescue me from the imprisonment of a tower. No, I do not need a man to kiss me to awaken me from my blindness and give me the ability to see and live. No, I do not need a seven-man army and a prince to unlock my glass temple. This isn’t a fucking fairy tale and I will never be your princess.

This is the time to end the culture that is rape. Abolish it. Drench it in alcohol and unleash an open flame upon it. Destroy it because rape jokes aren’t funny and never will be. End it because it’s not about how we dress. End it because we are more likely to get raped than to get attacked by a shark. End it because a little dress does not represent “yes”.

Rape culture is him getting let off because he was probably abused as a child. Rape culture is not being able to wear the outfit that we want too. Rape culture is being told that after he touched you, no one would ever want you again. Rape culture is us getting the blame. Rape culture is not being able to breastfeed in public for its seen as “provocative”. Rape culture is walking down the road with your keys wedged between your knuckles as you can never be too careful.

Let yourself be a man’s worst nightmare. Unleash your light, unveil your power. You are not a “pretty little thing”. You are not your bum or the size of your boobs. You are so much more than that. You are not someone that needs to cover up. You are an exploding light of flames and sparks – Society better cover their damn eyes because you’re not playing along anymore.

It is not your responsibility to be beautiful, you are not alive for that purpose. Your existence is not about how desirable he finds you.

Let yourself be free.