A Poem For #MeToo

The amount of times I have heard
‘But if you hadn’t..’
after I had shared my story
Is enough to make me want to
sew my lips
shut for good. 

‘But if you hadn’t gone with him’
‘But if you hadn’t been alone’
’But If you hadn’t worn this
said that
drunk what?!’
‘Maybe all of this
could have been avoided
silly girl.’ 

No. 

Why are rape
and sexual assault
the only crimes
In which we so thoroughly examine
the behaviour of the victim?

Why are rape
and sexual assault
the only crimes
In which we blame the victim?

I am not responsible for the behaviour
of anyone but myself.

My dress
My words
My lipstick
and
My looks
the amount of drinks I had
and the company I was with
did not force someone
push them so beyond their own will
that they were compelled
beyond their own reasoning
to force themselves
on me.

To take
my body
and treat it
as an object
to take my humanness
and in one swift
merciless action
destroy it
completely. 

We live in a society
that pardons the abuser
and blames the victim.

We live in a society where
less than 1 in 6
reports to the police
of sexual assault
are prosecuted
and even less
are reported
to begin with.

We live in a society
that makes it all too easy
to become a case of
‘he said vs. she said’

Or a case of
‘men will be men’
and we wonder why
powerful men
like Harvey Weinstein
get away with their crimes
and why
movements such as #metoo
take so long
to come into effect.

We live in a society
that still
after all this time
slut shames
and victim shames
when

the simple

unavoidable

universal truth is 

the only way to avoid a rape
Is to not commit one.