In a world that only exists in magazine ads,

vintage posters and royalty,

a woman is respected and revered,

revered for her ability to be confident,

motherly and successful.

She would have been known as a goddess among all women,

with a graduate's cap atop her head, a pen in one hand, dinner in the other,

and an infant suckling on her breast. She would

have been beautiful, a graceful figure with

wavy hair that shines in the sun, curvy lips outlined in red. She would

have been educated, witty, comical, loving, brave and 

adored.

But this life is not a magazine ad. In this day and

age, if a woman can cook, in the kitchen she must stay.

If a woman is beautiful, she resides to a life of either

slavery to the man who "claims" her, or she is passed around

for all men to share.

If she aspires to be educated, she will be laughed at for her

so-called foolishness, and demeaned until she resorts to

playing the whore so that the teasing will stop

and she can finally be appreciated by those that she desperately 

wanted to be, even at the expense of her reputation in her gender's eyes.

In this generation, her hair color defines her brains, her

breasts determine her value, and her words outline her worth.

A woman who talks too much must be shown her proper

place, a woman who complains obviously isn't grateful,

a woman who cries is nothing more than a child.

A woman can no longer smile at her neighbor lest she be branded flirtatious.

A woman must be 5 foot 8, must wear four inch heels,

must be polite, must be beautiful, must be thin,

must be rich, must be on birth control, 

must not talk, must not work,

must not drive, must not sweat,

must be fertile, must be submissive,

must not initiate sex, must lie still for sex,

must be patient, must be perfect,

must be everything that a man wants, otherwise you are

absolutely nothing.

She must be clever, she musn't be smart, or right.

She does not have control of her own body.

A woman dressed in short shorts and a see-through top may

get raped in the street, and then get blamed in the courtroom for the

rape happening in the first place, told that if she didn't

want to get raped, she should have had more clothes on.

If she wanted to be smart, then she should have paid

more attention in class.

A woman must accept the pain and the hurt, because

if you let him walk out of your life, who will

love 

you

now?

You will.

You will and you will be happy because now you can

decide whether you want to cook dinner or order out.

Now you can decide if you want to speak your mind

or stay silent. You can choose to go to college

and become a lawyer, or take out a loan and open a boutique.

You can choose whether to have twelve kids, or one,

or none, and no one will have any say in the matter.

You can be tall or short, rich or poor, thin or curvy,

because you will still be beautiful.

You can wear short shorts and a see-

through top and not have men objectify you

on the street because you are a 

woman

and not a piece of meat.

You can stand up to your teachers and peers

and DEMAND to be taught fairly just like any

man because you are more than a man,

you are a WOMAN,

and women do not belong to anybody besides themselves.

When I have a daughter,

I want to let her know that she is blessed,

blessed to grow up in a world where

"you know how boys can be" is not an excuse,

where grades are given not for the accomplishment of memory,

but for the want to learn,

where she will know that she was not born out of duty

but out of love.

I want her to know that not all men are bad, just like

not all women are good, and that she should pick her

friends and lovers based on how well they treat her

and not by how talently they demean her.

This is what society needs to be,

this is what people need to know, and

THIS is what my children need to experience.

Be proud of who you are and make yourself someone to

be proud of.