the media is rotting

hiding gluttony for drama

behind bright make up and sexy dresses

they tell men that 'you can do this'

while giving the girls restrictions 

those restrictions are named things like manners

like common sense

like 'don't you want to be pretty?'

like 'you need a man'

or you need to look like this

that you should give up your passion 

for a barbie body and a painted on smile

that you should give up a sense of identity for a man

why?

why do we listen to this?

why do we let the rot spread?

it spreads to our daughters,

to our mothers,

to our dreams

maybe it even spreads in the water we drink

why do we let this happen?

teen age girls killing themselves 

because its too much, and they wont fit in

girls starving themselves because the need to fit size 2 

girls bullying the other girls

because they haven't seen anything else from the media

for fat girls

for tough girls

for out of the norm girls

for girls who don't put on makeup

doing things that they don't need to do

it hurts to think, to know

that little girls who once might have splashed in mud puddles 

or wanted to become the worlds greatest doctor

or run the marathon

or climbed kilimanjaro

or had a dream

might now be pressured from the media and their peers

to give that up and wear makeup for some guys

so that some day the girls could have husbands

or stay at home and raise the children

and those same girls, raised by the media,

go into the world knowing that lies and break ups and fashion

equal drama

and drama is what they have been taught

why are we letting this happen

why do we listen to the media?

because the media is rotting behind the pretty faces and deep neck lined dresses

its promoting subtlely that being dolls is okay

why are we listening?

why wont someone walk out onto the red carpet with a bare face and nice jeans

why wont the girls at school say its okay to have pimples

its okay to be above size seven 

to have a dream 

to challenge sexist rules and stereotypes

to stop the spread of generational rot?

i want to see that 

and i think that some girls out there

crying every night 

trying to starve themselves

feeling ugly for not being the same

feeling tired of not fitting in 

trying to give up themselves to be pretty

need to see a change

need to have the media tell them that being 'ugly' is beautiful

that they are beautiful

that they dont need makeup to have a pretty smile

but that hasn't happenned

not yet, not fully

but i believe we will get there