I am a young woman.

I am American.

I am seventeen.

I hear the voices from my past, my gender's past.

I hear their screams as they burn in fire at Salem.

I hear their shouts for worker's equality, just decades before I was born.

I hear their cries as their husbands and sons are taken to world wars and conflicts, never to be seen again.

I hear their despair and sadness at being unequal, STILL.

I hear my own despair and sadness at being unequal, STILL.

I pray to no religion but freedom, I eat no meals, but I sit in hunger for equality. 

I JUST WANT EQUALITY. 

I want my rights as an American woman. 

I want the same pay as the man next to me.

I don't want to be sexually harrassed because I have different body parts,

I don't want to treated like a silly girl in a big industry.

I wish I wasn't the first woman in my family to be preparing myself for college.

I want to be a woman for a small girl to look up to, not looking up to Prince Charming.

That's what our male society is, Prince Charming.

I am a woman, not a princess.

My people have suffered for rights long enough.

Give me my rights.