PLEASE LISTEN TO MY STORY

last year i was at this bar with my friends

and i met this guy who seemed so nice and polite

but please read this poem all the way to the end

and i hope you'll realize NOW it's our time to fight

so i'm talking to this guy who seems polite and nice

one second he tells me how much he likes my eyes

the other second he asks me if i'm taken

i tell him i'm not, he acts surprised, half a drink later

he asks me strange questions that fill me with unease

he's staring at my chest and his hands are on my knees

i just met him and i barely even know him

but he bought me two drinks and says now i'm supposed to blow him

i say no and go outside for a walk

i didnt notice he followed me and right beside the side walk

he stops me and holds me and the next thing i know

is that i'm on my knees, behind a wall and he tells me to go

he grips my hair and forces me down

and he says if i tell somebody he'd tell the whole town

about these pictures i once sent when i was young and in love

with a guy who had pressured me to do things i didn't know of

at some point he slams back into my throat

and it hurts and i cry and i gag and i choke

and he moans and he smirks and tells me i look great

and when he comes down my throat i realize that I have just been RAPED

he drags me back inside and our friends give us that look

they assume we made out until one of his friends says "look,

i don't think they did, he's got no lipstick on his lips"

as he thinks i can't hear him he whispers to his mate "but maybe on my dick"

and they both look at me like i was a toy

does nobody think of the possibility that i ... didn't enjoy??

i saw him again after a couple of weeks

he has a girlfriend now and she seemed pretty sweet

i hope he'll never use her against her will

but deep down inside i assume that he will

for some time i thought it had been my fault

that my dress was too short, it was August, it wasn't cold

i told myself that i was dressing like a tease

but then i remember that that time my friend was at church and the priest

raped her right there in a place of god, she was eight and her chest was flat as can be

her jeans were long, he still forced himself on her and hurt her whilst saying please

and he told her jesus wouldn't love her if she told anyone about it

so DON'T FUCKING TELL ME IT'S ABOUT CLOTHES WHEN SHE WAS COVERED UP AND SCARED AND JUST A KID

so if you ask men apparently i'm a tease

and the length of my dress proves i'm only to please

and my shorts are an invitation to whistle when you pass

BUT DON'T YOU REALIZE I AM MORE THAN MY ASS?

WE ARE BEING RAPED AND FORCED AND ASSAULTED

and your locker room talk is nothing but rape culture

no means no

and later means no

and i don't feel like it means no

and i'm tired means no

and i'm not ready means no

ANYTHING ELSE THAN YES MEANS NO

if she's drunk if she's naked if she's in your bed IT DOESN'T MATTER

if she doesn't want it then you can't fucking touch her

and if you can't get over your ego and accept and respect this

no matter how drunk you are, then you are a RAPIST

its twenty eighteen and i'm printing this poem to hang it into a public loo

i've never told anybody but you might have a story like mine too

i hope that you don't and that we can fight this war

that we won't keep all of this behind a locked door

our stories shall be heard and our voices shall be loud

i can see changes happening, i hope we'll make it so we can be proud

and i PRAY that my kids won't live in a world like mine

that they won't have strangers grabbing their behinds

in buses or trains, at school and in the streets

i hope that they will never cry themselves to sleep

i hope they'll only experience sex as an act of love

and trust and intimacy and love love LOVE

and that we will teach people how to treat each other kindly

and that no kid will have a story like me

and instead of telling young girls to cover up

can't you PLEASE just STOP FUCKING RAPING US?