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The Definition of a Girl
For my people, the girls everywhere that look in the mirror
and feel oppressed, who feel obsessed with
the image they think that they must be.
The image of perfection, lost perception
is all they will ever seek.
For my people, stereotyped in many ways,
told that they must dress a certain way
or dance on a pole just in order to get paid and
this isn’t a way of life, it’s a surrender
to the men that have come before us
and have made us feel defined,
confined by the decisions we’ve made.
For my people, the girls who grew up thinking that
doctors and lawyers and astronauts and engineers
were the careers they wanted to be someday but
realized when they grew up that
these opportunities are not equal and the pay gap
is larger than the number of job openings that we’re offered,
as women.
For my people who were told that they will never be worth it,
that your origins and gender have shaped your whole life,
the life that you could never dream of because
of the issues we face as a
human race we have failed one another in creating
a more perfect place.
For my people, and the ones who’ve questioned us,
Will we ever be equal?
Can we walk in a line and be even with each other?
Hold our heads and our hearts as high as our limits,
let us behold a constant standard,
let the world know that our best effort is our greatest gift.
And our greatest downfall
is all the women we’ve dismissed.
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In the midst or modern-day feminism, gender equality can feel like a two-sided argument. I hope this poem helps describe some of the issues that women continue to face on a daily basis and helps to give everyone a new perspective.