Shoulders

At the age of nine,

Measuring at a mere 4 foot five,

They had me measure my thighs

with the length of my arms,

Who knew a pair of shorts could hold so much harm,

They would send you home,

if too much of your upper body was shown,

Measure the straps of your shirt,

by the width of your two fingers,

Twenty years later these rules still linger,

They would call you a distraction because of your skin,

Keep your revealing parts hidden,

Except they were talking about your shoulders,

Preparing us for a known mindset as we grew older,

Because showing skin is "promiscuous",

And to everyone else it's distractive,

What they seemingly left out is to whom,

But we all knew,

Boys with their tank tops were never flagged,

They never dealt with that,

Because they were the ones distracted,

And maybe you can blame hormonal genetics,

But why were girls the ones in trouble for it,

While we were told what we can and cannot wear,

They were never told to not stare,

We all reach an age where we define skin as sexy,

It is mansplained throughout our society,

Learning to crave the attention of how do we get them to notice me?

By adjusting what we wear to become more admiring,

Or the days we dress nice for ourselves,

But then the older men can't help themselves,

On the days that we go to buy something from a stranger,

And think, maybe I need something more to cover,

To avoid any danger,

Because they may see my shoulders and think,

That we are a little minx,

That we are asking for their unwanted attention,

And the way to avoid that is to stay hidden,

stay small,

while they have the right to catcall,

We use society's teachings and are considered a slut,

Then told us it was because we didn't cover up,

We are shown that our bodies should stay hidden,

If we do not want the attention that is given,

Sexulized by others eyes,

Brainwashed through generational lies,

That a no can be excused as a yes,

Based on how we decide to dress,

Once again,

How were girls blamed for their bodies given,

I used to stare down my shirt and feel uncomfortable,

Unsure of what someone could see, and how I would be labeled,

I was taught to hide my body,

Because of how it could be perceived,

Afraid to feel sexy or comfortable just being me,

By wearing a tank top with a thin strap,

And shorts shorter than where my arms ended at,

I was convinced to be contained,

By taking on the blame,

of girls not being treated the same.