Social Armor

Author's Note: In this poem, I use the term "females" to distinguish that a person of any gender identity can face discrimination for their chest if they're perceived to be female by the people around them.

I once walked down the highway in the Summer heat,

When I saw a man pass me on the opposite street;

The man wore no shirt and he didn’t have a care;

I'd have liked to do the same, but I didn’t dare.

Because I could be penalized, threatened, and shamed,

And I’d have no recourse because I’d be blamed.

Males go topless freely, complacent, unchecked,

But females who do so “have no self-respect”.

And why should he have freedom and I should have shame

When his chest and my chest are truly the same?

Many males have breasts that are bigger than mine,

Yet mine are “indecent,” and theirs are just fine.

It’s not that I think that way, and I “respect” myself,

It’s that others think that way, and I protect myself.

I don’t hide my chest as an act of propriety,

But as an armor in a hostile society.