POEM - Unstoppable (2021)

To be a woman is to be beautiful,

To be reliant,

To be emotional,

To see ‘La Vie En Rose’

To be submissive.

To be a woman is to have no confidence,

To be prompt,

To be strong,

To be a pessimist,

To be weak.

Expectations,

Expectations of femininity are out of reach.

You must be this, you must be that,

Don’t be too much of this, though

Tone down on that.

“Put some more makeup on, you need to be beautiful!” They say,

“Take that makeup off, this is hardly natural.” They taunt,

To be a woman is to face constant scrutiny.

I was 7 when I first took the shining blades to my hair.

I was 7 when I was first called ugly,

Boyish,

Unladylike,

Disgusting.

As I cut off my hair,

I wiped clean the remnants of my femininity;

It was no longer something I had to live with,

It was something I had to reach,

To reach,

I laced pink bows in my hair to prove my womanhood.

I had to work;

To work twice as hard to be paid half as much,

To prove I am worth the praise,

To prove and to justify my mere presence in a male-dominated sphere.

Femininity is not a one-size-fits-all approach.

You do not have to fit a description to be a real woman,

To be a woman is to be diverse,

To break boundaries,

To reach new realms,

To be loud,

To be quiet,

To be unique,

To be magical,

To conform,

Or to not conform.

To be a woman is beautiful.