Resilient Spirits:
It goes on all year from January to December
When was your first time, I’m sure you remember
Were you twelve or ten or still a kindergarten member
Who was it trying to reduce your fire to an ember?
From the womb to the tomb, you’re first and foremost your gender
The treatment’s different by each and every offender
Some heckle on the street, some make you a tender
Some wait in the bars for you to go on a bender
They acknowledge each other with a tip of a hat
Then proceed to remark, “look at the tits on that”
It’s not rare, it’s not “harmless”, it’s not “banter” or “chat”
And he’s as likely a brat as a man in a cravat
By rating you, harassing you, calling you “cutie”
They claim you’re only worth your relative beauty
They believe just accepting it must be your duty
And if you “dare to retaliate” you’re acting “snooty”
It’s alarming how many men think it’s their right
To touch your body, to give you a fright
They go “Don’t be mad, let’s have some fun, now, I won’t bite”
Then follows “Lighten up, you frigid bitch, don’t be so uptight!”
The sheer amount of trite stereotypes thrown at you
Oh come on, take a number, there’s the end of the queue
Sticks and stones can break bones, now that’s nothing new
But not these sordid words because they aren’t true
From an early age and throughout your young life
You’re told “of course you’ll become a mother and wife”
Where’s my freedom to choose, the brainwashing’s rife?!
And when you disagree it’s you starting the strife
Never mind, there’s no point to define you on your own
If you try they will state “this one will always be alone”
Using a belittling, patronising, contemptuous tone
They want to shame you for not being yet one stereotype-clone
In some countries young girls play with Barbie and Ken
Whilst in others they are forced into the role of mother hen
And before you answer this I say, sir, please count to ten
Would this still be happening if the victims were men?
In many countries women are deprived of their choice
If we want children at all and if so then not just boys
Thus we need to keep vocal, to make a lot of noise
And make sure that we give all women back their voice
Since being bold and assertive gets you labelled “a bossy bitch”
Told to get back in the kitchen and make him a sandwich
Ask for a raise and get judged for “trying to get rich”
No better way to stifle the high performance itch
In school even with superior academic prowess
Women are made to feel something other, something less
Like the female champion who “never beat a healthy man at chess”
Or that smart girl with glasses who “knows not how to dress”
Female students are supposed a welcome diversity
But how can you believe it when in university
Rape jokes, spotted pages boom among the varsity
And professors question our scholarly ability
Yet we’re conditioned to be nice to all those rude, snobby men
It’s no wonder there are so few women entering STEM
It is clearly not us who have an aptitude problem
Instead the attitude towards females is hindering them
This all comes from a long line of patriarchy
And everything against it is called anarchy
They try to silence women with gormless malarkey
And then throw up their hands when the response is snarky
Unbelievably complaints, demonstrations or legal action
Are not enough of a sign to convince even a good fraction
Of politicians wanting to control our rights of reproduction
To make violence against women a well-recognised malefaction
There’s no equality as long as most men benefit
From the conduct of subgroup who act however they see fit
Current laws and prosecution aren’t effective against it
As long as the society keeps complying with this shit
We’re taught it’s asking for it if you’re being a flirt
And women are the ones most often blamed for “getting” hurt
Often when an assault “happens” the victim’s treated like dirt
Asked by the authorities “and how short was your skirt?”
What they left out is it’s most often someone you know
Someone you trusted with your heart and your soul
And these men simply don’t care that there’s a word such as “no”
Thus it’s the enabling of rape culture that has to go
Otherwise we’ll systematically be claimed to be “loose sluts”
and the right to your body by every self-entitled putz
Savvy women in politics face persecution for their guts
And catcalling by charming colleagues in public about their butts
There is instant recognition of hate speech about race
But women constantly get their gender spat at their face
We’re snarled at with conviction that we should know our place
But we are going to change all that with both courage and grace
Currently it’s still our reputation we mustn’t endanger
Like ancestors out of wedlock with a child in a manger
Even now it’s made a point of females avoiding danger
To not venture out late or to not trust a stranger
It’s universal through every country, culture and nation
In practice we aren’t equal to the male population
It’s not dependent on status, economics or station
But the blame can be tackled with tailored laws and education
Today unwanted overtures, upskirt videotaping
Are minor offences at best, barely a tad more than japing
And then we stand and stare in utter disbelief gaping
How on Earth can they still blame us that men continue raping
Yet you don’t even get a break alone at your desk
The web’s full of misogynists sending you violent threats
Trolls wishing you’ll be tortured and die a grisly death
Perverts posting revenge porn without breaking a sweat
Women’s bodies are treated like objects on display
It’s a matter in which we most often don’t have a say
On a girls’ night out men yell, “yeah, sway baby, sway”
And I wonder when it was that things turned out in this way
Media’s depiction of women as thin dispensable dolls,
On-screen sexualised violence and porn are taking their toll
The man beats and rapes, the girl is just a bunch of holes
Is this really their view of natural, healthy gender roles?
Plus Hollywood is certainly doing women no favour
The violence in film’s been getting graver and graver
And what do they say “well, we add it for flavour”
Not a big consolation for real life victims of their world
There’s a shout “hey watch out, you shouldn’t eat that cake”
An advert screams “First lose weight then get breasts that are fake”
How much more of this nonsense can a girl take?
Advertisers for profit, shut up already for God’s sake
We are smarter than that, can’t use us to boost your sales
We are #notbuyingit nor slaves for mirrors or scales
We are women and girls, we have the same rights as males
And it’s high time we stand up and start telling our tales
And you, sometimes you find yourself wondering
If there’s any point or truth in questioning
But women are resilient spirits, this is just the beginning
And equal rights for everybody is the rightful thing