Dear Daughter,
I’m sorry you live in a world.
I’m sorry you live in a world that questions your integrity. One that drills you with
“Who?”
“What?”
“Where?”
“When?”
“How?”
before batting an eye to ask him “Why?”
A world where “Boys will be boys” and “What were you wearing?” better justifies inhumane and misogynist behavior than a simple acknowledgment of male entitlement or a f***** societal discourse. One that teaches boys the “fire truck” game but never teaches them to stop.
“Keep going”
“Keep going”
“Keep going”
“Keep going”
“Fire Truck!”
But he doesn’t stop.
A world where “I’m innocent” is a 5 year sentence and “I was drunk” is a slap on the wrist. One where men are the victims of sexual urges and women are perpetrators of seducing the men to act on them
because “What were you wearing?”
I’m sorry you live in a world where you fear walking home. To the store. To your friend’s house. Two blocks down the road. Anywhere. That’s what you’re told by your parents. By the movies. By the news. By everyone
because “boys will be boys.”
A world where your mother has to write you a letter before you’ve even entered this sick, cruel world.
But daughter, I want you to know–Women are strong. You are strong. While I wish it were different, please remember: you’re only half of the solution and none of the problem. It’s your brothers, your sons, your husbands, your coaches, your teachers, your bosses– that need to be taught that women are the entitled ones: entitled to their autonomy and to the word “no.” I may not have had a choice in bringing you into the world (as a woman), but had I, I may have given you the easier route–the route that protects you from what it means to be a female in today’s world.
I’m sorry we didn’t fix it. I’m sorry my generation failed to reverse the ugliness of the world. The entitlement; the audacity; the filth. But daughter, you can change the world.