by Amelia Mason
Found Poem taken from #YesAllWomen tweets – (Trigger warning: Deals with themes of assault and rape)
Victim Gets Revenge
on Rapist by Setting Him on Fire.
Well, he was sorta asking for it,
dressing in such flammable clothing.
1 in 5 women experience rape or assault.
In Russian roulette there is typically
a 1 in 6 chance of being shot.
If he didn’t want to get set on
fire, he should have stayed indoors.
“Girls should take rape
as a compliment.
A man is willing to risk
his freedom to penetrate
your vagina.
You’re the chosen one.
Be happy.”
He was probably drinking
that night, alcohol makes you
susceptible
to fire.
“Hey, I love your hair.”
“Thanks, I love yours too!”
“Your drawing is cute!”
“Thanks!”
“I’m sorry to bother you,
I just wanted to say,
you look lovely.”
“Thank you!”
“Hey sexy, nice tits!”
“Please leave me alone.”
“Learn to take a compliment!”
If it’s a legitimate inferno,
the male body has ways to try
to shut that whole thing down.
Girls just want to have fun
-demental human rights.
What men fear most
about going to prison
is what women fear most
walking down the sidewalk.
Why didn’t he stop, drop, and roll?
He should have stopped,
dropped, and rolled.
He must have secretly wanted it.
You have to be
pretty. You owe
prettiness to everyone.
If you read the article, eyewitnesses
said the man had purchased a lighter
earlier that same day.
Dude probably set himself on fire
and lied about it.
Typical.
Operator: What is your emergency?
Woman: Please help,
some men broke
into my home
Operator: Not all men
are like that,
I wouldn’t do that
He should have relaxed
and enjoyed it.
After all it was just
a bit of kindling cuddling.
There we were, discussing
rape, violence against women,
systemic oppression and other manifestations
of sexism, and you jump in
to remind us that “not all men” do
these things. Why don’t
you say what you want?
“I have never
raped/hit/assaulted a woman!”
Millions of women are
being assaulted and oppressed,
but you’ve never done it,
so why are we making you
uncomfortable?
Promoting changes to women’s behavior
to prevent rape, is saying,
“make sure he rapes
the other girl.”
We need to start educating men
about wearing appropriate fire-safe clothing
and carrying extinguishers with them
at all times.
For their own safety.
Category: Poetry, SNHU Creative Writing, SNHU Student