The bittersweetness that is being a woman | Teen Ink

The bittersweetness that is being a woman

August 17, 2022
By Anonymous

I cry for my body

For my body has had labels put on it since it was born

For my body is far more important to the world than the soul inhabiting it

To be a little girl, is to be objectified

To be a teenage girl, is to be objectified

To be a woman, is to be objectified

I am an object in the eyes of law 

and men; synonyms


I am terrified to bring a child into this world out of fear of it being a girl

Because that little girl

that teenage girl

that woman

will live a life of gawking eyes and unfair laws


But what if I create a child I do not want in this world?

For I know how awful it is to live a woman's life on Earth

My body

not my soul

my body will be punished

My body will be hated and ravaged


Or god forbid I do not want to bring a child into this world

I am not a woman without a child

Society says a woman must bare a child

Not for her

No not for her at all

But for the man who sleeps beside her

And wishes to populate the planet with more men like him


But let’s say I bare that child

That child you forced me to have and I did not want

You criticize me for not being a good woman

A good mother; synonyms

I cannot feed this baby you forced me to have

But if it dies once it’s gained consciousness and relationships that’s far easier than the thought of a dead fetus


I cry for my body

And any other womanly body

Any body 

Anybody

Anybody who has been granted the bittersweetness that is being a woman


The author's comments:

I wrote this piece, strangely, right before Roe V. Wade was overturned. It seems incredibly prevalent now. I hope I make you feel. 


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on Aug. 18 2022 at 10:19 am
Oliviaclaire1204 BRONZE, Danville, Virginia
2 articles 0 photos 1 comment

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