I've never been good at holding my tongue, as a child I was insistent about being heard no matter where the situation. I'd screech and scream, shout and bellow, yell and cackle. Nothing could quieten me, not even my father's red face or my mother's pleads. I wanted to be heard, and so I was.
So no, I've never been able to keep quiet about things that irk me.
This is an open letter to all of the guys and gals out on the interweb, who sit on the trains and stare, to the girls who give me dirty looks in shops or whisper behind my back. This is to the boys who think it's perfectly okay to grab me in clubs, putting their hands placed I don't want. To the girls who slag off other girls on social media, who use crying/laughing face emoijis to seem 'cool' as they attempt to impress others with their sly words and their backhanded compliments. To the boys who's aim on nights out is to 'bag' a girl like she's your weekly fucking shop and take home.
How dare you think I dress for your approval? Why do you think me wearing something that could be classed as revealing, somehow equals wanting your hands on my body? What makes you think a girl who wears a short skirt is easy to get into bed or is less intelligent compared to the girl in the midi skirt? Who told you to grind up behind girls you don't know, and when they move away and ask you to stop, you're to try and grab them back? Who brought you up with this lack of respect for women?
When a women is dressing herself, she is creating art. She has architecture, history and art combined - do you honestly think she does all that for you? Do exposed body parts equate to lowering her status as a human being to an animal, an animal you can prey on and manipulate? Does making snide Facebook statuses or tweets lift you up higher than anyone else girls? Are you God now, should I bow? What makes you hate the girl loving herself, the girl laughing with her friends, the girl who doesn't even know you? Why do you have this urge to tear down her confidence, attempt to squash her sexual liberation into labels designed to put down; 'desperate' or 'easy', a 'slag' or a 'bitch, 'hussy' or a ''gold digger'. What makes you hate her so much?
When a women is dressing herself, she is creating art.
The girls you see on social media, the ones you see out and about, they do not dress for you. They do not dress to please you. They do not dress to turn you on nor tell you she's DTF. The girl you see is not wearing a short skirt because she thinks it will impress you. She doesn't wear makeup or do her hair because she's insecure. And if she is, it isn't anything to do with you. The girls you see everyday are not your girls. They are not pieces of meat to grab. They are not dying to be with you and they shouldn't feel flattered you 'gave them a bit of your time'. They do not owe you a damn thing.
They are girls who have forced themselves out of the constraints people have put them in. They are the girls who don't listen when their mothers tell them their skirts are too short. They have a fabulous ass, so who gives a fuck? They are the girls who love their body. They are the girls who put pride in their appearance, on days they decide to do so. They are the girls who recognise their worth in a world which is constantly try to put them down in order to make a few extra bucks. They are the girls who enjoy showing off the body they are in, who are proud of their gym achievements. They are the girls who love to feel beautiful, even if it isn't your idea of beautiful. These are the girls who have confidence, who march out the door with their head high. Why are you so insistent on tearing them down? Who hurt you so badly you want to destroy someones happiness, just because you don't feel that same happiness in yourself? What makes you want to appear 'not like the other girls' to boys, when you've got the same anatomy as the other girls?
Why is being sexy such a crime?
I dress to feel powerful. I dress for myself, to look at shop windows and feel satisfied with what I see. I dress because that is EXACTLY what I want to do. I dress because I'm not going to be 60 years old regretting not wearing a leopard print skirt because i was told it 'intimidates guys off'. Fuck those guys who are so easily intimidated by a pattern. I'm a woman who dresses like art, even if it doesn't strike you as a Van Gogh or a Picasso. I let my clothes speak about me, because nothing gives a message out to the world about you more than the clothes you wear.
You might sit and throw me dirty looks across a campus, or call me frigid because I don't respond to your sleazy advances. I don't care. All I will do is sigh, like I have done writing this. Women and the Earth have had to put up with a lot of shit, so don't add to it. And don't be jealous of how great my ass looks in this skirt, just do your squats.
GIRLS DONT DRESS FOR BOYS. GIRLS DRESS FOR WHATEVER THEY WANT BECAUSE THEY'RE FUCKING AMAZING.
Lou x
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Labels: fashion, feminism, girl power
