Have you ever wanted to be someone else—

Just to experience all the things they have felt?

Have you ever wanted to put on a facade just for a day

To see if it was any easier if you were born another way?

When the men yell just to remind you that you’re a femme,

Do you ever wonder if it would be easier to be one of them?

When your status at work doesn’t depend on experience or degrees,

But rather, what is found above your knees…

When on your way to make 80 cents to the man’s dollar

As you look to the ground to avoid eye contact with the men who holler,

Have you ever wanted to put on a facade for just a day?

To see if it was any easier if you were born another way…

When you are quiet, they call you a prude,

Yet, when you’re friendly, they assume you have daddy issues.

When complete strangers tell you to smile,

Have you ever wanted to just be a man—just for a little while?

When you wear a short skirt, they call you a whore,

But when you button up, you’re considered a bore.

When you know most people care nothing of your dreams and passions,

And instead, they place your value on how big your ass is…

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to not wear a label?

To be able to speak up without being dubbed emotionally unstable…

Do you wonder if men feel the immense pressure

To do everything in the name of the woman’s pleasure?

Do you ever wonder what it’s like to not have to fear being too much,

Too goofy, too smart, too sexy, or too tough?

Have you ever wanted to put on a facade, just for the day…

To see if it would be easier to be born another way?

Just for the day, to switch with someone else

And make them feel the things you have felt.

~

Relephant:

Why I Need Feminism. {Poem}

~

Author: Emily Cutshaw
Image: Unsplash/Cristian Newman
Editor: Yoli Ramazzina
Copy editor: Nicole Cameron
Social editor: Waylon Lewis