{"id":4420,"date":"2014-02-04T15:09:06","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T15:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmblr.kamilah.ca\/?p=4420"},"modified":"2014-02-04T15:09:06","modified_gmt":"2014-02-04T15:09:06","slug":"a-boy-sprawled-next-to-me-on-the-bus-elbows-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmblr.kamilah.ca\/?p=4420","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A boy sprawled next to me on the bus, elbows out, knee pointing sharp into my thigh.
\nHe frowned at me when I uncrossed my legs, unfolded my hands
\nand splayed out like boys are taught to: all big, loose limbs.
\nI made sure to jab him in the side with my pretty little sharp purse.
\nAt first he opened his mouth like I expected him to, but instead of speaking up he sat there, quiet, and took it for the whole bus ride.
\nLike a girl.<\/p>\n

Once, a boy said my anger was cute, and he laughed,
\nand I remember thinking that I should sit there and take it,
\nbecause it isn\u2019t ladylike to cause a scene and girls aren\u2019t supposed to raise their voices.
\nBut then he laughed again and all I saw
\nwas my pretty little sharp nails digging into his cheek
\nbefore drawing back and making a horribly unladylike fist.
\n(my teacher informed me later that there is no ladylike way of making a fist.)<\/p>\n

When we were both in the principal\u2019s office twenty minutes later
\nhim with a bloody mouth and cheek, me with skinned knuckles,
\nI tried to explain in words that I didn\u2019t have yet
\nthat I was tired of having my emotions not taken seriously
\njust because I\u2019m a girl.<\/p>\n

Girls are taught: be small, so boys can be big.
\nDon\u2019t take up any more space than absolutely necessary.
\nBe small and smooth with soft edges
\nand hold in the howling when they touch you and it hurts:
\nthe sandpaper scrape of their body hair that we would be shamed for having,
\nthe greedy hands that press too hard and too often take without asking permission.<\/p>\n

Girls are taught: be quiet and unimposing and oh so small
\nwhen they heckle you with their big voices from the window of a car,
\nbecause it\u2019s rude to scream curse words back at them, and they\u2019d just laugh anyway.
\nWe\u2019re taught to pin on smiles for the boys who jeer at us on the street
\nwho see us as convenient bodies instead of people.<\/p>\n

Girls are taught: hush, be hairless and small and soft,
\nso we sit there and take it and hold in the howling,
\npretend to be obedient lapdogs instead of the wolves we are.
\nWe pin pretty little sharp smiles on our faces instead of opening our mouths,
\nbecause if we do we get accused of silly women emotions
\nblowing everything out of proportion with our PMS, we get
\ncondescending pet names and not-so-discreet eyerolls.<\/p>\n

Once, I got told I punched like a girl.
\nI told him, Good. I hope my pretty little sharp rings leave scars.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

‘My Perfume Doubles As Mace,’ theappleppielifestyle. (via queenofeden<\/a>)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A boy sprawled next to me on the bus, elbows out, knee pointing sharp into my thigh. He frowned at me when I uncrossed my legs, unfolded my hands and splayed out like boys are taught to: all big, loose limbs. I made sure to jab him in the side with my pretty little sharp […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[346,1399,2839,574,2207],"class_list":["post-4420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-feminism","tag-girls","tag-important","tag-poetry","tag-women","post_format-post-format-quote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmblr.kamilah.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmblr.kamilah.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmblr.kamilah.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmblr.kamilah.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmblr.kamilah.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tmblr.kamilah.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmblr.kamilah.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmblr.kamilah.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmblr.kamilah.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}