When I walked into my fourth block class,
I greeted my physics teacher
while he addressed my shoulders.

Now, I looked cute!
I got a new top,
painted my face,
got my eyebrows to look
a little less like caterpillars,
and attempted to fix my hair
all in vain because of my revealing shoulders.
I did not realize femininity was out of style.
I’ll remember to leave it in my closet next time.

Kids bring drugs,
and alcohol,
and sometimes even guns to school,
but I cannot take my body.

Shoulder is sin,
but if boys show skin,
they are boys being boys.
If they gravitate to using their fists
instead of their words,
they are simply boys being boys.
If they make a meal out of a girl,
strain the word “no” from her mouth,
and holds her down for the main course,
they are just boys being boys.
Empty, hungry boys.

How are we defining women nowadays?
When was the last time a girl was
labeled by her name and not a catcall?
To be a girl is to be both prey and predator.
Showing bra straps and
— GOD FORBID—
our shoulders is our strategy
to a promiscuous distraction.
But when you turn the tables,
it just so happens that our bare
collarbones are invitations wrapped
in flesh addressed to your manhood.

You are not a man if you use that excuse,
but even if some girls do choose to
partake in such lustful affairs,
boys do not get to choose
who we give our body to.