Here lately when I get onto social media I am astounded by the amount of testimonies given by rape victims, or of young women who will not stand for cat-calling, constant fear of attack, and being told "well you were dressed provocatively so what do you expect?" any longer. Every. Single. Time. These stories break my heart and make me sick."What kind of world are we coming to?" I tend to ask myself everyday. But the realization that I've come to is that this world isn't coming to anything. It has been this way for as long as we have been here. The sad reality is that we live in a broken world with broken people and broken beliefs. If anything society is starting to realize just how screwed up this world is, especially for women. While it hasn't always been cat-calling and blatant verbal disrespect, women have been held to a standard and taught that "love" is shown by being sexualized and put on a pedestal that we never asked for.

I want you right now DOES NOT mean I love you. I can't tell you how many women believe that I want you and damn you are so sexy are the equivalent to I love you and I care about you and until recently I believed this was true as well. While I refused to believe it, I found my worth in my relationship status. I can't recall a time in my high school life that I was ever truly single. Sure there were breakups and so on but there was always someone in the background to make me feel important. I was never truly alone relationship wise. I depended so much on the attention I received because that is what we as young girls are taught to do. If you weren't on a guys arm then where would you belong? If someone doesn't tell you you're sexy then what are you? This also ties in with body image issues. We are expected to have this perfect, curves in all of the right places body, and it just doesn't cut it. If you don't have big boobs, a tiny waste, big hips, (but God forbid they're too big, otherwise you're a fat girl) then you're not worth anything. Any of this ring a bell?

I'm not writing this article to rant or to say all men are pigs, while this is written with partial sadness/frustration and some men in fact are pigs, this isn't a negative article. I'm writing for all of the women out there who feel like they don't have a voice. I'm writing for the young girls who thought sexual attention meant love,and lost themselves in the lie that so many of us fall victim to. The same girls who regret their past and wish more than ever that they could go back and do things differently. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. While you may look at yourself and only see the "ugly", there is so much more. You are not your past, you are not what society tells you that you are. You are beautifully and wonderfully made and you are not alone.

I encourage and beg every single woman who reads this to instill inner beauty in those who come after them, whether its our daughters, our baby sisters, whoever. We are not to be put into a box because of our gender and body, we are not to be judged by the beautiful different shapes and sizes that we come in. On the contrary we are to be judged by our character and how we grow from our past experiences.

I will leave you with this. If he loves you, and wants you, than he will wait. He won't pretend, just to get into your pants. He will be honest, he will be faithful, and he will never tear you down. YOU ARE NOT LESS THAN WHAT YOU WERE BEFORE HIM. You are strong enough to say no and walk away, but you shouldn't have to. Don't ever forget who's daughter you are. You are a daughter of the King, so straighten your crown and never look back.