Little girls often forget who came before them,

The rights that were fought for them,

Grandmothers who fought in the hopes that someday,

Their granddaughters and their great-granddaughters will have rights that women could only dream of.

Little girls aren't interested in playing the pesky pitch of politics,

They throw away their rights that their great-grandmother's fought for.

Little girls are too busy swinging their hips,

Instead of swinging their fists in the face of societal rules.

Instead of learning who to be,

They are learning how to be like everybody else.

Instead of writing,

They are too busy looking at themselves in a mirror.

Instead of reading books,

Little girls are taking pictures of themselves on their tiny screens and posting them for the world to see,

Begging for somebody, anybody's approval.

To be confident,

Is to be arrogant.

To deprecate yourself,

Is to be humble.

The world tells little girls to be who they are.

But no, not like that.

Little girls are shoving fingers down their throats after every meal,

Because they think they aren't skinny enough.

Little girls will sit in front of a mirror to nit and pick every last flaw,

Until there is nothing left but skin and bones.

Little girls used to send their parents pictures of them in pretty dresses,

But now,

They send pictures to boys of themselves wearing nothing at all.

Instead of spreading their wings to enjoy the open world,

They are spreading their legs for the open world to enjoy.

The word no is not a "maybe".

The word no is not a "try again later".

The word no is a belief,

A statement,

A valid thought that will not be persecuted by the demands of a man.

Little girls often forget that love doesn't come from in between our legs,

But comes from our hearts.

Little girls forget that a pretty face is not nearly as beautiful as a brilliant mind.

Little girls forget that beauty is in the eye of the beholder,

It is not an expectation.

Little girls forget that handsome boys will fade away,

That the likes on a picture will become only a distant memory,

That he doesn't love her just because he said he's sorry.

Little girls forget that their fathers tried so hard to raise them into innovative,

Kind,

Respectable

Young women.

Little girls are too busy looking on their phones,

and doing their hair,

and buying their make up.

Little girls want to grow up to be princesses,

Not doctors or lawyers,

Politicians nor astronauts,

Nor nurses or police officers.

They want to grow up being the damsel in distress,

They want to be the pretty one,

The thin one,

The accepted one that is accepted into this infected world we call society.

Morals get ignored,

Expectations get distorted,

And we have little girls forgetting what their ancestors fought so hard for.

We pat our little girls on the head as they walk out our doors,

Wearing short shorts and low cut shirts.

And we expect them to appreciate what they've been given,

To not let little boys corrupt who they are.

Little girls become lovers and eventually become mothers,

Then these little girls watch their own little girls grow up to be just like them.