Why Didn't You Fight Back
Why didn't you fight back, they say.
Why didn't you scream?
Why didn't you run?
You must have wanted it, they say.
You must have secretly liked it.
Otherwise, you would have fought.
But what they don't realize
Is this
Stress chemicals in your brain
Shut down your thinking part of your brain,
They shut down escape routes and rational thought
So you basically just freeze.
You can barely even talk
Let alone scream
No way to pitch up the fight.
Why didn't you tell anyone, they say.
Why did you leave yourself alone?
Why did you hold it all inside?
It's because we don't trust you
It's because we believe that you won't believe us
That we're telling the truth
That we're more than our youth would imply
It's because the rape culture of our world
Implies that we did something to cause this,
To bring it upon ourselves,
Whether it's the slutty clothes we obviously wore
Or the drinks we so damningly left behind
Whether it's the fact that we trusted human decency
Enough to believe they would never treat us like that
We really don't want to hear that it was our fault
Nobody wants to hear that
But in our case ITS TRUE
Why did you tell me, they think
Did you really think we could do anything now?
Did you really think it would make a difference?
No, but me telling my story
Me showing you my pain
Me telling you what happened and where and what I believe about myself now
And who he was, how close to me he was,
Telling you all about it
Is my way of fighting back now
As I raise myself up from the rose thorns
Toward the rose
As I raise myself up above the lies and the hate and the pain
Is my way of fighting back
Making sure I stop it from happening to others
Making sure they know that they're not alone
WE
ARE
NOT
ALONE
Never alone anymore, that's me
That's me
Bringing the victory to me
Bringing the chaos to him and her and all of them
Bringing the peace to myself and all of us survivors
Bringing the love and joy back to my life
And I fight back now
👁 7💬 1
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