CW for ancient Greek style misogyny/rape culture
Women like me have always been called monsters.
If you are not a virgin or a wife
You’re, well, I’m sure that you’ve heard all the names.
And if you are a virgin or a wife
And then some man – or god – decides he wants you,
Takes you by force, well, then you’re bad enough:
You can at least expect to be transformed,
In people’s minds, to something less than human.
Yes, violated women get the blame
For what’s been done to them against their will
Get cursed by jealous wives or guilty husbands
But somehow no-one blames the violators.
A woman who decides to break the rules
Who chooses sex on her terms, no one else’s
Well she’s not just inhuman, she is monstrous,
An ugly bitch. Man-eater. Femme fatale.
Yes, I was angry. But I didn’t shout
My death stare was enough to silence them.
And after that, I kept out of the way
I didn’t look for trouble, but it found me
Because this cocky little squirt turns up.
This fucking incel. Turned up for a bet
Apparently. Some drunken lads’ night out
“Bet you can’t kill the Gorgon!” “Bet I can!”
He won the bet. Because women like me,
The femmes fatales, don’t get a happy ending.
They say that I deserved my grisly fate.
So look me in the eye and tell me that.
Tom Juniper Poetry 