Halsey spoke at the Women’s March in NYC, and shared a gorgeous poem about sexual assault. I want to say thank you to Halsey, for this act of bravery and for sharing your words. Below I’ll go in detail about the poem, A Story Like Mine, and how the words she spoke impacted me personally.
“And I’m too young to know why it aches in my thighs, but I must lie, I must lie”
Her words here show that she knows something is wrong, but she can’t tell anyone. She doesn’t know what’s wrong, but she knows she has to lie about it.
“And he wants to have sex, and I just want to sleep He says I can’t say no to him This much I owe to him He buys my dinner, so I have to blow him He’s taken to forcing me down on my knees And I’m confused ’cause he’s hurting me while he says please And he’s only a man, and these things he just needs He’s my boyfriend, so why am I filled with unease?”
Here we see that even if you’re dating someone, it can still be rape if they’re forcing you to have sex. The key word here is “forcing”. Any sex that is forced isn’t sex, it’s rape. Halsey shows girls- both young and old- that they’re not the only ones who have been raped by their boyfriends or significant others.
“You can’t put your hands on me You don’t know what my body has been through I’m supposed to be safe now I earned it.”
Halsey says the one thing we’re all thinking: I’m supposed to be safe. Females shouldn’t have to look over their shoulders when they walk to their car after work. They shouldn’t be told to carry a knife when they’re driving by themselves. It’s 2018 and it’s worse than ever. Females are not safe, even if they’ve earned it.
“It’s about closed doors and secrets and legs and stilettos from the Hollywood hills to the projects in ghettos.”
Rape and sexual assault doesn’t target any one kind of female, it targets all of them.
“Listen, listen and then yell at the top of your lungs Be a voice for all those who have prisoner tongues For the people who had to grow up way too young.”
Listen to their stories- your friends and neighbors, the stranger you meet. Anyone who is female has something similar, even if it’s minuscule compared to what you’ve heard.
So thank you, Halsey, for the courage it took not only to write the poem but to read it in front of thousands at the Women’s March in NYC. Your courage is admirable, and I’m grateful for the words you shared with everyone.
Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5xPxjVaYI4