Feeling Conflicted About the Patriarchy
by james bezerra
All of my
high-minded
intellectualism
goes out the window
when mini-skirts.
Because we
convinced you -
with our impeccable,
unstoppable,
mass-marketing Capitalism machine -
that your tan bare legs,
smooth and long,
are the same
as freedom,
as expression.
Of course your
ass-tight, nearly sheer
black tights
are the most comfortable thing you own;
we’ve made them that way.
We’ve gotten
two generations of you
laced into
Victoria’s Secret
and we made it hugely expensive.
I recognize how poorly
we’ve treated you
how much we’ve sexualized you
and how much we shame you
for acting how we ask you to.
And yet,
I still love you
in La Perla,
in Agent Provocateur,
or in nothing.
We want
our daughters
to be nuns
and everyone else’s daughters
to be strippers.
I want
to save you
from me
but I realize
even that is a misogyny..
.
.
