In a backwards world
My father would vacuum the living room
While my mother fixed the sink

In a backwards world
My brothers would be dress-coded
And I would be allowed to show my shoulders at school

In a backwards world
A catcalling group of girls on motorcycles
Would shout at a man in tights and a mini skirt

In a backwards world
Women play football
And men stick to volleyball

In the hallways at school
The boys crouch
Shoulders tucked in
Afraid to be looked at
For fear of giving anyone
The wrong idea

Men on the streets hurry along
Clutching at jackets
Hiding perfectly shaved legs
And a hairstyle that they woke up two hours early for
Made to appease a waiting wife
Who has never seen their face
without makeup

In the men's bathroom
Posters about sexual abuse
And hotlines
for those who have been kidnapped
Line the walls

No one ever reads those
They always end up blaming the victim
It's always the man who takes the blame
For being attacked

A new sign above the bar
Was put in last week
It reads as follows:

"Haven't you ever noticed
The term women
Holds the term men inside
Because it needs protecting"

The poster is for a political campaign
That the men will be threatened
Into voting for

(Why bother with voting rights
Without the right of free will?
Whatever happened to freedom?
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?)

The woman on the TV reads her speech
to a room full of women in business suits
And men in cocktail dresses
with their hands tied behind their backs
Mouths sewn shut

"Men are weak
They cannot control their emotions

It's their fault when they are attacked
Why on earth would they dress so provocatively
If they had no intention of attracting others

Women are smarter
Their brains are much larger
And can store more information

Men need help with everything
So they belong in the house
Their only job is to reproduce"

Like a broken record
She jumps from topic to topic
Shaming men
To empower herself

The women in the crowd
Hoot and holler
rising the hairs
on the backs of the men's necks
As they politely clap
Like broken puppets
Tired of putting up with their puppetter



So this backwards world
It's extreme


But isn't that what you represent?
Mr. President.
Only standing up
For half the country

You shouldn't
stand on your soapbox
And preach these ideas
Without recognizing them
From a street side view



Doesn't equality sound nice now?

To the ones who live this nightmare
On a day to day basis

To the ones who were sexualized
At 12 or 13

To the ones who fear for the future
Of women's rights

They would beg for it


In fact
They have begged for it
More than that
they have stood for it
And died for it


While you may be king of rolling...