Zoe Cicatelli is a 16-year-old feminist. She is the daughter of a dear friend. I asked for her opinion of a novel I am working on about a teen who chooses to have an abortion. Our conversations revealed that this young woman is very intelligent and savvy.
She penned this piece and sent it to me. It is posted with Zoe’s, and her father’s, permission.
It’s rather intense but it gives us a peek inside the mind of a young person/girl/feminist in today’s America.
I have only made minor changes.
If you would like to support Zoe, please like her Facebook page: Cypress Woods Feminism
Daphne
If I ever have a daughter,
I would name her Daphne.
I would fill her up with what I have left of
my own purity
and try to keep the demons
of society away from her.
I would teach her how beautiful her soul is
and how much it mattered.
I would never emphasize the beauty of her face
because I know she would fall
into the trap
that all of us do.
I would put down my makeup
my dresses and high heels
for her.
I would make sure she had no idea
why some people thought
the color of your skin
determined your worth,
or why some men thought
women were less
than they were,
or why some people
could not get married
to the ones they loved.
I would teach her of love, goodness, justice, and truth.
I would cry the day she noticed
society’s evils.
I would cry realizing I
could never
protect her from
everything that could hurt the goodness
that she held so deep within.
I would cry out of frustration
that I had because
my daughter would be killed from the inside out.
She would go through the same
f*cked up existence that
all girls go through.
That I went through.
I would cry knowing how much pain she would feel in her whole goddamned life.
She would feel that misplaced sense of guilt
as early as
seven-years-old
The guilt would take hold of her
in second grade perhaps
when her teacher tells her that her
shorts are too short,
and my darling Daphne would feel a
pang in her stomach and
her cheeks would turn red
and she would not know what was wrong with her shorts why they were too short what too short even meant why this is happening why is everyone looking at me why are they laughing at me
And this
guilt
will continue throughout her entire existence
It’ll continue when she is twelve-years-old and
her silly little boyfriend tries to kiss her
but she doesn’t feel ready
except she pushes that away
she pushes that deep down inside of her and does what this stupid boy wants her to do because it’s COOL and she’s not a prude and her friends would laugh at her and the boys at school would tease her for not putting out and everything would be solved if she just ignored how uncomfortable she felt right in that very moment
and my sweet Daphne would kiss this boy and
not understand why
she felt so uncomfortable.
It’ll continue when she’s 17-years-old and she
gets pregnant because
she was raped
by her best friend
raped by someone
who she had known since she was four-f*cking-years-old.
Because the “friendzone” is a thing
because she was drunk
and even though she said no
he hit her hard
as hard as he could
and did not care that she was screaming for her f*cking life
for her mother f*cking dignity no he didn’t care because he was very angry that my daughter Daphne didn’t want to have sex with him he was so angry that he punched her in the face and held her down and shoved himself inside of her and she was crying and she was screaming but she couldn’t move and she was so drunk that eventually she threw up and when he left she was bleeding on the floor and
the looks that she would get at school
are looks of disgust
because
it was
her fault
wasn’t it?
She should’ve just had sex with the guy. I mean it wasn’t a big deal it’s just sex and God she’s such a whore anyway haha one more guy wouldn’t have mattered right ugh and I feel so bad for him too his whole life is gonna get ruined just because she couldn’t take a little dick.
If I ever have a daughter
I would name her Daphne.
-ZC
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