Leave Me Alone

As a girl, one of the things I hate about growing up is that now everything is different. When I was little everything was filled to the brim with joy and happiness. I got to see my friends at school, my teachers were nice, I could go to the park, and I played with my brothers everyday. Now life is scary, the world is cruel. Monsters lurk in the shadows and you’re the waiting victim. What were once jokes and compliments are now warnings and fears. You’re told these stories about girls who were walking down the street or coming home from school. I don’t want that. Sure, not every second of my life is fear and caution, but that is a large part of it now. A part I’m not so sure I want. 

Things at school change too, for one: social stigmas set in immediately. You’re no longer just you. No, you have to fit into social norms. You have to be pretty, you have to be skinny, you have to be kind, you have to be popular, you should wear makeup – but not too much makeup, you should wear nice clothes, you should be strong – but you can’t be too strong. From there you have two choices: choose to fit those norms or rebel against them and be outcast. 

As much as we’re changing, and I know we are, we still need to fix it. Maybe those who choose to rebel aren’t outcast as much, but they’re certainly not fully welcomed. In a way we all fit into one of these categories, even if we’re fitting into one about rebelling against them. This reminds me of the Salem Witch Trials. Mostly women, but some men, were killed and socially ruined because they didn’t fit into the ‘right’ social norms, because they were different. 

We all have lives of our own, and we all want our lives to be our own. So I’m going to offer a piece of advice that I think everyone on the face of the Earth should use. That advice: If people want to be left alone, leave them alone. If you want to be left alone, tell it straight; “Leave Me Alone.” It’s three words, three short, simple, but powerful words. They’re words that should last forever and brand meaning into someone.They can slam into someone and put some sense into them. Sometimes it’s hard to tell someone to leave you alone, but if it’s necessary – it’s necessary. To me, feminism in a nutshell is getting people to leave women alone; don’t limit them, don’t tell them what they can and cannot do, and don’t create those boundaries that they need to break. 

Leading on, being a feminist is being a human being, with the will and want to work towards equality for all genders. It’s working to not create more fear and boundaries than there already are. The thing is, people shouldn’t have to need this word in the first place. History always seems to leave out the hard stuff. It’s shiny and polished until you realize that silver pot has burning tar within, and soon it’s going to boil over and destroy that pot. The thing is, that metaphorical pot was never perfect. So now we need to redesign that pot to fit everyone and everything, so that we can create a permanent and real world of equality. It’s going to be hard, but society is trying, and hopefully our metaphorical pot will be shiny and as perfect as something can be.