Little Red Dress

Today, I am dressing up for myself.
I chose a red dress,
I chose a red dress with a V-neck that shows cleavage,
I chose a red dress that does not cover my knees,
I chose a red dress that has an open back,
And I chose high heels.
 
Today, I am dressing up for myself.
I am slowly building who I am,
I am slowly rising as a women,
I am slowly building a life for my own,
And it feels great.
 
Today, I am dressing up for myself.
I am not trying to get any men,
I am not trying to get people to whistle as I walk past them,
I am not trying to call anyone’s attention.
 
Today, I am dressing up for myself.
I do not need a man to tell me how good I look,
I do not need anyone’s validation or approval,
I do not need anyone holding my hand or escorting me as I walk through the streets.
 
But most importantly, today I am standing up for myself.
Yes, I am a woman wearing a short, red dress,
Yes, I am a woman walking all alone through the streets,
Yes, I am a woman building a life for myself and following my dream job,
Yes, I am a woman and that does not mean that I can’t feel great in my clothes.
 
Today, I am raising my middle finger up for every single man to see
For them to see that I am not an object,
For them to see that I should not stay at home and take care of my house,
For them to see that my sexual organs or my physical appearance does not define what I can or can’t do,
For them to see that I am an equal, that I can do just as much as they can
For them to see that I need to be treated with the same respect that they treat each other with.
 
We need to stop telling women to watch how they dress,
We need to stop telling women that just because their clothes are not entirely covering their parts they are asking for it,
We need to stop telling women that they are nothing but an object,
We need to stop telling women that they are worthless, that they should not demand to be treated with respect,
We need to stop telling women that it is ok to live in fear and that they should stay at home after the sun goes down,
That if they leave their houses after dark, without being escorted by a men, they are asking for it and everything that happens to them is their fault,
That no men that they meet is decent and that they are all evil.
 
Instead, we need educate our precious males,
We need to tell them to keep it in their pants,
We need to tell them to know when to not act upon their thoughts,
We need to tell them that women are not objects,
We need to tell them to stop using women, for they are just as human as men are,
We need to tell them that gender does not define abilities or intelligence,
We need to tell them that just because they are pretty does not mean that they want you,
We need to tell them that looks don’t determine whether they are capable or not  of building a life for themselves,
We need to teach them how to respect women, for they need to be treated as equals,
 
But most importantly,
We need to tell them that just because they have a penis it does not meen that it belongs inside every single women they meet.
 
Agustina Saladino

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