A Theory of Evolution

The rules of the Old Testament are no longer in play;

The you-break-it, you-buy-it policy no longer applies to my hymen.

If you steal me and destroy me, turn me into something unsellable,

you are no longer required to pay for me in full

and keep me in your home as a reminder of what you did wrong.

No, today we know better,

We have evolved,

We are enlightened,

We are no longer barbarians,

I am no longer an object.

Today, if you damage these goods,

I will not be forced to haunt your bed,

I will not be required to lurk in your kitchen,

presiding over your every meal,

cleaning your bathroom with bleach,

fixing your coffee with extra cream,

and never ever the other way around.

Today, you will not have your hands cut off for touching 
that which does not belong to you,

You will not be expected to pay my family a fee

for ruining their only daughter.

No, today were are enlightened.

Today we know better.

Today I will not rip my dress and beat my chest

to signify that I have been sullied,

if I did that strangers would only stop

to stare or shoot me sidelong sultry glances.

Today I am instructed to shout “FIRE!”

if I want people to come running;

I am encouraged to carry a pistol in my purse

because guns are the great equalizer,

unless of course you find yourself half-conscious

on the floor of a family friend’s hotel room,

but nevermind that.

No, today we are evolved.

We are no longer barbarians.

Today I am no man’s property,

Today I am liberated, free,

I am equal, they tell me.

Now that we know better,

Now that we have evolved.

And so my rapists still have their limbs in tact,

They still have their hands, their fingers, all their toes.

They have never been beaten, whipped, flogged, nor stoned.

They bear no scars, no marks impressed upon their flesh.

They have not had to pay in gold for the damage they inflicted upon me

Because I am human now, no longer an object with a price.

I no longer belong to my father, I am no longer an item of value.

I am just a girl who wanted to have a good time,

who was not suspicious enough of a gentleman’s kindness.

We are enlightened now.

I am just a girl, a warm bag of flesh not belonging to anyone; 
there were no insurance policies taken out on my safety.

Now we know better.

I am just a girl who is no longer welcome in her boyfriend’s bed because of her bad judgment.

I am no man’s property.

I am just a girl who will be paying for her own PAP smear and pregnancy test.

I am liberated, free.

I am just a girl being likened to a whore in a court of law.

I am equal, they tell me.

I am just a girl who was not lucky enough to have her insides swabbed

in time to collect DNA.

Now we have evolved.

I am just a girl whose case was made public and then thrown out 
due to lack of evidence that I wasn’t asking for it.

Because I am a human now, no longer an object.

I am a human with the power to give my consent.

And we are enlightened now, no longer barbarians.

Today we are liberated, we are equal,

Everyone enjoys the same freedoms:

My rapists walk free,

and so do I, or so they tell me.