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No Means No (Poem)

Trigger warning: reference to sexual assault & job loss due to vxn


Tell us women how no means no

But only sometimes

Only if you’re dressed modestly, walking innocently in the wrong back alley in broad daylight

Not if your skirt is a little too high, showing just an inch too much thigh

Not at a hospital, their fingers inside of you as you birth, their scalpel against your skin, an extra stitch and a wink at the husband

Not if you work an honest job and don’t feel like getting injected,

you’re no is suddenly an ultimatum.


No means no except here, take some money, is it a yes now?

Except here, it was to save your life, or your babies, or maybe it just made things easier for me to make my 4 o’clock tee time

It’s a yes now, that’s what’s in my report anyways, it’s not like you actually get a say

Except here, I’ll take your job away, your kids away,

I will take everything away and replace it with fear,

I will turn your friends and family against you.

Is it a yes yet? I thought so.


Because no means no,

Except typically, usually, it doesn’t.


-–Alexa Rose


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