״A girl like all others"- by Chen Gurfinkel
Mother always dreamed
Of having a girl.
A princess, ballerina,
The envy of the world.
So, when I came around,
she was left disappointed.
i wasn't into girlstuff.
not at all what she wanted.
I stood my ground
with a loud decree:
"I'll be a boy"
And I was set free.
All was well,
Till a loud "ploop, plop"
Announced my body was changing
And both my boobs dropped.
"I'm a boy, not a girl"
I resisted and cried.
And everyone accepted,
Biology aside.
Til, one fateful day,
I ran into a boy,
Who didn't care what I was.
All he saw was a toy.
He groped and he grasped
And I was transformed
From girl who is boy
To woman, fully formed.
I cried me a river,
To drown the whole world,
While nobody noticed
The death of a girl.
But the spirit is strong
And my strength I regained.
I will survive, i decided,
Not giving into the pain.
My boobs, once a problem,
Now became
A tool made for flirting
And for playing the game.
I was hot stuff,
A chick and a star.
"come here", "get lost"
Men lined up from afar.
Till a guy, with no class,
Shoved in his hand.
And the game was over,
All because of one man.
I lost my trust
In myself and in men
And i lost track of time.
years flew by and then...
one lucky day, I met
The man of my dreams.
He was kind. He was gentle,
Not forcefull or mean.
And still, sometimes,
lying between sheets,
My fear of men
Won't let me sleep.
In my lifetime, the subject of Sexual assault has gone from being a shameful secret to a widely communicated social issue. despite this and despite the growing number of women willing to come forward, the problem remains a big one.
In my graduation project, I wanted to present the issue from a fresh perspective. The experiences featured throughout, from the troubling to the truly horrific, are real, they happened to me. the girl in the book is not a victim, she is a hero who undergoes a process, being hurt and learning to trust men and trust in herself again.
I find it important to tell the story in my voice. using a mix of humour, cuteness and directness, I strike at the roots of the problem, no holes barred, no apologies.
