1 Billion Rising For Justice
Navigate Sign Up
  • About
    • What is ONE BILLION RISING?
    • 2025 Campaign
    • MANIFESTA RISINGS
    • GLOBAL IMPACT, GLOBAL REPORTS
    • Rising Revolution Video
    • Global Coordinators
    • DANCE
    • FAQ
  • Rise for Freedom
    • SIGN UP
    • RISE FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE AND MOTHER EARTH
    • Rise For and With the Women of Afghanistan
    • RISING SOLIDARITY Blog Series
    • Rising Gardens Poster/Art Exhibit
    • Workers Rising
    • Men Rising
    • Youth Rising
  • EVENTS
    • Find an Event
    • View Past Risings/Events
    • Plan an Event
    • Manage Your Events
  • News & Blog
  • Actions
    • GLOBAL VIDEOS
    • Toolkits
    • Campus Rising Toolkit
    • Media Downloads
    • Store
    • Contact
  • LOGOS & GRAPHICS
  • MUSIC & VIDEOS
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Instagram
Sign Up

This Is What Justice Looks Like

“Distraction” A Poem For Young Women

By: Elyse B.

Distraction

By: Elyse Bruzdzinski

Gentle slopes and curves outline the effortlessness of the female form.
Funny how something so primal and geometric can cause such havoc.

We are taught early on that these curves and slopes have no formula and in the real world you cannot calculate what you will get.
But dress up these figures, and suddenly you have an expression, a puzzle to solve for each and every girl.

Find X.

The combination sex sells and sex cells work in cohesion for the high school girl.
The problems get harder, as the people around you multiply and your friends subtract.
The division between woman and girl dissipates, you become whole, rounding up and out.

Your body becomes your problem.

Picking the right outfit; the addition of the sweater because the bareness of something as simple as your shoulders…hint.
They hint at sexuality.
Oh so close to the bareness of a breast, which is something you learn cannot and will not be tolerated.

It was in 7th grade I found that I didn’t really like math.

It was also in 7th grade that I became a distraction. I became a threat to the education of my fellow students, a danger to eyes of adult faculty…

An object of a person with a purpose to watch what I do, how I do it…
And most importantly,
What I wear in the midst of it all.

Except, I’m writing with a pen, and if I make a mistake there is no erasing because scratches remain on my paper; much like that of mistakes in a reputation.

It’s an unsolvable problem.

Being the variable in an expression of unwarranted distraction, tempted to multiply with the fear of subtraction, knowing the only weapon you have is a simple statistic or fraction.

I do not want to be a distraction.

Flag this content as innappropriate.

  • Social Media: http://Twitter- @rELYSE_me
  Previous Post
  Next Post
Previous Post  
Next Post  

Share your Story

  • Follow Us on Facebook

  • Facebook.com/vday
  • Follow Us On Twitter

  • @VDAY
  • Follow Us On Instagram

  • @one_billion_rising
  • Bookmark and Share
About
  • What is ONE BILLION RISING?
  • 2025 Campaign
  • MANIFESTA RISINGS
  • Global Impact, Global Reports
  • Rising Revolution Video
  • Global Coordinators
  • DANCE
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy
Rise For Freedom
  • Sign Up
  • Workers Rising
  • RISE FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE AND MOTHER EARTH
  • Men Rising
  • Youth Rising
  • RISING SOLIDARITY Blog Series
Events
  • Find an Event
  • Plan an Event
  • View Past Risings/Events
Actions
  • GLOBAL VIDEOS
  • Toolkits
  • Campus Rising Toolkit
  • Media Downloads
  • Store
  • Contact
Links
  • V-Day Website
  • Donate
Join The Rising
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Instagram

Copyright: 1 Billion Rising
All Rights Reserved. 2025
Design: Viva & Co.
Manage Consent
We use cookies to give you the best experience on our site. By continuing to browse, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.  
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}