You have got to be taught to hate and fear
Day after day, and year after year
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear

 

we were taught and learned quickly,
every bit absorbed by that little sponge of self
all parts of mind, body, spirit knew how�?BR> 
how to:
 
•“be nice, now�?and “be a good girl�?BR> 
•never feel quite good enough
 
•sacrifice self for others
 
•lose my sense of self in the process

•be nervous and fearful
of things others didn’t seem to fear
 
•worry too much about what other people might think
 
•avoid taking “normal�?risks
out of the fear
of doing things incorrectly
of being misunderstood or rejected
 
•keep secrets from everyone, including myself
 
•put up walls to protect myself from getting hurt
 
•get hurt even with the walls in place
 
•be afraid to speak about my experience of the truth
 
•be ashamed
of making mistakes,
of anything in me that might indicate weakness,
of feelings like anger and sadness,
of my body and my thoughts,
of my own sexuality and that of others,
of my gender identity and orientation,
of being “not very lady-like�?BR> 
•hold back tears
 
•fear my own anger
 
•pretend that everything’s okay
 
•feel broken, ripped open,
shattered into fragments,
some that may never be found
 
•hate myself and die inside,
piece by piece,
every single day
 
remember?
how could we ever forget?