Countdown of Being a Girl

Fourteen

Fourteen years ago

My life became automatically harder

Because of how I looked

Thirteen

Thirteen years ago

I started liking pink

Not knowing that I would be shamed for that

Twelve

Twelve years ago

I started listening to books

About the prince saving the princess

Eleven

Eleven years ago

I got to pick out what dress I could wear

But I didn't know that I couldn't go on the slide

Ten

Ten years ago

I started getting taught

To look for any women if I got lost

Nine

Nine years ago

I learned what to do

If I got kidnapped by a creepy man

Eight

Eight years ago

I watched a guy get elected

And I was told he didn't like girls

Seven

Seven years ago

I would watch baseball with my dad

And wonder where the women's teams were

Six

Six years ago

I got told

I shouldn't snowboard

Five

Five years ago

My mom taught me about consent

And what to do if no one listens

Four

Four years ago

I got catcalled

For the first time

Three

Three years ago

I started feeling the eyes

Look up and down

Two

Two years ago

I was told to cover up

Because I had matured

One

One year ago

I wore a low cut top

And was told it was too revealing for dinner

Now

Now I see the casual sexism in a country supposed to be made equal

More and more

I see all the stages of the girls who stand under this flag

I see my little siblings

I see my mom

I see the generations of American women

Who have their own timeline

On what it's like to be a girl in America

They’ll countdown

80 years ago

To zero years ago

And see their own specialized American

Countdown of being a girl

But it didn't feel very special

It didn't feel very good to countdown as an American women