A letter to the Boy-child

To the Boy-child, the society lacks sympathy for you,
They don’t rate you, not today or any other day,
You’re always the victim playing the cards,
You’re your worse enemy in cases your innocent about,
Dear, Boy-child, be firm, your story is your strength.

They molest you, and say, ‘don’t cry be a man,’
A boy-man they mean, when they are mean to you,
They rape you, and still blame you,
They will say, ‘all boys are the same’
As a means to shame you, and make you feel-less,
So your claims will be baseless.

The society starts with the narrative of, “stand up don’t cry!”
You got beaten, they say, “don’t cry!!”
You got bullied, they say, “you’re weak!!”
You try defending yourself, they say, “you’re too aggressive!!”
You keep quiet and move on, they say, “You’re not smart enough to face your fears!!”
They say this stuff and you live with those words for the rest of your life,
Thinking that’s how it is for men,
The men’s assumed world,
Where you get muttered for speaking your mind,
Don’t get fooled, the world belongs to no one,
Both gender get played when their time or karma visits,
The world belongs to both gender,
Don’t let logic deceive you.

They keep blaming you for all the ills in the society;
Who says women are second to the men?
Who even came up with such absurdity?
Women breeds the men,
Nurture them till they grow,
Keep them as their own,
And yes, women, we men fear.
Yet, women are victims of every acts,
There are fragile,
Weak and vulnerable, yes,
But they also raised those evil-men (their mindset),
They are at the best to fix the society and make it better,
No… They don’t,
They will also stand and defend their own, in which case, they raised badly to endanger their own kind,
This isn’t about equality or equity,
This is about justification and clarity.

A man cheats on a woman, the world stops to breath,
A woman cheats on a man, the world find another space,
Men cheats and women cheats,
But, men are born cheaters they say, women cheats because men didn’t love them enough, they rant,
Women’s cheating is justified,
Men cheating is unjustified,
A woman cheats, get pregnant for another man,
The husband isn’t aware,
She gives birth and the child becomes that of the man,
The man finds out, kill the woman and himself,
Society says, “he’s to blame,”
When the man cheats, the woman kills the man, but refused to kill herself,
The society screams, “free her, the man is to blame!”
They blame the man, and say, “all men are the same”
I’m tired, all this doesn’t even make sense,
Killing, cheating and loving.
They don’t make sense,
We need a new planet to start over,
We honestly failed this one.

The world has gone nuts,
The Boy-child is endangered.
Growing and knowing becomes abstract,
We contradict our believes and our behaviour subtracts,
The poor Boy-child has no home, no place and no voice.

I see a child who wants to live,
In a world he thinks is free,
In his mind, he feels all’s well,
He moves about thinking about it,
Not knowing there is more to it.

I will be your voice,
When there are foxes,
Pulling up forces,
With an agenda to enforce,
Just know I will be your voice,
I will speak for you,
I will stand for you,
I will forever defend you,
And blame those women who blames you,
Just know I won’t side with you, if you’re found guilty by law,
But forever with you if trial by/on media,
I will support you,
Against any feminism idealism,
Which you ought to be part of anyways,
Everyone is a victim,
Feminism is for both gender.

Dear Boy-child,
I know you also get raped,
Or they false rape on you,
Intimidate and assault you,
I know you also feel pain,
You get lonely sometimes and get cheated on love,
I know all you face,
I tell you have face them too.

Stay strong,
The world isn’t ending anytime soon,
Be brave, your time will be justified,
Don’t feel muted,
We are all in this together.

I speak for my gender, someone can speak for their gender.

• Article written by Okoroji Chidiebere Anyaeze