Megan Cox

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Sex Ed

I am in my second year of university
In an elective sexuality lecture
When I finally learn my body science
My professor says,
"This is what is happening inside you
Look at this magic
This handmade ecosystem
Forgive this lack of knowledge
These unhelpful euphemisms
Your body is not a flower
You do not bleed roses
Forgive the years you've thought yourself unnatural
Forgive what was stolen every night you did not know
The words for coercion
For why you still got wet when he touched you
This is yours now
We are giving it back to you
Your body in all its names
Golden soaked
The harvested fruits of your hard labor
God knows you have deserved it
Spent nights on your hands and knees
With no road map
No language of biology
These lessons
Were handed down to you with salt and judgement
You learned early
To keep your legs closed
Got pulled out of class for exposed shoulders
Learned to keep your tampons in a secret back pocket of your bag
To hide them in your sleeve
As if to be a woman you must also become a magician
And make things disappear
You learned to wait for love
So when he came
And told you he loved you
And pulled up your skirt without consent
When your body responded the only way it knew how
You said
"Love of your life"
Like you're on vacation in his bathroom mirror
We know we have failed you
This in noneducation system
This factory of myths
Sit in this lecture hall
While your professor tells you about your own body
Do not cry
When you learn about consent
And why you still got wet when he touched you
Take this textbook
This exam
Point to thesediagrams
This is the hymen
There are four different kinds
And none of them determine your worth
Virginity is a myth we tell to keep our children scared
It should not take 14 years of school to learn this
These are lessons
We should teach our children early
Before anyone has the chance to tell them they do not belong to themselves
Before white history
And chemistry
And quadratic equations
We should not tell stories to keep our children scared
This language should be a science
These words should be a shield against those who would try to steal our autonomy
It does not have to be this way
We don't have to learn about our bodies by how they can be destroyed
Sex can be a celebration
A good thing
Sex can look like so many things
And so many different kinds of people
And learning how to say yes
And learning how to call our bodies by all their names

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