A Letter To My Future Son About The Way I Expect You To Treat Women

I love you so much and I haven’t even met you. Honestly, I don’t know if you will ever exist, but if you do, I want to tell you a few things. I will never fully understand what it is like to be a boy, but I will try. There will be times when you will not like me and I may not like you, but I will always love you.

I want to tell you a little bit about girls. You will never fully understand what it is like to grow up a girl, but you have to remember that it is very different. You will never have to go through the same things that girls your age will have to. Being born a girl can be the biggest honor as well as one of the scariest things. Many girls are scared to be girls, because of what boys can do. I will tell you a little bit of what I, as a girl, have been through.

I have been on the receiving end of an unwatched touch, of unnecessary stares and cat calls, none of which were flattering in any way.

I have been called a whore for wearing a short shirt. I have been called a tease for not going home with someone I was flirting with. I have been called a bitch for saying no.

I have been called these names and much worse, sometimes for fun among a group of boys. They thought it was funny, but I have lived in fear and embarrassment because some people…