Tessa (she/her)

I write, that is what I do. I write for healing, for work, for understanding; but I wasn't sure what to write for this. Most of why I'm doing this, what I hope to get and give from this, is in my poem. I am a target: my gender, my age, my surroundings, my past, everything about me statistically reads that I will be violated. But I did this, knowing I will look back at my life and approve of my decisions. Things have happened, and they may again, but I am strong and refuse to let the world scare and turn me bitter.

While I worried about these pictures being up on the internet, I know that people, especially women my age, will be sexualized not matter what. What I've come to realize, however, is that my body is my own. There have been people who have tried to take it, but I will not let them.