I was a little girl when I started seeing the movies

The movies where they don’t like the nerdy girl

And they pull her hair and rip her books

And she cries until the popular boy tells them to stop

And I learned that its okay to cry.

 

I was little girl when I met my friend

My friend, a boy

They call him gay and burn his neck

But he never cries

Like the girls in the movies

Boys don’t cry.

I learned that from the movies, too.

 

And I never saw a movie where they don’t like the nerdy boy

One where they pull his hair and rip his books

One where he cries until the popular boy tells them to stop.

And the little boys learn that its okay to cry.

 

I was a teenager when I saw the movies

The movies where they don’t like the nerdy girl

And they send her nasty texts and call her a dyke and a slut

And she cries until she can’t anymore

And then she dies

And I learned that its okay to feel like this

 

I was a teenager when I met my friend

My friend, a boy

They laugh at him because he’s friends with girls

But he never cries

Like the girls in movies

And he wanted to die

Like the girls in the movies

And I learned that boys feel like this too

 

And I never heard about those movies

The movies where they don’t like the nerdy boy

My parents say those movies don’t exist

That wanting to die is a girl thing

That they need to fix those girls

Those girls who cry to say that something is wrong

And boys don’t want to die.

They never say they want to die. They never cry.

Because boys don’t cry.