“Well I think it’s funny,
all these women
crying about men
calling them sweetheart.”
It’s never really meant
in that way
when he takes you by the hips,
shouts above the music,
and introduces himself
with a comment on your form.
It’s all banter,
the older man on the phone
asking for one of the guys
who’ll understand better
than the girl who called
because that’s her job.
It’s just a joke,
boys being boys,
when they hold you
in a corner,
and pretend for fun
while everyone laughs.
It’s just a little thing,
on a little thing,
on a little thing,
on a little thing,
that leaves a big thing
missing inside of me.
Written in response to Mindlovmisery’s Menagerie Friday First Line “Well I think it’s funny…”
Carol J Forrester 
This gave me the chills, Carol. The dismissiveness is so simply stated that the power of it knocked me over.
Unfortunately each stanza is pulled from a different personal experience. Not all those times were dismissed but more often or not they have been and more importantly I’ve kept finding stanzas to add. Thank for reading Diane, I’m glad the piece worked in the way it was intended.
I think most women can relate. I certainly could especially as a young woman, and we still see it played out every day, even on the national stage.
I know, and it can get laughed off by those who think we’re over-sensitive, when really it’s just about being treated with a basic level of respect and dignity that should be afforded to any human.
Oof, indeed.