Hesitation by Eira Quinn She doesn’t hate men. She has loved them— their softness, their steadiness, the quiet ways they showed up without needing applause. But she’s also had to survive them. She’s walked home with her heart in her throat, keys clenched like weapons. She’s stayed polite in elevators, in Ubers, at work— because safety sometimes looks like smiling. She’s had to say “I have a boyfriend” when “no” wasn’t enough. She’s had to laugh at jokes that made her skin crawl because the man telling them didn’t like being corrected. She doesn’t hate men. But she hesitates. She studies the room. She wonders if safety is earned or borrowed— and what it will cost her this time. Because love isn’t always safety. And too many of them were boys who never learned how to sit with fear without making someone else carry it. So no— She doesn’t hate men. But she does live in a world shaped by what they were allowed to do. And she’s still trying to unlearn what she had to become just to survive them.
To all the women who’ve learned to navigate the world with caution, but never lost their softness or strength—this one’s for you. 💛
#WomenEmpowerment #SurvivalAndStrength #FeministPoetry #BreakingTheSilence #HealingThroughWords #InclusiveFeminism #ReclaimingSafety #LoveAndSurvival #FeminismForAll
