* stop * See me * stop * I am the invisible woman * stop * I am sending you this message from the darkness of endlessly unrecognized days * stop * Ignore my beauty * stop * my intelligence * stop * my talent for word and image * stop * I have endured all kinds of atrocities and obscenities because somehow my invisibility has indicated that I warrant no respect * stop *
You have both visibility and sound * stop * Make them listen to the thunderous roar of my cry * stop * Their inability to see me has justified their deliberate ignorance of easily rectifiable injustices * stop * They hear what I say * stop * they just see nothing * stop * wrong * stop *
I am the invisible woman * stop * Do you see me fading * stop * My power is in my hips * stop * and my hips are thinning * stop * What difference does it make * stop * When they can stare right through me anyway * stop * Tell them if they think these injustices are due to my invisibility * stop * based on the sensitivity of my thin soul * stop * They better be prepared * stop * because if the same thing happens to them * stop * the perpetrator * stop * can always say * stop * that he or she thought they were invisible * stop *
Tell them the bare minimum that one human being owes another is the right to choose * stop * It is never acceptable for you to force your body on my body * stop * I always have the choice * stop * of what * stop * and where * stop * and who * stop * happens to my body * stop *
And tell them when I follow the instructions I read last summer to school children * stop * Mi Cuerpo es Mio * stop * and they do not respond * stop * Tell them their inability to recognize * stop * and value * stop * the power of words * stop * when their profession is based on them * stop * is a sheer disappointment * stop *
The pain of silence and invisibility is draining the life out of me * stop * and if they don't think the words * stop * You might not like this but I'm going to do it anyway * stop * aren't fit to be any rapist's motto * stop * they need to * stop * and think * stop * think * stop * and see * stop * me * stop * Don't let them stop me * stop * I am the invisible woman