Blythe Baird - Girl Code 101 lyrics

Girl Code 101 we are the finaglers the
Exceptions the girls who have not
Run the mile in four years, who
Layer deep v-necks with excuses
Eyelashes bat wiffle balls at
The male gym teachers
We are the girls taught to survive by
Using our bodies as Swiss army knives
Calculated scrunched notes, giggles
And friendly forearm lingers "You’re
So funny please, don’t touch me"
We convince ourselves that there is
Protection in being polite "No, you go first
Girls, we have to be nice" Male
Kindness is so alien to us
We assume it is seduction every time
We remember aged nine the first
Time we are cat-called twelve
Fraudulent bodies calling us women before
We have the chance to
Thirteen, the year my dad says wearing short
Skirts in the city is like driving
Without a seat belt fifteen, we are the
Unmarked tardies, waved attentions
Honorable mentions, and lush floral dresses
Sixteen, we are the public school mannequins
Seventeen, we know the answer
But do not raise our hands
Instead, we are answering to guidance
Counselors who ask us "Well
What were you wearing?"
Their voices clink less toasts, we are let
Off the hook from hall monitors
Retired football coaches how blow kisses
And whisper "Little Miss
Lipstick" into our ears in
The high school cafeteria we shiver
But hey at least we still get
Away without wearing our student IDs
This is not female privilege this
Is survival of the
Prettiest we are playing the game we learned
How to we are the asses smacked by boys
Who made welcome mats of our yoga pants
We are easily startled who wouldn’t be?
We are barked at from the
Street, we are the girls petrified
Of the business school boys
Who learn to manifest success by refusing
To take "no" for an answer
And I wonder what it says about me
That I feel pretty in a dress
But powerful in a suit
If misogyny has been coiled inside
Of me for so long, i forget I will
Not stand before an impatient judge with
An Adam’s apple, hand grasping gavel
Ready to pound a wooden mark
Give me a god I can relate to
Commandments from a voice both soft and
Powerful give me one accomplishment of Mary’s
That did not involve her vagina
Give me decisions, a wordless wardrobe
And opinion list dress
Give me a city where my
Body is not public property once my friend
And I got cat-called on Michigan Avenue
And she said "fuck you" while
I said "thank you" like I was trained to