"We say to girls 'you can have ambition but not too much, otherwise you will threaten the man.' Because I am female I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support, but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don't teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors, not for jobs or accomplishments, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are. Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes." -Flawless, Beyoncé.

If I log on to Facebook one more time and see a photo of a girl wearing skinny jeans who got sent home from school I'm going to fucking lose my mind, march down to that school, and just sit there in skinny jeans. What're ya gonna do about it? Nothing.

I grew up raised by a single mother, my mom worked two jobs, raised two kids, paid all our bills by herself, got an education, didn't need a man to validate her. I say this because, after a parent passes away or leaves, many feel the need to get married so their children have a "father figure" My mother did not. She refused to get married for security, finances, validation, anything other than love. It was a lesson I don't think she ever purposefully intended to teach me, but it was one of the most important lessons I've ever learned.

We grew up learning that we had the ability to learn whatever we wanted. My brother and I were able to freely search the Internet and check out any books we wanted, we were allowed to pick out our own clothes and use self expression, we could pick our own friends and were always allowed to voice our opinion. We grew up knowing women deserve the upmost respect, because our only role model was a woman who knew how to get shit done without anyone else.

This in turn taught me to be very "bossy" or a "leader." I used education as a tool to school ignorant pricks. I loved my body and refused to hide something I was proud of. I went after my own goals in sports, school, and life. I didn't ask permission. I didn't care if people liked what I had to say, and I did everything I wanted to because I knew I was capable of it.

Sexism was non-existent in my environment growing up. Women dominated in my world. They were coaches, teachers, presidents and principles of schools; women of all colors, ages, and religions were in charge. I never had an opportunity to see male versus female oppression. I never saw submission. I never saw a woman shake at the words of a man, and I never saw a woman fake happiness to save a marriage she'd have been better off without. I made as much as my male counter parts, I got offered jobs guys applied for, I didn't have to compromise my beauty to get ahead, and I didn't need to use it to do so either. I took for granted that the real world was like my world, that all women would just without a shadow of a doubt be raised the same way. It wasn't until after high school that I started to realize I grew up how people should grow up, but not how people always do.

I had never seen an abusive relationship. I had never seen a woman bite her tongue and agree with what her man said because he'd invalidate her voice, until I did.

I had never been told not to wear a bathing suit or shorts, until I was.

I had never felt like me loving my body made grown men insecure, until it did.

I had never thought I deserved less money, pleasure, education or opportunities than any man, until people tried to tell me I did.

I never knew white women all over the country make 78 cents to the dollar that every white male makes, until I saw it in the news.

I never knew how scared our world was of women in power, until Hillary Clinton was close to being their leader.

No one had ever tried to turn off my light, until they did.

I started paying attention. I started watching how men talked to their partners. I started listening to male bosses talk to female employees. I started watching how women talked about other women based on opinions of men, and I realized how prominent sexism is. I never felt so inclined to say something, until I was told the clothes I wore impact my abilities or worth by power hungry males. Are you kidding me? Who said my daughter was able to grow up to learn to cover her body, bite her lip, and be second runner up to her husband? I had never been in the face of sexism, until that very moment. And I cannot be silent. I will not be silent.

Stop.

Stop sending girls who are more developed home who wear the same clothes as their skinny friends, stop acting like a male student getting distracted is a bigger issue than a female student getting an education. Stop acting like shoulders and legs are incoherently sexual. Stop acting like loving your body is a crime. Stop acting like one set of nipples is socially acceptable and one is a rated R. Stop acting like teenage girls who wear shorts deserve to be disrespected. Stop acting like being sexually active is an excuse for rape. Stop acting like its a girls fault a boy crosses boundaries because she had on a body-con dress. Stop acting like the Kardashian's aren't multi-million dollar business owners just because they've posed for playboy.

Stop.

Stop having sex thinking you don't deserve to have an orgasm. Stop not knowing yourself and your body parts. Stop changing your clothes because you think you look too sexy. Stop unbuttoning your blouse because you think your breasts will get you a promotion that you're more than qualified for. Stop accepting that you make less money than a man working the same job as you. Stop letting guys cheat on you, talk to you like you're property, tell you what to do, make rules, and yell.

Stop being afraid. Stop conforming.

Stop acting like you are incoherently sexual because you are female, and that its your responsibility to make sure men don't have inappropriate desires. Do you know how ridiculous that is? There are men who rape women wearing pant suits, your shorts didn't cause you to get disrespected. A man growing up watching a father disrespect his mother did. Stop thinking you are property in and out of the bedroom. Stop having sex with people who are sexually selfish. Stop listening to men just because they're men. Stop letting men think that porn is what real women like in the bedroom. Stop saying sorry.

Put them in their place, slap them for making sexist comments, apply for the jobs you deserve and demand the same pay as Timmy, wear what makes you feel confident and beautiful, don't compromise your fun and beauty for respect, demand both. Stop telling your daughters to wear a cover up walking to the pool, stop telling them to be quiet when a boy is talking, stop telling them to listen to people who are wrong, and stop telling them they're weak. Men are not dominant by nature, it is taught. Women are not submissive my nature, it is watched.

If men use words such as skimpy, whore, hoe, slut, or thot, dump them.

If they expect you to be their blow up doll, dump them.

If they tell you to be quiet or that you're wrong or stupid, dump them.

If they tell you to change your clothes, dump them.

If they mansplain, dump them.

If they allow their insecurities to disrespect you, dump them.

The societal expectations we have "created" for ourselves, is a choice. It's a choice to bite your lip, it's a choice to change your clothes, it's a choice not to sue your company for paying Timmy more than you, it's a choice to cover up while feeding your baby, it's a choice to allow men to use inappropriate words to describe women in conversation. Demand respect.

It's absolutely absurd that a rapist gets a two-month sentence.

Until the day a man loses a promotion for wearing a swimsuit, until the day a man is told he's not tough enough to have a leadership role, until religion stops teaching women that it's their responsibility to prevent male desire, until a man is told tax dollars won't pay for his health care, keep fighting.

I never saw sexism as a child or young adult. I was honestly disgusted to learn just how fluently it exists. I grew up learning that women are warriors, badasses, strong spoken, activists, with beautiful bodies to be proud of, beautiful leaders and strong independent goddesses that can never be genetically matched. I refuse to allow my daughter to grow up in a world that teaches her anything less.

No, I won't cover up.

No, I won't teach her that how she looks determines her worth.

No, I won't tell her not to wear shorts or bikinis.

No, I won't settle for $8 when he makes $8.25.

No, I don't think the biggest success in life is a wedding ring.

No, you can't shame women for looking sexy and being sexual beings when you sit there and watch porn during an office meeting.

No, I don't need permission; validation; or your approval.

Raise strong confident young women,

So that when our daughters are our age,

They'll never be told they're skimpy for loving their body.

They'll never make 78 cents to the dollar.

And they too, can defeat the Donald Trumps of their corporate worlds.

"Teach our daughters less about fitting into glass slippers and more about shattering glass slippers."