mothers and daughters: a poem

if you’re a woman who says it’s easier
 to have daughters than sons
 let me ask you something
  
 is it easier to teach a woman how not to be raped
 than to teach a man
 how to not rape?
  
 I suppose the most difficult medicine to swallow
 is one’s own pride
 and it doesn’t help
 if the rest of the world won’t help you
  
 and either way
 the loss of innocence is difficult to grieve
 but one of those situations
 only acknowledges one’s loss of innocence
  
 some mothers care more about their own healing
 than the healing of their daughters
 but in the end it feels like there’s nothing to fix
 if you can’t see what’s broken
  
 if you’re a woman who says it’s easier
 to have daughters than sons
 I hate you
 but probably not as much as you hate yourself