You’re Problematic If You Blame Young Girls—And Yes, I’m Judging.

By: Lanisha Porter

I grew up in the West End of Louisville where by age 7 I was branded and pronounced to be “hot and fast”…even told that I’d be pregnant as a teenager. Though I was largely unaware of what the world would later cue me in on, very early I remember carrying a responsibility that felt like weight. A need to deflect attention from myself or cocoon myself in such ways that didn’t draw any attention…especially male attention. I would come to later understand this as what the world called sexuality. For some reason or another I would observe that there were things, even as a young girl, people around me deemed immoral—wearing red nail polish, showing my legs, sporting my hair straightened or with curls, wearing open-toed shoes, or even having male associates. I understand now in hindsight that the underwritten message cautioned loudly while being a young girl in the prime of my girlhood until, has always been this: don’t provoke your sexuality, and don’t allow your choices to provoke the sexuality of others.

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