They say HeForShe
Reality disagrees
Truth declares
Experience asserts
He’sForHe

She reports rape
He stands not with she
Unwavering in solidarity with He
Increasing the pains
Dumping blame and shame on She

She is victimized
He is canonized
She is left to grieve
He basks in relief
Really? HeForShe?

A fool She must be
Thinking He is for She
When all that he truly seeks
Is He protecting He
Even at the heartbroken expense of She

Until He believes She
And truly hears and acts on what She feels
Haunted griefs painfully and publicly unloaded
Against a relative, coworker or trusted friend
He can never honestly say He is For She

Social hypocrisy
Pervasive in high and lofty places
Heralded champions of HeForShe
Engaged shamelessly in sex with children
Using power, influence and wealth
To steal innocence, exploit bodies and fashion poor mental health

Grave injustice
He beats his chest to He
Pronouncing his conquest of a ‘green plum’
“It’s best plucked half ripe”, He boasts
And takes his bow to rousing ovation

She walks on in troubling silence
It’s her fault, She is made to believe
Her fault that She was borne a She
And dared to dress, compete and work as She feels

It’s okay if He can truly be for She
But She has better be for She
Always ensuring
In all sexual abuses
She must never walk alone

Brenda Brewer Moore