Lyrics
They said they spoke for every woman They said they knew her pain They pointed fingers across the aisle And called us all to blame
You called our fathers backward You mocked the family name You said the church would silence her And modesty was shame
You marched beneath the banners You owned the moral ground You said the right despised her voice And tried to hold her down
But when she asked for privacy For fairness, space and choice The people who once spoke for her Would not repeat her voice
You built your power upon her fight Then changed the rules halfway And every hard-won boundary Was quietly swept away
You said the right would chain her down You said we feared her voice You built your name defending her Or so you claimed by choice
But when she drew a boundary You told her to submit You said that we betrayed the women But you're the ones who did
There stood a woman in the House With anger in her eyes She named the sneers and double rules The prejudice and lies
The whole world praised her courage Her words still echo on But ask her now what "woman" means And all that nerve is gone
A "gotcha game", a parlour trick A question brushed aside But rights depend on meaning And truth cannot be denied
You cannot build a movement On a word you will not name Then call the women asking why The authors of the shame
You said the right would chain her down You said we feared her voice You built your name defending her Or so you claimed by choice
But when she drew a boundary You told her to submit You said that we betrayed the women But you're the ones who did
A women's app called Giggle Was dragged before the court A simple female meeting place Became a legal sport
A word once plain to everyone Was parsed by robes and pens And women found their own front door Was not quite theirs again
No one's laughing in the courtroom No laughter in the hall When saying "this is just for women" May mean nothing much at all
A birthright turned to paperwork A body turned to doubt And those who preached inclusion Found one group to leave out
You said the right would chain her down You said we feared her voice You built your name defending her Or so you claimed by choice
But when she drew a boundary You told her to submit You said that we betrayed the women But you're the ones who did
It matters in the changing room The refuge and the race It matters to the frightened girl Who needs a private space
It matters when the whistle blows When strength decides the score When records built through years of work Are broken evermore
It matters in the prison wing The hospital and ward Because a right without a boundary Is merely a reward
And women do not lose their sex Because the language shifts A law may bend a definition But the body still exists
My mother is a woman My daughters know the word My granddaughters should never fear That truth cannot be heard
Their sex is not a costume Their body is not hate And saying what a woman is Should not require debate
You said that we betrayed the women But you're the ones who did
You made a speech on misogyny The whole wide world agreed But woman is not just a word You change to suit your need
Don't lecture me on womanhood
When you cannot say what it is