I Hate Being Called Cute

I hate being called cute.

Sure, I can’t sleep without a stuffed animal

And sure, my favorite things to watch are cartoons

And sure, I like to feel pretty

And sometimes I like pink

But do not call me cute.

Because when I’m called cute apparently I’m no longer human

And my head is no longer attached to my body

And everything I am is gone

And now all I am is cute.

I hate being called cute

But I don’t hate the word itself

And I love receiving compliments as most everybody does

And I wish I could be called cute

But I wish it didn’t take my culture

And I wish it wouldn’t relate me

To a baby born yesterday

With no clue how to think or talk.

You can call me pretty

And powerful

Or sophisticated

And smart

Or even ugly

and disgusting

-but do not call me cute.

---

Hi everybody! Today's poem is about how I hate being called cute. I think most people when they hear that think "why would you hate being called cute? Being called cute is cute!" which is fair to think. For me though, being called cute is never just a compliment, it holds weight. Every time it's used on me, I get claustrophobic almost, and like I said in the poem, suddenly all I am is cute.

I think the reason it's not just a compliment is because of two bigger conversations, dehumanization, and misogyny (which kind of go hand in hand). Firstly, dehumanization. Who does society mostly call cute? Babies/toddlers and pets, neither of which are treated like actual human beings with brains. I don't know about you, and even though I'm still a kid, I don't want to be related to a baby or a dog. That also goes into the bigger conversation or how parents don't treat their children like people, which I won't get into because it would need it's own post. All in all, being called cute= dog= not very pleasant.

Number 2! Misogyny, which is about how men have always viewed women and feminine presenting people as sex objects, and the word cute has been used too many times to reduce us down to our parts. It's the same reason a lot of women don't like to be called "female". Female is purely biological, there are female rats, female dogs, female trees, even. Plus, reducing women down to their parts excludes trans women entirely. It even goes back to the dehumanization conversation, we are not animals, we are not reproduction vessels, we are just people.

Finally, I do think there are much bigger issues in feminism than just me not liking being called a word, but I think that people should start being aware of the words they use and the way they're being used/have been used. I don't think it's hard to think about how your words effect other people, even if it's as simple as calling someone cute. Thanks for reading my rant and my poem, have a nice day or night, and remember, something strange is always better than anything bland.