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Kayley Dixon, 14, Sums Up Awful Reality Of Being A Girl

"We want to make sure we are as covered as possible so that our identities are not replaced with walking candy."
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Kayley Dixon is only 14 years old. But the teen garnered thunderous applause and a few tears following her performance of a spoken word piece on Monday. In less than three minutes, she perfectly encapsulates the small, and large, ways girls face sexual violence on a daily basis.

Dixon performed her piece, called "A Touch Of Sexual Assault," during a government announcement of $6 million in public funding for 11 community groups in Nova Scotia that address sexual violence.


The Dartmouth teen started with: "From the age of 12, we were told that if boys pulled our hair or poked us with pencils, it meant that they liked us. But we didn't like it that much."

"We were 13 years old when we would walk down the street and had men look from our feet to our face and we'd listen as they completely replaced our identity from human to object," Dixon continues, reading from her phone. From there, she talks about how girls are told to cover up and dress modestly so as not to distract the boys.

"We want to make sure we are as covered as possible so that our identities are not replaced with walking candy."

Watch her full performance above.

Dixon has struck a nerve with social media audiences and her video has been shared thousands of times.

"Well said, Kayley! I am a grandmother, and nothing has changed on this theme since I was a young girl," wrote Elaine Hillman Reid on Facebook. "It's about time for girls to speak out and action to be taken to stop this treating young innocent females as objects."

"Wow, what a remarkable young lady. Beautiful, intelligent, brave, and strong," commented Breagha Heather. "The words she wrote were very touching but the way she read it was what really made it powerful. Fast and slow, louder and quieter. She will do great things."

This isn't the first time, Dixon has spoken out about social issues. Just last month, she gained attention for a Facebook post in which she stood up for her community of Dartmouth.


In an interview with Metro about her spoken word piece, Dixon said, "I think that a lot of people think that youth may not realize or know about sexual assault or violence, and I think that it’s really important for especially youth to speak out about it because we are the next generation."

And with a powerful performance like this, the future is in very good hands with Dixon.

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