Hide and Seek (with a twist)

Hide and Seek -a game widely known around the world by grown ups and kids of all sizes and colors. Personally, it was one of my favorite games as a kid and one of the most popular suggestions among my friends and I whenever we wanted to play a group game. It was a game of running, finding a good hiding place, holding your breath, crossing your fingers, and praying to not get caught.

The first time we played Hide and Seek with a twist, I really don’t recall who brought up the idea. We all seemed to have bought the idea, because we ended up playing without really knowing what it was we were doing. It seemed fun! You were allowed to run if you had been caught; as an adult now, I’m just realizing that the fucked up part was the girls were the only ones allowed to hide while the boys went out to seek them.

Though Hide and Seek already had its own morale, Hide and Seek (with a twist) took Liberia by storm. Other kids were playing it and introducing it to their friends so that they too could introduce it to their friends. After a while of circulation, there was nowhere you could go and ask about the game and have kids tell you that they didn’t know what you were talking about. Its infamous name became “Hide and Seek, Catch the Bird/Catch and Bite.” The girls were known as the birds who would get bitten/eaten when they were caught.

Here’s how the game works, basically, the girls would go out to hide and the boys would stay behind and countdown for some time. After the countdown, the boys would go looking for the girls and if any boy found any girl, she was theirs to perform sexual acts to. Appalling, right? That’s not all, she would not be allowed to tell any grown up or anybody unless they were a part of the game. If you told anyone then you wouldn’t be allowed to play any of the future games, because everybody now knows you are the snitch who runs your mouth.

For the girls, it was survival of the fittest; if you couldn’t find somewhere good to hide, you would get touched or fingered, or have some other sexual act done to you. If you saw the boys coming you could run, but boys were typically quicker so they caught you still.

I feel like this was self-conscious sexual abuse; knowing what could happen but still agreeing to participate, because you thought you could escape it. In most cases, you didn’t escape it, you got caught and for that minute you had to get bitten. Now, because we were all kids and we didn’t fully understand the concept of sex, sometimes there wasn’t a full-on penetration. You would either get fingered terribly on your labia/clitoris or lay down on your back while the boy got over you. Clothes would still be on unless others knew more about sex than you did.

I find this game similar to rape; the idea that you would be sexually touched/abused if you’re seen or caught, even if you didn’t want it. If a girl doesn’t hide or run when the game starts so that she doesn’t get caught, it implies that she wants it badly.

Nowadays, us girls are not hiding in places, it’s our body parts that we’re “hiding”:
“If she wears revealing clothes it means she’s inviting men to catch and bite.”
“Her display of body parts, whether intentional or not, is an invite to a party that her body is having.”
“She is judged and ostracized only because she didn’t hide her body enough from men who get tempted by their eyes.”
“She didn’t hide her legs or cover it past her knees.”
“She didn’t cover her nipples or cleavage enough so he saw and was tempted.”
“Her butt was out, or too tight in the dress/jeans even if it was long.”
“The way a female dresses calls out to men; so when she gets raped, it is her fault because she should’ve known better.”
“She should’ve worn better covering.”
“Modesty counts and if your dress code isn’t modest enough then you’re a hoe, you’re used to fucking and wants to be fucked.”
“After they start to rape you, eventually you’ll get wet and start to enjoy the sex.”

Wrong!

How terribly wrong! We grow up not paying attention to the innocent things that fucked us up only because it was deemed normal. You were supposed to play and go back home without thinking about it anymore, whether your vagina burned or you had scrapes from the unwanted friction. You were supposed to bear it because come on now, it was fun, even if it wasn’t. You couldn’t tell your parents because you might get another punishment. All you had to do was cry, sleep and keep it hidden in the deepest pits of your being.

At the end of the day, it was only just a game. You play, you win some and you lose some. But how many of us girls are still playing hide and seek unknowingly, praying not to get bitten? I know I tried to hide this in my past, but it sought me out and now it just bites the shit out of me every time I think about it.

Authored by Sabrina Clay

Featured Picture by Unsplash