Know these words
That you'll read
May anger/upset you.
For this reason alone
I've done my job
As an artist.
Today
North American society
Views feminism
A pejoric word.
Demeaning those
Who believe
In total equality
Regardless
Of birth gender.
As a transwoman
Discriminated by
My birth gender
From those women
I sought help.
As if
Having a birth defect
Between one's legs
Is a capital crime
Needing punishment!
Not compassion
Or understanding.
Wanting to scream
At the top of my lungs
“F----ng bi--hes.”
Knowing
You'll never hear
Or care about the pain
Your actions have done
To a trans-sisters.
Advancing
Your feminazi platform
At all costs.
Justifying your crushing
All with Y chromosomes
That's all cismales transwomen
Or intersex people
Given this genetic inheritance.
Never mind
How you treat transmen
With your brand of hatred.
Sigh.
Your male bashing
Reeks of penis envy
From this side
Of the gender divide.
In wanting
What you don't have.
Honestly
If one steps back
We see your radfem
Is the flipside
Of the misogynistic beliefs
President Trump presents.
Destroying any chance
For sympathetic support
From enlightened men
Or women.
Oh love
I wish my body
Could give birth
With my own fully functioning
Female reproductive organs.
Welcoming
My monthly visitor
With open arms.
Despite the BS
You spread
About us.
Therisa © 2018
Author’s note: Part of the debate that has raged in Canada, over the past year or so:
The seed of this poem was started by walking to my pharmacist, Thursday night.
19 comments:
Therisa, there is so much misinformation and so much hatred in the world today. The political climate feeds it and feeds on it. We are in such a negative cycle, as far as just being human goes. We all want just to be who we are. Why do some people find that so hard to practice!!
Sadly, Mary. This type of the radfem has harming people since the 1970s. People like Trump give it more power.
So much pain here...and so much honesty!
Bravo for the write, and for helping to counter the negativity that is so prevalent. It seems to be spreading over the border now, and we have a trumper in office in Ontario. Sigh. As Mary says, it is hard to understand why someone wanting to be who she is is anyone else's business. We are an unenlightened species.
I think that everyone spreading hate is on the wrong side for me. Of course the only way is to coexist, but I believe there are so many who are too scared for that.
Humans can be the most inhuman of all animals. Too often, they spit on what they don't fully understand (or think they will never need--other people included). It's infuriating, saddening... and inexcusable.
I've met all kinds of feminists, but luckily none of the man haters who abused you. You are right to call them out, to say art can make people angry, to have also the tender moments of desire in this poem. Having had an early life hysterectomy, I can tell you that I struggled for about a minute with the idea that without a uterus I was not a woman. I was a radical feminist, and very body centered. Ha! Biology is not destiny. (That's feminism of the least radical kind.) Love your body, I say. Reject hate wherever it creates the morasses around us.
No anger here...I feel compassion and empathy for what you're dealing with. The older I get, the more frustrated I feel with this world and its ways.
An impactful and important piece. A stunning work. Brilliant writing!
It is so strange that for a species that is so varied so different in every aspect that this quite natural anomaly, no different from red hair or left-handedness is treated with such vile disrespect. It is not a choice you have...you just are. But hate is one aspect of humanity that stands out; why hate the colour of skin for some still do? Sadly such prejudices will be our race's downfall as we enjoy hating each other so much.
You said it like it is, Therisa! There is so much unfairness perpetuated through greed by those in such business. One really can't be sure anymore!
Hank
You are right. The kind of discrimination you call out in this poem is indeed a type of reverse prejudice. Discrimination is discrimination is discrimination. Hopefully a poem like this with its raw honesty and palpable hurt may wake more people up.
discrimination is discrimination, no matter how just they think their cause is.
‘Feminist’ is a pejorative word Therisa, even to me, and I don't consider myself one, because of this.
Although I (believe I) don't discriminate against anyone, accept people for who they are - I think all of us do (discriminate) to some extent, whether we realise it or not, for we are human.
I think we all possess an innate cruelty that sometimes leaps to the fore and cruel we become. I am sad that you have to suffer this and maybe, maybe one day, we will all live to live together, untroubled by oft unfounded fears. Sadly, I doubt it…
Peace.
Anna :o]
I am sorry for any discrimination you may have suffered, it is amazing so many people are so ignorant in the age 2018. Well, look how many people support Trump.
Know that you are beautiful, you are special, do not listen to the whispers, they speak lies.
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
I love the honesty that screams from your words Therisa! It seems our society is not as advanced as it should be by now. That is a travesty, and an utter shasme!!
OUCH!
ZQ
Theresa, I realized I forgot to credit the author. I think it was Mary Oliver. Sorry.
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