Steerage Class Citizen (May 19, 2017)

Please forgive me

If my anger boils over

And I say 

Or do something.

That I'll regret 

Afterwards

To you.

So want

To get into your face

And scream obscenities

Until my voice is hoarse.

A mere whisper

Of itself.

Fucking

Stupid 

Cow.

Just because

We weren't born

With the proper plumbing

Like you.

You think

We don't know

What it feels like

To be raped

Or abused?

Eight years ago

I came forward

To a local abused

And battered women centre

In Toronto.

Looking for help

In dealing

With my abusive past.

Having clearly

Identified

Myself

As a transsexual

(Male to female).

And yet

I was sluffed off

To a local counselling service

By the intake worker.

Who doesn't specialize

In the issues

Abused and battered 

Women face.

As if

She's yelling

"Next!"

To the callers

In the phone queue.

Any wonder

Feminism has become

A pejorative word

In Western society.

By turning your back

On the real needs

Of your trans-sisters

With your misogynistic  

Beliefs.

Ensuring all women

Remain 

In chains

Of oppression.

Therisa © 2017

Author's note:  On May 12, 2017. I noticed this article on CBCnews.ca, about the Senate hearing on C-16, the inclusion of gender identity and expression, under Canadian law and Canadian Human Rights Act,  (http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/transgender-rights-bill-female-born-spaces-1.4110634?cmp=news-digests-canada-and-world-morning) which I support, as a Canadian, who identifies, as trans, and live my life, as a woman. As I read this article, I grew angrier, at the dismissive tones, of those feminist, who view people, like myself, as basically, gender traitors, to other women.

Reality is, we face the same discrimination, as cisgender women do, and more, in the way that Western society is structured, and has influenced other societies, around the world. Honestly, why would anyone want to give up, their position of power, to live life, as some feminist would argue, as the dominate birth gender, as a male?  In many ways, trans-woman, are starting, at a lower point, in society, with the barriers that we have to overcome. Many cases, losing our biological families, our jobs, and sense of self-identity, as we transition, from one gender to the other. 

Sadly, on May 14th, I accidentally erased this poem, and for the past 5 days, have been struggling to rewrite this, while battling a very nasty chest virus, which is slowly clearing up. This version of the poem isn't as angry, as the original one, the thoughts, and frustration, still remain. 

I wonder, how these feminists view the Intersex community, and their struggles, for political recognition. In that, these women were deemed, at birth, to be visibly male, and yet, chromosomally, are female, with underdeveloped female reproduction organs. Are they not female, since they can have periods, which many trans-women, only dream of; given these feminists' .agrument.