Hello, my fellow Papillon-ers. I’m so excited to share with you guys this little piece of poem that I wrote. It features a conversation between a little girl and her mom on situations that I found sexist in daily life.
This is the very first time I tried writing an English poem and it happened quite spontaneously. I’m not a native speaker and have never truly studied about English poems so the rhythm, rhymes, grammar, use of words and all might sound quite weird. Therefore, I’d be more than grateful if you guys can help me improve it.
Far away, in a house
On the couch, lied a girl
Curly hair, wondering eyes
Gazed the sky, asked her mom:
Mommy, why, why, why?
That I cook, brothers don’t
That they break your things,
Get away, like mouses
Gently smiled, mommy said
Household chores - girl’s duty
Boys are born naughty
They can’t do such a thing
Far away, at a school
Little girl pondering
“Math or Physics, which to choose?”
“None of them”, mommy said.
Mommy, why, why, why?
That I learn the subjects
That crying boys, bossy girls
Are all not supported?
Gently smiled, mommy said
Boys are up for science
They are brave and strong
While girls nice and pretty
Far away, in a park
She left him for a him
Why is that mommy?
“Oh she’s just greedy”
Far away, in the same park
He left her for a her
Why is that mommy?
“Oh the girls are hopeless”
Are those right? I don’t know
But I know, it remains
Boys and girls, are you happy?
Then why would we accept it?
Basically, the poem aims to cover some common sexist language or ideology that older generations in specific countries tend to hold.
In their belief, girls are born in charge of marital duty and it is a withstanding truth that remains throughout human history, from the prehistoric era to our modern era when women also enter the labor force. Household chores are regarded as the very divine and inseparable privilege of women, as well as the standard to assess and judge the dignity of one. It is never identified who had the right to decide the role of women from the beginning, and never for once have those with obsolete minds ever doubted the rightfulness of such an unfounded assumption. For human sake, one must bear in mind how a mere expectation from society can add up to the stress of someone’s relationship with their spouses or themselves. One thing to acknowledge, even if you are a misogynist and refuse to stand for women on this matter, you still have to as it also affects the other half. In our modern era, it is not uncommon to capture a family where a man stays at home and does the housework. Due to the unbased assumption, they endure criticism for being “the useless”, “the incomplete man”, “the woman-dependent”. In this twenty-first century, nothing really matters, only that we keep an open mind. Roles in the family should only be an agreement between the related ones, not a topic for anyone else to discuss.
There is another prejudice being that boys are more competent at science while girls are superior in the field of arts. As an indirect result, it hinders both genders from even giving a try or a thought of succeeding the subjects. A common picture in our disappointed world is that those who are brave enough to break from the chain of prejudice and pursue their dream receive sarcasm and disdain in return. Is it hyperbole? Then ask yourself, have you, or maybe your relatives, ever felt weird or inappropriate to see a man dressing up, performing ballet amid other women ballerinas? It is not fair and unreasonable to limit one person’s view of his or her potentiality by throwing at them some ridiculous gender-based criticisms. These sexist languages do not only confine one’s talent but also refrain one from revealing their true colors. Society expects men to be strong, brave, and assertive while women are dependent, compliant, and peaceful. Therefore, men can not shed a tear and women can not raise their voices; men can not be weak and women can not be strong; men would always have to fight and women would always have to tolerate. How uneasy!
All the aforementioned are not unknown knowledge if it is not a well-known one. However, people seem to treat them as some trivial and common stories that they would soon forget, some stories they hear only to “know about”, not to “analyze” or “think” about the real implications and consequences. A subtle biased view on any situation always leads to flawful assumptions, which in certain cases unintentionally convicts the innocent of falsehoods they did not commit.