and We

still try to pluck

the gold pucks

out of toonies

only now they're wreathed in black

TV says the king is yet

to approve his visage

for our coinage

The king can go

fund himself

His brother can go straight to jail

Did we just forget?

Blood can be transfused

but life cannot diffuse

back to feudalism

To everyone who ever shouted

DOWN WITH PATRIARCHY

DOWN WITH RAPE CULTURE

where the hell are your voices now?

You didn't find the irony

in a queen

who would let her son

keep those girls quiet

so She could rest in peace?

Photo by The Globe and Mail

#Feminism #Feminist #Poetry #Poets #Monarchy

Women hold up half the sky.

-Mao Zedong

The subjugation of women is a topic often ignored in liberal and leftist circles alike. While both sides posture themselves as paragons of equal rights, and crusaders against the patriarchy they often do very little to understand many issues regarding women’s oppression. While both sides recognize the oppression of women, their analysis of the aspects of women’s oppression is often lacking substance. While there are many issues plaguing the status of women, one such issue that I’d like to discuss is the oft-ignored reproductive labor that many women engage in.

In a Marxist analysis of capitalism, one can understand the role that the worker places in productive labor (labor that produces a product to be sold). If we subscribe to the labor theory of value, we find that the value of a commodity is determined by the amount of socially necessary labor time. In simple terms, the labor put into a product will make the product more valuable. This simple concept does not negate capitalism in its entirety, as capitalist theorists like David Ricardo and Adam Smith formulated the basis for Marx’s theory. Understanding this is important to understand the importance of reproductive labor.

Going further into Marx’s theories, we can take the idea of the labor being the commodity of the proletariat (worker). Wage Labour and Capital discuss this in full, as it states:

....wages are the sum of money paid by the capitalist for a particular labour time for a particular output of labor.

Marx goes further in his analysis and finds that:

Labour power is, therefore, a commodity by which its possessor, the wage-worker, sells to capital.

Essentially, a worker will sell their labor to a business owner in exchange for a wage. In the same way, one can sell materials to a firm in exchange for money, the working man will sell their labor to a business owner in exchange for a wage. The perception of this transaction leads to labor power’s description as a simple commodity. A wage pays for labor as a carpenter would pay for wood. While this aspect of Marxist analysis forms the basis for many other theories, it is also incredibly important to the analysis of reproductive labor.

By taking the concept that labor put into a commodity will make the commodity more valuable, and synthesizing it with the concept of labor as a commodity, one can find that the labor put into creating labor power is integral to the functions of capitalism. The labor that is put into making labor power is referred to as reproductive labor.

Reproductive labor stretches from feeding a child, to teaching a child, to disciplining a child. It covers many different roles, however, the one most associated with reproductive labor is housework. Housework, like teaching or practicing medicine, will provide labor towards the labor power of their child. The important difference is that housework does not receive a wage. Despite the incredibly important role that home-keeping plays in capitalism, it does not receive supplements.

This relates to women’s oppression, as due to the role that patriarchy has put on society, they are more likely to be the home keepers that add value to labor power. The labor power that later goes into creating the products that flood the markets of modern society is almost entirely cultivated through domestic labor. Reproductive labor acts as one of the most important cogs in the capitalist mode of production, yet it goes unnoticed. Despite housework having a 7-day work week, and an over 8-hour workday, it is treated as a joke. The “stay-at-home-mom” is a trope that acts as a punching bag for many, despite the incredibly important role it plays in society. Reproductive labor, a hallmark of women’s oppression, continues to go unnoticed to this day.

In the early 1970s, a movement began that advocated for reform regarding the importance of housework came about. Called, The International Wages for Housework Campaign, this grassroots campaign advocated for those who engaged in solely domestic labor to earn a wage for their work. Inspired heavily by Marxist-Feminist theorist Mariarosa Dalla Costa, and Silvia Federici, this movement advocated for reproductive labor to be treated in a similar way to wage labor, as that would lessen the division between men and women in society. This movement gained traction, however, nowadays, popularity has faltered.

The importance of reproductive labor in capitalism is incredible, and Mao’s dictum remains true; women really do hold up half of the sky. Without the reproductive labor that many women engage in, our society would not function properly. This is not to say that women out to stay inside of the household, however, it is saying that people should become more aware of the importance of reproductive labor, and appreciate it more.

#philosophy #feminism

March for your right to vote, the right to know,

the right to go where you please. 

Yell for your right to fight, the right to female might, 

the right to bite the hand of those 

who wish to see you on your knees. 

Take your right to commit your time to what 

you want to do, the right to split 

yourself from a system that never included you. 

Love your right to not fit in and simply be.

And be whatever you want! 

But why be a woman who stops fighting 

after she has rights to flaunt? 

Is it harmless to be blind to “sisterhood” 

once you can no longer use it on a sign?

When did your chant go from “equal rights for all,”

to “MINE, MINE, MINE!”? 

All your power, all that plight,

just to care more about your position,

your boring life, your appetite for 

cheap clothes, organic rows of groceries 

that will be thrown away because we 

all know you don’t care.

You look past that place where brown

people pick your food. 

But I wonder, who else does your feminism exclude?

Who is your feminism for?

If you deny the existence of women of color 

when talking about the system?

Who is your feminism for?

When you love to quote de Beauvoir but when 

I ask about Davis or Luxemburg, 

you say “oh I must have missed them.”

Who is your feminism for?

If you bask in the light while there is a shadow 

holding other women hostage?

Who is your feminism for?

When you wave a flag at Pride but 

don’t think to thank the efforts of Martha P. Johnson?

Who is your feminism for?

When you wear a shirt that says,

“Girl Power!” when that shirt was made

by a woman making cents in an hour? 

Who is your feminism for?

When you back a war to protect 

your liberal society, ignorant to the 

anxiety of the poor who can’t afford 

the lifestyle you take for granted?

Who is your feminism for?

If you’ve implanted the idea in yourself that 

some misogyny is okay if he’s a hottie?

Who is your feminism for?

When it doesn’t include someone

born in the wrong body?

Who is your feminism for?

When you worship a podcast affiliated with 

men who still believe in female hysteria?

The ones who once said,“We don’t condone rape,

but if a chick passes out, that’s a grey area”?

Who is your feminism for? 

When the rules you agreed to uphold, 

were written and sold to us by the same fools, 

who never considered us equal in the first place?

Who is your feminism for?

When race is only a hashtag 

and not a serious discussion?

Are you only a feminist when there are no repurcussions?

If it makes you unpopular? Makes you less sexy?

Are you still a feminist even when someone calls you Becky?

Or do you get offended when your privilege is highlighted?

When the work you need to do is pointed out, 

do you feel slighted?

Would you correct a friend if their opinion was problematic?

Would you stop talking to them or is that too dramatic?

Now that we have a democrat in office, 

will you decline to post as much?

Will you search to educate yourself,

if you know you’re out of touch?

Are you pissed off by this poem 

because you think it’s all too much?

#feminism #feminist #feministpoetry #BIPOC #BlackLivesMatter #womenofcolor #gayrights #liberalfeminism #marxistfeminism #marxism #poetryandverse #poetry #poem #femaleperspective #protest #problematic #callherdaddy #yt #latinapoet #latinx #latine #hypocrisy #spilledink #politicalpoem #politics #leftist

Say my ancestors were discovered.

Make me memorize it, 

Put it on a test. 

Tell me being mixed is sexy, you forget

it was first forced breeding. 

Teach me high art is naked white women, 

Notice I don’t look like them?

Persist I am lucky to be so tan. 

Call it a glow up. You’re selling a people. 

Is this rebranding?

Say my language is alluring. 

Learn a few words to use at a bar.

Progressive?

Habibi, mami, ebony princess. I find it racist, 

you call it misreading. 

Assume I’m after money, or status, or a green card.

You ask where I was born. Where I went to school.

Probe for an answer. 

Didn’t expect me to one up you? Now I’m disappointing? 

Treat me like an accessory,

Although this is my life; I’m not pretending.

Paraphrase a culture, you’re so good at it.

Wrap me in sticky rice, 

because you’ve made me your happy ending. 

#feminist #poem #feministpoetry #spilledink #bipoc #intersectional #minority #feminism #racism #poetry #culture #poetrybywomen #woman #slantrhyme #youngpoet

one night

after hooking up

i get hungry

so i grab myself

a snack

and quietly slip

back into bed

so as not to disturb

what’s his name

i guess i drift off

because

the next thing i know

i’m hearing

“what the fuck”

and there he is

holding up

a half-eaten

chicken drumstick

looking at me

as if there’s

something in his bed

that shouldn’t be there

-boy, i’m even better the next day

-dawn

#poetry #poem #femalevoices #femalesexuality #femalepower #erotica #onenightstand #feminism

The Black Woman

She is an Invisible woman,

Whose got the whole world watching

Fetishized, while being erased

made an Extra in Her own story

She’s a Goddess, whose been denied her glory

The black woman

She is often abandon by white Feminists

Who speak of shattering glass ceilings

Yet use the weapons of Patriarchy

To push her beneath their feet

First seen as a pet

Then seen as as a threat

Her Self-esteem put down

Mind full of regret

I’m ashamed that Aretha Franklin

Had to make a black woman’s anthem

Asking men for respect

R.E.S.P.E.C.T indeed

We call the Black Woman

the moral arbiter of Black America

A title that carries a heavy burden

Never helping her lift the load

we rather watch from the sidelines

demanding that she be strong

All the while, never giving her

a chance to be weak

The Black woman

We show her appreciation

With the sweet nothings of empty slogans

That we let escape our lips

And the stale, crusty, hollowed out platitudes

That we write in books

The Black Woman

We call her Essential

When we really mean Sacrificial

I’m going to start standing up for you

You, who has carried me here today

despite all the pleas of my mind

and actions to stop you in your tracks

I’m going to start stepping up

for all the times you stepped forward

all the times I needed you to

I will defend you for all the times

I held you up as a shield against my own attacks

I will get on my knees to pray for you

for all the times I forced you to your knees

to be something you were never made to be

I will work to fill you fully

for all the times my lack of love and attention

left you aching and empty

I will stretch

for every time I demanded you curl up smaller

I will give you the space to grow

I once scorned you for inhabiting

I will fail you, this is inevitable

But still you will bring me forward

Still you will forgive me

But I will learn

Slow and steady

And as you brought me to grow out of shoes as a child

You will see me through as I outgrow these habits

against you

But I will start

by raising my voice to defend you

when my mind attacks

I will stick up for you

because I have you for a lifetime

#mentalhealth #poetry #poem #feminism

And I see her there, wild and feral in a cage made of lace and pastels. Snapping through an underbite smile and singing an underbreath song. She stood on benches and ran through grass in buckled shoes not made to move. She held frogs in hands sprouting fingers adorned in gold trinkets. And skinned knees through white tights wrapped like nets. Carried on the backs of her brothers she learned to walk in her own time and ran rather than stumbled through her first solo journey. She spoke in her mind full soliloquies rather than mumbling letters aloud. She spoke with the confidence of one with something for which to be proud of. She played with her own hands and created worlds with her own thoughts. Twirling spaces jagged lines soft rather than tough. A sense of humor that didn’t quite match but was regardless targeted to be struck. A hope to teach without much of a desire to sit and learn. Because who needs equations when you could hunker down and feel the world turn. A mouth full of laughter and a heart full of sensitive songs all coming out on the swings. A defiance of commands demanding silence trying to cut her words wings. I see her for all she truly was and all she wished she could be. I see her there and beg her to come back to me. She is wild and feral, she is within my reach, little ragamuffin girl, she is me.

#childhood #poetry #feminism #mentalhealth #growingup

“Keep off the weight”

As though extra skin were a feral beast to hold at knife point

but is the worst that could happen be becoming more than?

And is that weight really even baring it’s teeth-

or are you the one throwing punches at something not even attacking?

You’re wasting time and pain wailing at hypothetical parts of yourself

when those arms could be wrapped around the figure you have instead

What if when you drop your fear and fists

the thing does not lunge at you

but simply smiles and waves?

What if all you’ve been fighting is nothing worth fearing

and the ones to be mad at

are the ones who convinced you to wage an unnecessary war?

#edrecovery #mentalhealth #poetry #bodypositive #feminism

How many girls could have had the world If only they’d been taught to ask

Or taught to grab?

The Bible says, “ask and you will receive” But how could you blame her for emptiness If you never thought to teach her to speak?

You cannot blame the beggar with no tongue, Or the one on their knees never taught to walk.

I found my own voice

On my hands and knees.

Held it in shaking and bloody hands And held on tight.

But I spent 21 years

Waiting for it to be given to me.

What could I have held? What could I have rejected?

What was

And was not

My own fault?

I’m my own fault.

And I’m starting to realize these fault lines shake in all my favorite ways.

So I take hold of the world now

To hand to her one day when she asks.

#feminism #womenempowerment #growingup #poetry #prose