“Female”

Struggles girls continue to encounter because

they are female in a world that is designed for men.
People are born into patriarchy.
Shackled to a prison cell, unable to get out.
Climbing a ladder without gaining any progress.

Struggles girls continue to encounter because

they are female in a world that is designed for men.
Females are swallowed by quicksand, not knowing its depth,
are genuine and will do anything for their partner,
while men unrequited for their female person in need.

Struggles girls continue to encounter because

they are female in a world that is designed for men.
Males dictate females’ behavior,
lesbian existence;
denying or show that their identity is invisible to them,
the door is ajar, open embraces to enter the next room but everything beyond is off limits.

Struggles girls continue to encounter because

they are female in a world that is designed for men.
Heterosexuality;
marriage and motherhood;
marriage is like a chair, sometimes comfy after a long day or hard as a rock.
Men diminishing the role of the other parent in the lives of the children.

Struggles girls continue to encounter because

they are female in a world that is designed for men.
Females are restricted,
betrayed by its shadows.
It is the feminist’s heroine to show others the light.
By: Alexis DeCicca
 FEMINIST MANIFESTO
The above piece is a metaphor that examines the female lives in our patriarchal world.
“Female”
Alexis DeCicca
In composing my poem, it portrays the narrative of male domination by exploring the

psychological, economic, and social forces rooted within literature, specifically towards

lesbian/feminist theorist Adrienne Rich. Additionally, I precisely repeated the first line,

“Struggles girls continue to encounter because they are female in a world that is designed for

men,” to show emphasis that females still, as of today, encounter patriarchy repeatedly day in

and day out.

Women are often hurt by the fact that men dismiss their sexuality and treat them with no

respect for their lesbian existence, as men control the psychology of females’ sexuality. This is

disheartening for females because two female partners should have the same rights that two

heterosexual partners have. Lesbians are even different from homosexual men because this

shows different cultural privilege as relation to men (Rich, 2013). Women should have as much

privilege as men do, for instance, “All children are born of women; without women, no children

would be born” (Tong and Botts, 2017, p. 155). All women’s lives matter, as does equally men.

Women tend to think psychologically about “themselves as women” (Tong et al., 2017, p. 156).

Women should not have to reevaluate themselves as women, they should be proud of what

gender they are, if that is what they feel they are meant to be.

As for the economics of marriage, men yet again control and devalue females. For

instance, “Marriage is a form of slavery” (Tong et al., as cited in de Beauvoir, 2017, p. 238).

Women deserve happiness and freedom, as well as love and compassion from their partner.

Women and men should equally please one another. It should not be one sided, especially not

just patriarchal or matriarchal. Additionally, women who have careers should be just as
important as women who are mothers. It is also important to note that the role of motherhood

limits women. (Tong et al., as cited in et al., de Beauvoir, 2017)

Men also take their children from their mother, representing social issues, affecting the

children and mother, as a way to get what they want in a heterosexual relationship (Rich, 2013).

In my opinion, patriarchy will still exist because it is relevant in the media of our everyday lives,

such as advertisements in a patriarchal society, showing males as strong and females as weak

without their help from their male partner. We rarely see adult females as strong in ads, we do

see that women are the cookers and cleaners, and take care of the kids while men appear as

the person with a drink in his hand, usually a beer. In our society, especially now that Trump is

president, boys and men think it is okay to oppress females. Inevitably, they are all becoming

misogynists.

As for the metaphors, “Shackled to a prison cell, unable to get out. Climbing a ladder

without gaining any progress,” I wanted to get across that females are standing still, while men

continue their life that was meant for their gender as a patriarchal society. The next metaphor

“Females are swallowed by quicksand, not knowing its depth,” suggests that men may seem

like they want to accept females in their own way, but in the end, they take their freedoms away.

The following metaphor, “the door is ajar, open embraces to enter the next room but everything

beyond is off limits,” conveys that females work hard to get where they are today, but it is not

enough to be equal to men. Lastly, the metaphor, “marriage is like a chair, sometimes comfy

after a long day or hard as a rock,” shows how females must fight towards renovation of self-

worth. Men have their opinions of females, good or bad, but it is up to females to make the

change we want to see in the world. By then, men will follow female’s example and create a

world that is an equilibrium between the patriarchy and matriarchy worlds.

 References

Rich, A. (2013). Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence. In Feminist Theory:

A Reader (4th ed., pp. 299-300). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Tong, R., & Fernandes Botts, T. (2017). Existentialist, Poststructural, and Postmodern

Feminisms. In Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction (5th ed., pp. 238-239).

New York: Westview Press.

Tong, R., & Fernandes Botts, T. (2017). Psychoanalytic Feminism. In Feminist Thought:

A More Comprehensive Introduction (5th ed., pp. 155-156). New York: Westview Press.