Bilash Mallik
Poem
Triple oppression
My skin color disrupts you because I look like a black misogynoir.
My body shape attacks you because you think of me as a commodity in the market.
My hairstyle bothers you because what you call it is unnatural.
My womb is controlled because you think I am a producer of dirty animals.
My right to exist, a debate because you believe my honor is a rumor.
I feel I am lucky to hold the alchemy of life; you never can.
But you think I am useless except to provide a service to your last.
I was raised inside a circle of warnings.
You were raised on a field of open sky.
They built my cage with the rods of submission and called it loyalty.
You think your privilege is your divine right.
But I know mathematics you cannot solve.
We are all equal integers under the sun.
I am a superwoman who stitches the dawn to the dusk inside the home and out.
You work outside home, but proclaim a real hero.
My labor is silent like an unending river- unpaid, unseen, floating beneath your feet.
Your labor is paid and praised.
While I am triply oppressed.
A tree bearing three different pains
But still, it is pushing toward the sky.
Explanation: While I was reading a book titled 'Women, Race and Class" written by Angela Y.
Davis, a term "Triply Oppression" caught my attention, which was used by the author to provide
an overview of how women are oppressed in a male-dominant and white supremacy-based society.
The unique compound form of discrimination or oppression experienced by Black women is
different from the experience of Black men and white women. Black men encounter racism, but
they favor of patriarchy. White women experience sexism, but they receive the upper hand of
privilege white. However, Black women encounter an intersectional oppression as a woman of
color, as a woman and as a worker (Davis, 1981; Lorde, 1984). Since the American Civil War,
women of color have been struggling to establish their rights to survive in society equally.
However, women of color have been discriminated against and segregated in society from time
immemorial, and feminist movements ignored Black women's rights because feminist movements
were racist in character. Therefore, white women are prioritized by these movements historically.
Additionally, women of color are stopped in shopping malls, in stores, and in public places by
white male and law enforcement agencies without any cause. Apart from this, Black women's
voices were unheard and untold (Anzaldúa, 1981).
They faced discrimination in receiving education and in the workplace. In educational institutions,
when they exhibit their talents and meritocracy, the dominant groups tend to ignore these talents
and discourage and abuse them. Women of color are considered a curse because they look weird.
When they work as teachers and teach both white and black people, this is called their duties, not
a contribution to society (Collins, 2000). However, their bodies are enjoyed by the privileged
groups, such as white males, and it is considered that Black women have no right to resist or save
their chastity. More importantly, the legal court exhibited logic in favor of white males to consume
the bodies of Black women, and Black women had no way to receive justice if they were sexually
oppressed. They are historically forced to sterilize and experience various forms of coercive
reproductive rights policies, but white women receive the upper hand in reproductive rights (Davis,
1981; Jones, 1949).
As women, Black women are also exploited by the male-dominant society. They are raised within
a boundary which society creates to ensure security, but it is produced to make them submissive
and loyal to implement the supremacy of males (Hooks, 1984). Historically, patriarchy does not
allow Black women to be defined as women; rather, the patriarchal form of women was white
women. During slavery, Black women were treated as male-like, and they were forced to work
hard with black males in the field equally. Therefore, Black women are exploited as women at
home by black men and outside the home by patriarchy, along with the racial oppression (Hurston,
1937).
As workers, Black women work inside and outside the home from dawn to dusk. However, they
receive less payment than black men and white women in the workplace. Black women are thought
to be eligible for the low-wage jobs, such as babysitting, domestic servants, and food service,
which have no job security (Collins, 2000; Davis, 1981). Additionally, they work in the field with
black men at the same level, but they receive less money. In the house, they perform all the
household chores, which are unpaid, unrecognized and unpraised, thus devaluing their labor and
limiting their economic power (Johnson et al.,2024; Stewart, 1831).
References:
Anzaldúa, G. E. (1981). Speaking in tongues: A letter to third world women writers. In C. Moraga
& G. E. Anzaldúa (Eds.), This bridge called my back: Writings by radical women of color (pp.
165–174). Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.
Collins, P. H. (2000). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of
Empowerment. Routledge.
Davis, A. Y. (1981). Women, Race & Class. Vintage Books.
Hooks, b. (1984). Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. South End Press
Jones, C. (1949). An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman. Communist Party
Pamphlet.
Lorde, A. (1984). Sister outsider: Essays and speeches. Trumansburg, NY: Crossing Press.
Stewart, M. W. (1831). Religion and the pure principles of morality, the sure foundation on which
we must build. The Liberator.
Hurston, Z. N. (1937). Their eyes were watching God. J. B. Lippincott.
Johnson, M. D., Maroto, M., Galambos, N. L., & Krahn, H. J. (2024). Who’s doing more and
when? Gender, parenting, and housework trajectories. Journal of Family Psychology, 38(5), 685.