Women Should
Women should be seen not heard
Only when spoken to they should utter a word
Women should be able to carry a child
When a man approaches them they should smile
But don’t smile too much
Women should not lead men on
When sitting down, women’s legs should be closed
Their legs should be crossed and their backs should be composed
Women should be wearing a skirt
But not too short
Women should not flirt
Women should be skilful in all sorts of ways
They should play the piano and cook a roast on Sundays
Women should read not watch
But not too much
Women should not be smarter than men
Women should be intelligent and clever
But don’t speak of business or politics whatsoever
Women should not be leaders or start a revolution
Because women are the tools
Not the solution
Women should be able to clean and cook
Women should hide their feelings and not be an open book
Women should go to school and be educated
So they are ready for a life being domesticated
Women should be wives
Women are not the backbone of civilization
Women are just for inspiration
Women are a utilization for temptation
Women are just for decoration
Women are nothing but an inclination to procrastination
Before the realisation of the generation
Women are sarcastic
Yasmin Simsek
Artist’s Statement
"Women Should” is a deeply sarcastic poem, written to be performed, so imagine its rhythm on a stage. It plays on a lot of outdated stereotypes on women’s roles in the home and in society, with some inspiration drawn from my obsession with Downton Abbey (well, mainly Maggie Smith in anything). It also shines a light on the unreasonable expectations society has of women to be both this and that, but never too much of either. I wrote the first draft of this poem during a poetry for performance class with Benjamin Zephaniah in London, England, and have developed it since starting my MA in Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at SFU. I wanted it to have a sort of snappy rhythm and to hopefully be grossly misunderstood till the very last line. I wanted to savour the audience’s stare as I was reciting what women should do, in my ’Nasty Woman’ t-shirt, and I wanted to wallow in their laughter at the ‘ahh she almost had me’ discovery at the end. This poem is supposed to encourage anyone identifying as a woman to be whomever they want to be, behave however they want to behave and start unlearning what we have been taught to think. Don’t be sexy because someone wants you to be sexy. Be sexy because you want to be sexy. It’s hard to know the difference in this day and age, because we have been programmed to think society’s thoughts are our own opinions. I am working everyday to unlearn these things in my own mind, and I am trying to be gentle with people who have only just started unlearning them.
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