Misogyny And Mental Health

 

Would it be trite to say hate is the seed for violence?

Who do you hate?

Men? Women? Children? Animals?

Does the colour of your flesh

dictate your mental health?

Did you spend ten years

in a classroom

with your arm raised

until it ached

because your teacher refused to acknowledge you?

Was that teacher a woman?

Did your tight lipped teacher

sound authoritarian?

Were the male teachers relaxed

made jokes

loved getting laughs

as though he needed you

to like him?

Were your feelings

generally the same throughout

your school life?

Was your mother loving

was your father too busy to bother

with you

or

did you learn that a woman's voice

was simply a temporary

thing to endure?

soon you would go to college

where all the teachers were male

who dismissed the ideas

of female students?

Did you pick up the deep tones

of prime ministers

their short rebuffs

the attitude of ridicule?

Did the dulset tones of authority

make you feel

as though you were rising up

to the adult world?

Was there a time in your life

where it seemed

masculine was natural

and feminine temporary?

Or did you just seek the truth?