Heartbreaking Questions This Poet Has Heard As a Woman, Midwife, and Advocate

(Content Warning: intimate partner violence, sexual violence)

“What do I do?”

Poet and doula Kayla Q offers a painfully poignant view of what it’s like to be a woman in sexist society in this performance from the 2015 Great Plains Poetry Pile-Up.

She recites questions she’s been asked as a midwife, like “What’s a cervix?” And the questions she’s heard as an advocate for survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence: “I have three kids with me. Do you have space?” And finally, the questions so many of us have gotten as women, like “Why are you not married yet?”

This performance simultaneously captures the vulnerability and strength of surviving sexist objectification, violence and more. Kayla Q’s last line will stay with us for a long time as we work to change our culture.

With Love,
The Editors at Everyday Feminism

To learn more about this topic, check out:

[do_widget id=’text-101′]

Video courtesy of Button Poetry. For more amazing spoken word performances, check them out on YouTube and Facebook.