TW: mention of body mutilation and rape
Over and over we’ve praised Shange for uplifting us a la “I found god in myself & I loved her/ i loved her fiercely” but not enough for staring danger in the face and saying its name. Shange’s piece is not so gd to be born a girl confronts the emotional and physical violence done to women by the world. In The Black Sexism Debate Ntozake Shange writes,
clitorectomies, rape, & incest/ are irrevocable life-deniers/ life-stranglers & disrespectful of natural elements/ i wish these things wdnt happen anywhere anymore/ then i cd say it waz gd to be born a girl everywhere/ even though gender is not destiny/ right now being born a girl is to be born threatened/ i dont respond well to threats/ i want being born a girl to be a cause for celebration/ cause for protection & nourishment of our birthright/ to live freely with passion, knowing no fear/ that our species waz somehow incorrect.
This passage allows us to interact with the good and bad genesis of the works we’ve been engaging with this semester. It’s interesting that this hard subject matter is treated in the same way as luxurious baths, or cooking greens, or happenings outside of a window. They are treated as matter-of-fact. We stare at the painful words on the screen and swallow hard as we consider their implications. It’s not pretty and it’s not warming. It’s sobering in its cry. Shange doesn’t ask us to confront the truth for truth’s sake, though. She asks us to confront it in confidence that we will use it to heal. To understand what is wrong and what is right.
The piece ends indicative of Shange’s decision to recognize the pain in growth and healing,
we are born girls & live to be women who live our own lives/ to
live our lives/
to have/
our lives
to live.
The usage of language, specifically gendered language, is interesting in considering people of trans, gender non-conforming, and queer identities feeling seen by this piece. I chose to leave “a girl” out of the title as I am grappling with the implications of the word in a natal context. I wonder, what does it mean to be born a girl? And to live out that girlhood?