Here's a repost of Ms. Hammad's Exotic:
Suheir Hammad's Exotic
This poem is my favorite. This one really touched many women of color as we all face everyday sexualized racism, whether from family, work, school, the general public, and the ever-present mass media in one form or another.
exotic
by suheir hammad
don't wanna be your exotic
some delicate fragile colorful bird
imprisoned caged
in a land foreign to the stretch of her wings
don't wanna be your exotic
women everywhere are just like me
some taller darker nicer than me
but like me but just the same
women everywhere carry my nose on their faces
my name on their spirits
don't wanna
don't seduce yourself with
my otherness my hair
wasn't put on top of my head to entice
you into some mysterious black voodoo
the beat of my lashes against each other
ain't some dark desert beat
it's just a blink
get over it
don't wanna be your exotic
your lovin of my beauty ain't more than
funky fornication plain pink perversion
in fact nasty necrophilia
cause my beauty is dead to you
I am dead to you
not your
harem girl geisha doll banana picker
pom pom girl pum pum shorts coffee maker
town whore belly dancer private dancer
la malinche venus hottentot laundry girl
your immaculate vessel emasculating princess
don't wanna be
your erotic
not your exotic
Here's her video of Suheir's "Exotic" at Youtube:
Ms. Hammad's poem is still relevant today. As you see from the photos, past and present, women of color are still fetishized and exoticized in mainstream popular culture, media, and politics. The images comes from various Disney films, pop music videos, and paintings from the 19th century onwards. They show the various ways women of Color are portrayed in film and in culture in general. Those images do have a big impact on how people view us, whether they give us respect or contempt. Love, or lust/fetish that has to be hidden from public view. Public policies whether to help women of Color or to marginalize, as in debates on immigration, feminism, etc.
What are your thoughts about the poem and the views it expressed?
This poem is my favorite. This one really touched many women of color as we all face everyday sexualized racism, whether from family, work, school, the general public, and the ever-present mass media in one form or another.
exotic
by suheir hammad
don't wanna be your exotic
some delicate fragile colorful bird
imprisoned caged
in a land foreign to the stretch of her wings
don't wanna be your exotic
women everywhere are just like me
some taller darker nicer than me
but like me but just the same
women everywhere carry my nose on their faces
my name on their spirits
don't wanna
don't seduce yourself with
my otherness my hair
wasn't put on top of my head to entice
you into some mysterious black voodoo
the beat of my lashes against each other
ain't some dark desert beat
it's just a blink
get over it
don't wanna be your exotic
your lovin of my beauty ain't more than
funky fornication plain pink perversion
in fact nasty necrophilia
cause my beauty is dead to you
I am dead to you
not your
harem girl geisha doll banana picker
pom pom girl pum pum shorts coffee maker
town whore belly dancer private dancer
la malinche venus hottentot laundry girl
your immaculate vessel emasculating princess
don't wanna be
your erotic
not your exotic
Here's her video of Suheir's "Exotic" at Youtube:
Ms. Hammad's poem is still relevant today. As you see from the photos, past and present, women of color are still fetishized and exoticized in mainstream popular culture, media, and politics. The images comes from various Disney films, pop music videos, and paintings from the 19th century onwards. They show the various ways women of Color are portrayed in film and in culture in general. Those images do have a big impact on how people view us, whether they give us respect or contempt. Love, or lust/fetish that has to be hidden from public view. Public policies whether to help women of Color or to marginalize, as in debates on immigration, feminism, etc.
What are your thoughts about the poem and the views it expressed?
2 comments:
I think this is a tremendously powerful poem, expressing so much that men and whites need to hear and comprehend to the depths of our souls and societies.
Julian Real,
Thank you so much for commenting. Men and whites do need to hear what people of Color has to say in regards to how the world views and treats you. Unfortunately, those men and whites dismiss anything that is not to their experience more often than not.
Suheir Hammad's poetry needs to be spread to all peoples throughout the world so people can make constructive change in the white male supremacist society.
La Reyna
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