Women's Ignored Words

When we read the story "The Forbidden Words of Margaret A." by L. Timmel Duchamp, all the emotions we feel will be understanding how scared the state and men are of the intelligence of women. We will see how much they do not want women to think, talk, or get an education and if especially these women are black. The person who takes on this role is Margaret A. in the story. Thanks to the journalist, we meet Margaret. She is being held in prison for some of the words she said or wrote. We do not know what she said or wrote but it is not that hard guess, especially if it is kind of that scares the government. This woman’s words have frightened the state so much that the ideas she writes are not printed anywhere and she has no access to anything. It is only the fear that men cannot be authoritarian, the fear that the state cannot fool its people, and the fear that people live equally that causes women’s rights to be suppressed. Unfortunately, these fears always end with gender role inequality.

Some men have the pleasure of controlling women because that is how social expectations raise men. Society thinks that men are always stronger, so they see this kind of security and protection work as more suitable for men. Especially if the person who needs to be protected is a woman and in this story, unfortunately, men are given this power. For example, all those who observe Margaret in prison are men. Here, the government thinks that by imprisoning Margaret, they are changing her brain and thoughts, and in addition, they hire male protectors to show physical strength.  As well as physical strength, they also think that men are always smarter and more educated. We understand that with the man the journalist was talking to. This man talks about Margaret. Without hearing her voice or reading any of her words he still thinks he knows a lot about women, and he does not even question his ignorance. Yet, this situation does not seem problematic at all.

The government is afraid that a person will appear and speak the truth and raise public awareness. Maybe that is what Margaret did. She spoke, wrote, and was silenced as a black woman. It should be interesting that Margaret is a black woman. The state is already afraid of women’s intelligence, they are even more appalled that this woman is black. According to them, a white woman has more rights to get an education than a black woman. All of these reasons lead to the imprisonment of Margaret.

While equality should be the most acceptable thing in the world, it is not. In the story, when we talk about the state, a different mood occurs and we see this state as a man. Again, a mood in which all administration is in the man and the woman is just a poppet. I gave a puppet example because that is what they did to Margaret. They silenced her, imprisoned her, and allowed her to be interviewed for a certain period and in this interview, the journalist is not even allowed to take pen and paper. Plus, the people who make and apply these rules are always men. A person’s utterance of political words may be considered dangerous by the government but does this danger apply only to women? What if a man said the same things as Margaret? Here is the state that creates racism and inequality and gives it to society. The government and men fear that women overtake men and rise. This story is a good example to open people’s eyes. In this story, you can see the inequality, humiliation, and wanting to be left uneducated that a woman experiences. The journalist does not understand at first, but later she realizes that she sees the facts herself. So, Margaret makes a woman think and see, even when she is in prison.