WOMEN OPPRESSION IN ASIAN WOMEN POETRY: A FEMINIST ANALYSIS ON SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR'S PERSPECTIVE OF "OTHERNESS"

Abstract

This paper examines the poems "An Introduction" by Kamala Das and "Aqlima" by Fahmida Riaz, two Asian feminist poetesses. In their poems, both poetesses talk about the condition of women as being different and how they are sexually and biologically oppressed. The study's main contention is what types of female oppression Kamala Das and Fahmida Riaz address in their poetry, as well as how Kamala Das challenges stereotypes by making herself a subject and Fahmida Riaz addresses women's identity issues by adopting the persona of Aqlima. This article explored women's suffrage in pursuit of identity and found that women experienced slavery in this patriarchal society just because they have a different body by applying Simone de Beauvoir's idea of otherness to these poems.