“This [poem] is about the men in your life,” says Simar Singh in his slam poem ‘How To Be A Man’.
Singh is the founder of UnErase Poetry, a community that produces and promotes spoken word poetry.
His poem busts some of the most common stereotypes about what it means to be a man, while raising awareness about mental disorders, especially depression.
Man-Up, They Told Me
Singh begins his poem by enumerating all the things that he was made to learn as a little boy, highlighting how the process of inculcating gender roles begins very early on.
“They told me that I will soon be the man of the house, when I was just 6 years old,” he says in his poem. He recollects how he was asked to ‘man-up’.
Men don’t feel and men don’t cry are among the most common assumptions regarding masculinity in a patriarchal society like ours. Singh also points out how these are linked to the choice of profession. “He’d make a decent writer, but an engineer sounded more wise,” he says.
#UnManYourself
Singh’s poem is an attempt at foregrounding the fact that men too carry the burden of the prescriptive rules of patriarchy.
Reminding us that this too is feminism, he appeals to the listeners to talk to the men in their lives, so they may finally say what they haven’t been able to so far.
Most importantly, Singh asks you to talk to yourself.
Break the Silence
“When can we finally talk about mental violence?” Singh asks.
Through his poem, he wishes to break the silence on how the imposition of gender roles often leads to serious mental breakdowns and mental disorders, such as depression, in both kids and adults.
The poem is deeply personal, but also acutely critical of the rules that govern our society.
(We all love to express ourselves, but how often do we do it in our mother tongue? Here's your chance! This Independence Day, khul ke bol with BOL – Love your Bhasha. Sing, write, perform, spew poetry – whatever you like – in your mother tongue. Send us your BOL atbol@thequint.com or WhatsApp it to 9910181818.)
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