careful what you wish for

we listened when you told us
that this word was yours to claim
that penis could be female
and we now should share our name
but we all felt that you deserved
the spirit and the letter
of this, the word you want to share
could we do even better?
so we had a little meeting
and there we all decided
that since you like the word so much
its meaning we've elided
we're giving you this little gift
the word that was our own
the label that you most desired
it's yours and yours alone!
make of this gift what you will
the word belongs to you
define it any way you like
as long as it is true
we'll start again with a new word
that won't tread on your toes
we'll make one up that works for us
it won't be what you chose
so you can all be women
and we'll be something new
that speaks to our reality
like woman speaks to you
what's that you say? you need to know
the word that is our choice?
I'd really love to tell you but
I've gone and lost my voice
we hope you're truly happy
with this leveling of the score
wait - are you fecking kidding us?
-you don't want it any more.

Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University

a college of women's seclusion
addressing their female exclusion
from ivory towers
asserted their powers
to fully adopt a delusion

admission criteria were changed
definitions rearranged
and now if you're really
quite womanly feely
you're in - which is frankly deranged

despite women's feminist gains
one idea still persists and constrains
what defines female?
answers by email
to the college for all ladybrains





offer your thoughts to President Dame Barbara Stocking on what it means to be female, or the need for female only spaces in education, to:
president@murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk. 



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/10/03/murray-edwards-decision-accept-transgender-students-threatens/