"Loving You No Matter What You Do": Ai's Dramatic Monologues, 1970s Asian American Feminisms, and Reproductive Justice

Authors

Catherine Irwin, University of La VerneFollow

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This essay makes visible the 1970s involvement of Asian American and Women of Color feminists in reproductive justice. Grounded in the Asian American feminist praxis of remembering, this essay analyzes how three dramatic monologues by the Asian American mixed-race poet Ai engage with the discourses of reproduce justice set forth by Asian American and Women of Color activists leading up to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Using an Asian American feminist lens, this paper argues that the speakers in Ai’s monologues utilize these discourses circulating about abortion and women’s health care to construct images of the treatment of dispossessed women that make emphatic the importance of access to safe, affordable, and legal reproductive care due to the medical and cultural apparatuses that imperil women’s lives. Close readings of Ai's monologues illuminate the ways in which her work representationally recognizes her understanding of difference as a mixed-race poet and exposes intra-racial differences regarding reproductive care within Asian American communities.

Recommended Citation

Irwin, Catherine (2023) ""Loving You No Matter What You Do": Ai's Dramatic Monologues, 1970s Asian American Feminisms, and Reproductive Justice," Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies: Vol. 12, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/aaldp/vol12/iss1/4