Elliott 1

Traci Jo Elliott
Professor Marie Lo
UNST-103A: Race & Social Justice
May 4, 2016
Paper 1
Being an activist does not always mean that one stands up for all those who are being
oppressed, a key example of this is the extremely influential activist Malcom X and his
representation of women in his life and the societal roles in which he thought women should
occupy. Through the three large stages of his life, which includes his childhood, growing up as
Malcolm Little and the effects his mother had to begin establishing his negative views on
women, his years as he grew up and became a hustler and went to prison and the effects women
had in his life during this time, and his years during prison in which he converts to the Nation of
Islam through and after prison up till his assassination, his views are continually strengthened by
both the chauvinistic time era and by the experiences Malcom had with the women in his life
throughout to shape the views that he strongly possessed regarding women and their place in
society. In The Autobiography of Malcom X, the representation of women and their place in
society changes over time alongside the perspectives and opinions of Malcom to strengthen his
negative views on women by the women in his life and the experiences that accompanied them
as well as his emphasis on lack of moral values among women further establishes the
representation of women as preferably subservient and docile objects for the men in their lives as
well as having a lowered status of women in society and the preferred narrative being the
traditional woman in the house model of society.

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The beginning of his representation of women starts with his mother, who abuses him as
a child most likely because his skin is lighter than that of his siblings and her distaste for lighter
skin. This most likely began his original distaste for women in general. Eventually as Malcom
became more rebellious as a child and began stealing from stores, his mother also began
becoming less and less mentally stable and due to at least partially to Malcoms rebellion social
workers began to check up on the family until eventually they were taken away from his mother
due to her mental stability and she was sent to a psychiatric hospital. Malcom blames the welfare
agency rather than his mother though for robbing his mother of her dignity, which for his mother
specifically held her pride to a very high standard. Once Malcom is living within a foster home
and going to a junior high school in which he is highly succeeding academically, he does not
have any significant relationships with any girls from his school. His commentary on women
begins though at this point, centering mainly around the dating of girls and how the white boys at
his school pressure him to accompany girls or attempt to seduce them thus the white boys can
then have the girls after as they now have the information over the girls that they went off with a
black boy. This is the establishing view that begins for Malcom as women as a sexual object
rather than as another person. One of the closest women in Malcoms entire life, Ella, his halfsister who lives in Boston, comes into Malcoms life and takes on a larger role as he visits her.
Ella is a strong black women and is one of the main providers in Malcoms early life. Eventually
Malcom moves to be with Ella in the neighborhood Roxbury Hills in Boston and begins to work
at a ballroom and meets his close friend, Shorty. This also begins to come to where Malcom has
his largest interaction with women. Laura, a girl who he encounters at his new job and quickly
comes to enjoy the company of, but quickly abandons her for another women named Sophia.
Malcom comes to regret this as he leaves Laura to gain more status by using Sophia, this is also

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where it can be seen as further evidence that he is beginning to treat women as objects to use for
status, sex, etc.
The next period of Malcoms life is focused on his crimes and his journey to prison.
During this time period Malcom in on a copious amount of illegal substances and is hustling,
selling drugs, and works as a madam and develops a drug problem. His treatment of women is
menial and that says very much in general as he does not care about women at this point at all.
He remains with Sophia but Sophia is now married and they must be sure to keep themselves and
keep their relationship a secret as interracial relationships at this time period are also severely
looked down upon. Sophia is being abused, both financially and physically, by Malcom as well
at this point. This speaks volumes about how Malcoms escalation of his negative views on
women have increased, he does not value Sophia as a person but rather purely as an object to use
until no longer beneficial. Malcom despite Sophias threatening to leave him he believed she
would stay, saying She would cry, curse me, and swear that she would never be back. But I
knew she wasnt even thinking about never coming back. (138, Haley) This abuse just truly
shows the discontentment that Malcom had towards women and the way in which he also was
financially abusing her, continually pressuring her for more money, elaborates the way in which
women are meant to be used, especially by men. Sophia and her younger sister, who began
dating Shorty, also were being used to be paraded around to elevate social status as well as were
used a sexual objects to be used by Malcom and Shorty for the mens own gain. This
representation of women shows them as objects used to the fullest extent and to be seen and
paraded around for others to show that they are in fact one specific persons object, conforming to
a traditional role that women often are put in by society of that focuses on women as an object
for men, to be used by and for men. Malcoms distaste for women is only fed into upon his arrest

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when the police begin focusing on his relationship with the white women instead of the actual
crime he had committed and is sentenced to a much longer prison sentence of 10 years despite
the usual prison time being under half that.
The next period of Malcoms life is focused on life in prison in which he learns to read
and write from a fellow inmate who inspires him named Bimbi and begins to convert to the
Nation of Islam and become a devote Muslim, upon release from prison Malcom becomes more
and more focused on Elijah Muhammad and begins helping alongside him. Ella is very proud of
Malcom during this time and is happy to see that Malcom has changed. Malcom does not care
too highly about this nor does he appear to care very strongly about Ella not converting to the
Nation of Islam due to the fact he perceives Ella to be extremely strong-willed. Ella is one of the
continued people in Malcoms life and a large supporter in his life, including funding Malcoms
money for his trip to Mecca. Malcom is not very appreciative of Ella as much as Ella has
provided him and this is due to Malcoms own representation of women and their role in society
which is primarily to be used for a mans personal gain. Also during this time he meets Sister
Betty X and begins to think about her as a significant other, eventually he asks Mr. Muhammad
his thoughts and then decides after hearing his thoughts to propose to Betty, who though sounds
surprised on the phone Malcom believe is just putting on a faade and knew that he would be
proposing to her. This also intensifies the distrust that Malcom has in women. Betty is also a key
example of the primary and ideal women as she is quiet and continually allows Malcom to do
whatever he wants and becomes a mother and housekeeper for him as well as takes overall
general care of him. Betty can be seen as his ideal as he entitles her one of the very few- four
women- whom I have ever trusted. The final change in his views on women began during this
time as he began to care about the moral values of women, saying Witness the women, both

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young and old, in America where scarcely any moral values are left. His critical evaluation of
the moral values of women only further his perspective of women as objects to be used for gain,
whether this ranges from financial gain to personal gain, and sexual needs as well as the
preferred and idealized women being quiet, subservient, and docile to the behaviors and needs of
men.
Malcom X throughout his life dealt with many hardships throughout his life and inspired
people highly with his activism and his story. The flaws that come with this though is Malcom
Xs representation of women and their role in society. In The Autobiography of Malcom X,
women are presented as objects to be used by men for whatever their needs maybe and
conforming to a traditional role of women as providers for men and the ideal woman as weak,
agreeable, and submissive due to the experiences that Malcom X had with women and the
perspective and opinions that came from his experiences involving women throughout his life.

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Work Cited:
X, Malcom and Alex Haley. The Autobiography of Malcom X. New York: Ballentine Books,
1964. Print.