The ways in
which women’s bodies are policed in our society remains a huge problem in
women’s rights today. Although there
have been many instances where we have progressed in reproductive rights,
such as the introduction to the birth control pill in the 1960s and then the
Roe v Wade decision, there are
still people around today who try their hardest to make reproductive rights an
issue for women. Although abortion is
mostly legal on a federal level, it isn’t fully legal in every state. Many states in the United States have strict
regulations on abortion, making it basically impossible to get one. In the video clip from the Daily Show, we
even learned that unborn fetus’ can be given an attorney, to testify against
the woman who is pregnant. It is just
another way to try and control this very important aspect of a woman’s
life.
I have a
hard time coming up with the goals of these outrageous policies. I just can’t understand why people would go
through such lengths to control all women’s health options. I believe that if you disapprove of something
then you don’t have to participate in it yourself, or even associate with
someone who does. I don’t think it’s
necessary to make certain things completely illegal for everyone just because
some people do not approve. However,
those who are enforcing these policies say that their goals are to follow their
religious beliefs, and protect potential life.
What is really happening is the control over women’s choices for their
health. Some “pro-life” advertisements even
show adorable babies and use your guilt and fear to make you conform to their
beliefs.
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| Andy Barr Pro-Life Campaign |
These kinds of messages are you
used to make you feel bad about abortion.
These messages are oppressive to women because it is using fear and
guilt to control their choices. When we
receive these messages it really shows us what little power we have, that we
can’t even make choices for our own bodies.
With sex ed in schools, messages of oppressing women’s bodies start
young. In Alanna Schubach’s article “Sex
education in the U.S. is screwing over our kids” she describes the
inconsistency of the curriculum across the nation. She explains, “States,
therefore, have access to diverse funding streams for sex ed, and complicating
matters further is the fact that each state often has its own policy." With some states being very against abortion,
they will push this opinion onto their children and it will take longer for people to all agree on the issue.
Those
who lead these efforts to police women’s bodies come from people who know the
least about them; men. Although there
are many women on this side of the debate, most of our lawmakers are men so
they have a huge influence in the issue.
In Roxane Gay’s “The Alienable Rights of Women” she describes how the
issue is handled legally. She states
“what often goes unspoken in this conversation is how debates about birth
control and reproductive freedom continually force the female body into being a
legislative matter because men refuse to assume their fair share of
responsibility for birth control” (Gay, 276).
This statement really opened my eyes.
The fact that women’s bodies are turned into a legislative matter is
baffling. Men’s bodies are never
considered in that way. Why should our
government regulate a human being’s body, especially when most of our
government is made up of the opposite sex?
America is supposed to be the land of the free, but we don’t even have
the freedom to decide how we handle our very own bodies.
Media
definitely impacts the way we see this issue.
Because we have so much access to so much information, we can see
everyone’s opinion on the matter. Social
media has given everyone the feeling that his or her opinion is important
enough to share with the world. Media
outlets know this and choose to talk about such controversial issues knowing
people will pay attention and then give their own opinions. You can read the never-ending comment threads
on any news story regarding reproductive rights to see people’s clear views. By knowing that there are so many people on
both sides of the issue, helps the way it is legislated. If everyone was on one side the matter would
be made up, but because there are so many people involved in the discussion it
creates room for progression.
The media can help promote positive ideas surrounding
women’s bodies and sexuality. Media has
been used to spread body positive campaigns and messages. Some women do not have positive influences
in their lives to help them feel good about their bodies or sexuality. Through media more and more like-minded
people can come together to express themselves and support each other. When women in power share empowering messages
on social media, so many other women can see that and apply it to their own lives.
On the other hand, media can sometimes spread the wrong
messages about women’s bodies and sexuality.
Too often in advertisements, films, tv shows, music videos, etc. women’s
bodies are objectified. This can harm
the image of women’s bodies and sexuality because it can make girls feel like
they are only as good as their body and physical appearance. In Tanya Steele’s article “Hobby Lobby and a Woman's Right to Sexual Exploration” she
explains “in Hollywood, displaying women’s breasts or putting a woman’s body on
display is code for ‘this is sexuality’.
This sexuality belongs to men”.
This is so evident in media because you will see a man in a position of
power, living his life to the fullest, while at the same time we see a woman
achieve nothing with her body on display.
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| A still from Robin Thicke's music video for Blurred Lines. In this music video we see three powerful men in suits sing while girls just strut around in the nude, almost as if they are props in the men's worlds. |
In Jennifer Nelson’s “Introduction: From Abortion to
Reproductive Rights” she describes this fight that we have been fighting for so
long, “this book tells the story of the feminist struggle for legal abortion
and reproductive rights in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. It argues that feminism was central to the
development of a reproductive rights discourse that began with the drive to
legalize abortion…” (Nelson, 2). While
there are so many other things that fall under the category of reproductive
rights, the legalization of abortion was what really pushed feminism almost 60
years ago. It is sad to think that this
is still an on-going issue, let alone all of the other reproductive rights problems
we face.
Works Cited
Burbidge, Nick. "Reinforcing Sexism? Women in Music Videos". www.sheramag.com
Gay, Roxane. “The Alienable Rights of Women”. Bad Feminist.
Green, Emma. "The Progressive Roots of the Pro-Life Movement". www.theatlantic.com
Nelson, Jennifer. "Introduction: From Abortion to Reproductive Rights". Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement.
Schubach, Alanna. "Sex education in the U.S is screwing over our kids." www.salon.com
Steele, Tanya. "Hobby Lobby and a Woman's Right to Sexual Exploration". www.rewire.news.
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