A System of Control: Policing Women's Bodies

The policing of women’s bodies has been a significant struggle for second and third wave feminists.  Abortion rights, and more specifically reproductive freedom in general is an issue that the United States still dwells on, regardless of the fact that it should be a human right.  As Roxanne Gay has phrased it, “It is a small miracle women do not have short memories about our rights that have always, shamefully, been alienable.” (279) The legal system’s control over women’s bodies has reinforced the belief that women can’t actually think for themselves, as many states require ultrasounds or waiting periods before an abortion.  Not only is this problem in the legal realm, but the media as well.  The negative and often sexist portrayals of women in the media, whether it be through magazines, film, TV or music highlight the idea that women cannot be trusted with the ability to make decisions about their own bodies.  If women’s self-worth is seen through the eyes of men, this only promotes the idea that men should be allowed to make these decisions for them.  I personally think that the reason abortion has been such a strong talking point for politicians stems from a desire to control women.  Since the overwhelming majority of our country’s leaders are men, a woman’s voice is often not heard.  Conservative politicians can push their pro-life agenda with less dissent because none of the restrictions could possibly affect them as men.  As any systematically oppressed demographic makes headway in their movement, it is up to the oppressors to find ways to keep them down. Policing women’s bodies is exactly that. 

A drastic but ultimately true sign by pro-choice advocates

Birth control pills are a major aspect of the movement to control women’s bodies.  Even in a society where women are just as sexually active as men, there is still stigma surrounding the pill.  This creates a massive paradox in the role that women are supposed to play in America.  While the media exploits our sexuality, encouraging men to see us as sex objects, we are shamed for actually being sexually active.  We are only supposed to be sexual in theory, while practice makes us “slutty.”  “In certain circles, birth control is being framed as whore medicine.  We are now dealing with a bizarre new morality where a woman cannot simply say, in one way or another, ‘I’m on the pill because I like dick’” (Gaye 276).  This contradiction can be really damaging for women’s self-esteem.  On the one hand we are told our worth lies in our sexuality and on the other that sexuality is shamed.  Neither scenario encourages women to love themselves for who they are, nor does it promote the reality that women are just as capable and worthy of sexual freedom as men. 

As white women pushed for abortion rights in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, women of color were facing even more than the right to terminate a pregnancy.  After giving birth/having an abortion minority women were often sterilized either without their consent, or without proper information to understand what it was they were giving permission to.  This was obviously a push towards population control that stemmed from the eugenics movement in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.  Sterilizing women of color would keep minorities at bay, because life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was really only intended for white men. “Indeed, physicians in many states used eugenic sterilization laws, passed in the first two decades of the twentieth century, to justify sterilization of poor and often very young women of color” (Nelson 4).   This also reiterates the idea that women cannot think for themselves, so much so for women of color that they can’t decide whether or not they want to have children in the future: “The 1973 sterilization of Minnie Lee Relf, an African American teenager who was sterilized without her knowledge or consent at a federally funded health clinic in Montgomery, Alabama, demonstrated when it became a public scandal that contraceptive providers judged women of color ‘incompetent’ to make decisions about their reproductive lives” (Nelson 4).  Having children is a beautiful thing that should not be denied to any woman in this country, and denying her that ability is not only a violation of her human rights but also to her pursuit of happiness. 

The absurdity of men's majority in the pro-life movement.

In recent years, abortion has really been the leading issue in the legality of women’s sexual freedom.  While it is technically legal throughout the US, there have been an overwhelming amount of restrictions passed within recent years.  “To put recent trends in even sharper relief, 205 abortion restrictions were enacted over the past 3 years (2011-2013), but just 184 were enacted during the previous decade (2001-2010)” (Guttmacher Institute).  This increasing amount of restrictions is a prime example of the need for control that conservative male politicians feel slipping away as women make gains through the feminist movement.  By denying a woman the right to choose, the government is limiting the opportunity for women to become educationally and economically successful.  Having a child should be reserved for the right time, and every woman should have the right to choose when that is.  Pro-life politicians are hypocritical in the fact that they push for babies to be born yet don’t believe in systematic support for those babies through welfare programs.  It seems that a fetus is only of value in the womb; once it develops into a person it’s on its own.  The most important issue regarding abortion is the fact that women are going to get them whether they are legal or not: “Women have been forced underground for contraception and pregnancy termination before, and we will go underground again if we have to.  We will risk our lives if these politicians, who so flagrantly demean women, force us to do so” (Gay 268).   Repealing Roe v. Wade is not going to stop determined women, but rather put their lives in danger; current restrictions are not only endangering women’s lives but also allowing for more unwanted children who may grow up to live difficult or traumatic lives. 

The media plays an extremely important role in policing women’s bodies because it reinforces this system of control through its often sexist representations of women.  These representations depict women as objects rather than human beings, and encourages women to view themselves as such: “A woman is conditioned to view her face as a mask and her body as an object, as things separate from and more important than her real self, constantly in need of alteration, improvement, and disguise” (Kilborune 122).  This subsequently reinforces the male gaze, in which a woman’s worth is determined by men’s standards:  “She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life” (Berger 46).  If women see themselves through the eyes of men, and they see their portrayals in the media through the eyes of men, this creates a world in which only the male view is brought to the table.   This is directly apparent in the fact that women’s reproductive freedom is constantly being questioned. That being said, some progress has been made in the media.  The feminine hygiene brand Always has created a “Run Like A Girl” movement to promote empowerment and self-esteem for girls.  A recent episode of Girls portrayed a character that nonchalantly had an abortion.  

            The policing of women’s bodies through limitations on reproductive freedom has remained on politicians minds from the sexual revolution to today.  Over the past 50 years women have had to deal with sterilization, stigmatized birth control, and restrictions on birth control.  While our country is supposedly founded on the concept of freedom, this theory falls far too short for women, as their reproductive rights have consistently been tampered with.  

Works Cited

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting, 1973. Print.

Gay, Roxane. "The Alienable Rights of Women." Bad Feminist: Essays. 2014. 267-279. Print.

Kilbourne, Jean. Beauty and the Beast of Advertising. Print.

"Laws Affecting Reproductive Health and Rights: 2013 State Policy Review." State Rends for 2013 on Abortion, Family Planning, Sex Education, STIs and Pregnancy. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/updates/2013/statetrends42013.html>. 

Nelson, Jennifer. Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement. New York: New York UP, 2003. Print.