Let women freely express themselves

Women’s rights are human rights—an idea that has been emphasized for over 20 years since Hillary Clinton first gave her speech, acknowledging women’s rights at the Beijing Platform for Action. Over 20 years later, women are still struggling to have their voices heard and have ownership over their bodies, due to the very small group of people who are making these decisions for women: old, white men. In both the media and politics, older white males—who do not understand a woman’s body and are trying to limit a woman’s power to being nothing more than an object to be looked at that can also produce children—create the majority of legislation and ideas prevalent in society.

One of the major areas where the policing of women’s bodies are heavily controlled is with reproductive rights. Birth control is not easily accessible for women and abortion is becoming more and more restrictive in the United States. These limitations do not allow women to express and explore their sexuality, instead their “sexuality belongs to men…in the overall American marketplace, female desire and pleasure is neither supported or promoted…Therefore, conversations about our bodies and birth control stay within the confines of conservative ideology,” (Steele).

Rallies on abortion and women's reproductive rights are
prevalent throughout the country, especially during major
government decisions like the Hobby Lobby case.

While women are confined to these sexual restrictions, men can do whatever they please, see whatever they want and tell women what to do. “The desire to restrict birth control is, at its heart, the desire to stop women from “sleeping around”… Birth control levels the playing field. At the very least, it gives women another barrier of protection when we desire to explore our sexuality, take “risks,” or simply choose not to become pregnant in a monogamous relationship,” (Steele). The policing of women’s bodies creates this fictional standard that women must live up to—a conserved sexual lifestyle—while the men and legislation that do the policing can pursue their sexual urges as much as they want.

This double standard puts women on a lower peg than men in the social ladder construct. It enforces women to justify their sexual actions, of what others might deem promiscuity, because enjoying sex and trying to be responsible by preventing unwanted pregnancy is not a good enough reason for legislators. “We are having inexplicable conversations about birth control, conversations where women must justify why they are taking birth control, conversations where a congressional hearing on birth control includes no women because the men in power are well aware that women don’t need to be included in the conversation. We don’t have inalienable rights the way men do,” (Gay, 275).

The media causes women to feel as though they are only
important for their body.

The rights of women are limited to their bodies not only because of legislation, but also due to the media’s portrayal of women. “41 percent [of people in the UK] felt the media was responsible for dictating public perceptions of the ideal body shape. Fifty-one percent felt the media was one of many factors,” (Wykes and Gunter, 205). A woman’s sexuality is shown on screen not for her own pleasure, but for the pleasure of men. The better the body, the more respected and esteemed that woman is in society. “A further reason for the focus on women was that it is women’s bodies, rather than any other attributes, which appear to make them worthy of being represented…The female body is spectacle, both something to be looked at, whether real or mediated, and to be looked through in the search for feminine identity,” (Wykes and Gunter, 206). So not only are women prevented from being sexually active, but they are limited to looking a certain way. The media is hurting women and causing them to live unhappy and unhealthy lifestyles, and it can even go so far to put women’s lives in danger.

The media constantly portrays Muslim women as being
oppressed by their culture, instead of showing the whole story.

Ever since 9/11, the U.S. has become very suspicious of the Muslim population, and the media has promoted this suspicion in various ways, including the idea that Muslim women are oppressed by their culture. “Sound bites the media uses to portray Muslim women have been a large contributor in making this victim mentality a norm,” (Ali). The media has caused Muslim women, and men, to be seen as a threat due to their outer, cultural expression: “the rich diversity of opinions, appearance, spectrums of faith, occupations, cultures and even languages that exist among Muslim women is wiped clean to instead mass-produce a distorted image that is meant to sell copy and perhaps even governmental politics,” (Ali). These actions by the government and media create such a tightly confined set of rules that women must follow, so that the government and major media moguls can stay in power. The government and media disapprove of a society that accepts women’s sexuality very openly and still views women as objects, and so it makes life very difficult for women to truly express themselves without having to over justify for actions that should not even be questioned.

Works Cited

Ali, Samina. "What You'll Never Hear From the Media About Muslim Women." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 3 July 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samina-ali/not-without-my-daughter-t_b_3536599.html?>.

Gay, Roxane. "The Alienable Rights of Women." Bad Feminist. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 267-79. Print.

Steele, Tanya. "'Hobby Lobby,' and a Woman's Right to Sexual Exploration." RH Reality Check. N.p., 10 July 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

Wykes, Maggie, and Barrie Gunter. "Conclusion: Body Messages and Body Meanings." Afterword. The Media and Body Image: If Looks Could Kill. London: SAGE, 2005. 204-21. Print.