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| Group of women urging government to keep the law off their bodies...as it should be. |
It’s funny how the media and
the government are quick to police a woman’s body to their liking. It’s funny
that they continue to do so without further knowledge on how the woman’s body
works or what it is actually meant to do. They are quick to paint the perfect
picture of what it should look like, disregarding the imperfections a woman
might have or they are quick to make rules on what a women should do with her
body without regards to her control over her own self. Is it fair? No. Do people believe that this is
the right thing to do? Depends on whom you ask. Yet no one blinks an eye to the
laws and rules that they play on a woman’s body…forcing to keep the ideals of
patriarchy alive.
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| Political cartoon depicting the views on birth control. |
Abortion and birth control
have been and continue to be a very debatable issue in this country. You would
think that because women get pregnant and are the only ones biologically able
to bear children that they would be the ones who decide what they do with their
body but you’re wrong. All these legislations and laws denying basic human right
to women are mostly placed and perpetuated by men, but you don’t see any being
placed on men. The last time I checked, it took two to make a baby, yet men
have the option to hold no responsibility over the matter. If she uses birth
control she is promiscuous and if she gets an abortion she is a murderer,
always a catch 22. The problem with these laws and the policing of women’s
bodies is that they are only around for a limited time. While a woman is
pregnant or seeking birth control that’s when the game begins, they will try
everything in their power to stop a woman from gaining control over her
decisions but once she has decided then the law no longer cares and it is up to
her to continue on with the life she chose. I always wondered if the tables
shifted what would happen. I always said that if men were able to get pregnant
then birth control would be free and abortion and Planned Parenthood clinics
would be around like Starbucks. Yet why is it so difficult and expensive for
women to get the same needs? They don’t want a woman to abort a child but won’t
give her the means to prevent a herself from getting pregnant.
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| Self explanatory graphic on how men control the law on women's bodies but do not function the same. |
Gay explains
in her essay ‘The Alienable Rights of Women’ that, “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.” The men
who police a woman’s body are those who have no care or concern over how it
works. They believe women were put here to bear their children and to comply with
their every call, mostly sex, but the second she tries to regain control of
herself and enjoy the aspects that society claims only men are allowed to then
she has to deal with every consequence that comes her way…but only if it abides
by the laws that are placed. If a woman is raped is it her fault, if she gets
pregnant it is her fault, if she tries to have sex without consequences it is
still her fault. The policing of women’s bodies do not only affect what she
could do with it but how she is supposed to feel about it. She can’t control it
but if she lets it go beyond her control then she is to blame. But where are
the men or rather people who should take responsibilities for the things they
do as well? Nowhere to be found I assume.
Berger states
that “Part of the radical feminist message offered by groups such as Red stockings
was that abortion concerned all women equally. They maintained that every woman
needed to get involved in challenging anti-abortion laws, because without the
fundamental right to control reproduction in every instance, women remained
subject to men.” And what he states is correct. In order to change what is going on within the law then one must take action to do so. If a man does not have the same parts as a woman why is he in such control over what control she has over it. If you cannot understand how a woman's body functions then there should be no say in the matter whats so ever.
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| Funny graphic on how women are viewed depending on the choices they make. |
In the book by Jeanne Flavin, Our Bodies, Our Crimes, she explains "Importantly, because women’s gender is tied up in reproduction in a way that men’s gender is not, the consequences of official attempts to restrict reproductive freedom have a much more profound effect on women than they do on men. Women’s reproduction is more likely to be targeted than men’s is, and with far more devastating consequences." No matter what a women does she would be viewed as the bad guy. Even if she is trying to control what happens to her, she is viewed in a negative light. She is forced to deal with her choices in such a negative aspect that it becomes exhausting. They teach women not to get raped, they teach her that if she enjoys sex that she is a ho, they teach her that if she gets an abortion then she should be ashamed. All of these negative connotations are a burden to women. A burden that they should not pay for, but constantly do.
Until we are able to break the barrier between how women and men's bodies are policed or if men are able to become pregnant, then the way the law breaks down on a woman's body will continue. They will continue to force women to give birth, they will make birth control more expensive and they will make a woman feel ashamed of being comfortable with her sexuality. The best way to combat all of this is to continue to fight. Continue to make media that debunks all the crap the world is trying to feed woman. If not she will continue to be the burden that the world is making her out to be...when all she wants is control over body and her sexuality. If men could do it...why can't women?
Works Cited:
1. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting, 1973. Print.2. Gay, Roxane. "The Alienable Rights of Women." Bad Feminist: Essays. Print.
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