Post 4: Policing of women's bodies

Image taken from esreality.com 

Women’s rights are neglected when policies that serve as barriers towards important decisions over their bodies are created. Who is creating these barriers? Is a question we ask ourselves when we hear of unjust legislations policing women's bodies. Can the people creating legislation relate and understand or is there a preconceived notion? For various reasons including religion and old traditions, women’s privacy is constantly invaded every time someone other then themselves policies their body. Luckily not all media destroys the image of women. Through mediums such as writing and film, there is a community supporting women's rights by creating informative content that is being shared everyday.

Images taken from @theriotgrrrlproject/instagram

Women’s sexuality is portrayed as something that should have limits while TV, movies and mainstream media depict the complete opposite of limited sexuality by promoting hyper sexuality and then condemning it. “These conclusions were based on a conspiracy theory that placed ultimate power in the hands of corporate patriarchy and relegated no power of corporate patriarchy or sense of agency to the female spectator.” (Clark, p.147) The above quote reflects the advertising industry again as another form of male gaze media. The advertisements are made to attract women, but the ones creating this material are attempting to satisfy what men think not what women think other women want. Media and legislature are not very different because they are both being produced and limited by one specific group of people. Both the media industry and the government are largely dominated by white males. The goal of legislations created to prohibit or place restrictions on women's decisions over their bodies exists in order to maintain male power within the hierarchy of gender.

The value of women then becomes compared to that of a carrier, a simple womb and nothing more. Pregnancy is a place of vulnerability, perhaps that maybe why the male white dominated party’s choose to pick at the issue without remorse. “Pregnancy is the least private experience of a woman's life.”(pg.269,p3 alienable rights) Although some argue that the fetus has the right to life, pregnancy cannot fully be understood by outsiders because of its complexity and variability towards each women's life outcome and general health is different. “Since 1973 that right has been contested in many different ways and during election years, the contesting of reproductive freedom flares hotly. (pg.270, p3) The topic of abortion and contraceptive becomes a gateway for politicians to police women's bodies. By mentioning the topic politicians enter a premise of patriarchy and bias. Men cannot physically understand pregnancy therefore the judgement is based solely on the thoughts they have on the issue. If a man can’t relate because he will never be pregnant than why should this man have the right to judge the decision of a woman over her body.

It is understood that there is no equality in the case of women's sexuality and body versus that of a man’s, because men share the same responsibility, but it is a woman who is held responsible for all outcomes of intercourse. “Suffice it to say, I will take a pill everyday when men have that same option. We should all be in this together, right?” Roxane Gay author of ‘Alienable Rights of Women’ couldn't have said it better when she explains the disparity between the responsibility men and women share with contraceptives. “‘Are you on the pill?’, I simply say, ‘No are you?’”  (Gay, p. 277) 

(Image taken from malecontraceptives.org)

Mainstream media supports the idea of young mens irresponsibility towards consequences of sex, therefore we raise boys to think freely while girls grow up fearful and cautious of “making a mistake.” With the rise of the internet and the blog culture we have several women across the world writing about their experiences and creating content allowing us to gain a better understanding of how complex women are. Documentaries such as ‘Miss representation’ allow  for a conversation to start around the topic of sexuality, power and gender. Like ‘Miss Representation’ there are many other documentaries covering topics that help the world better understand gender and its role among our society.

Policing of women's bodies doesn't only have to do with males power over women's bodies, but it is also used to control the population. “The controversial idea that fertility control among people of color equaled genocide.” (Nelson, p.3) African american women were being sterilized without consent. This is a factor that largely shows the lack of self connection legislators have when creating laws policing women's bodies. Eugenic sterilization laws, Justify the sterilization of poor and often very young women of color. It seems as though the government is a big monster waiting for it vulnerable pray as it stands ready to attack and judge on an unjust premise. “Physicians often rejected white middle class women for sterilization…because of these experiences, white middle class women were not supportive of the initial suggestion by women of color that sterilization regulations needed to be more stringent”. (Nelson, p.5) People cannot make rational decision when it comes to delicate issues that greatly effect others without properly knowing all the facts and weighing out all the options. It is a matter of values and self connection that lead to unjust legislature and unjust social behavior towards women and the rest of the human population in general. 

Media producers today are struggling to create content people can relate to and their have been a number of campaigns to raise awareness about gender inequality and its many subcategories. “Such symbolic images in advertising attempt to create an association”. (Kellner, p.2) One exceptional Ad created by Always the body soap company, titled ‘Like a Girl’ highlights the turn of the industry as producers create content that slowly attempts to clean up the mess media has created over time. If more people can emotionally connect we may actually gain social progress  in a world full of brutality and inhumane ideologies and actions. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie a feminist author said in one of her Ted Talks, “The personal is political,” and advertising is getting personal.

Works Cited

- Clark, Danae, Henry Abelove, Michele Aina. Barale, and David M. Halperin. Commodity Lesbianism. London: Routledge, 1993. Print.

- Gay, Roxane. Bad Feminist: Essays. New York: Harper Perennial, 2014. Print.

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

- Kellner, Douglas. "Reading Images Critically." Postmodernism, Feminism, and Cultural Politics: Redrawing Educational Boundaries. By Henry A. Giroux. Albany: State U of New York, 1991. N. pag. Print.

- Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. "The Danger of a Single Story." [Ted Talk]