this is ladies night: What about reproductive rights?

3.08.2009

What about reproductive rights?

In connection with my last two posts, I found another academic piece that I wanted to see people's reactions to... from the piece "Reproductive and Sexual Rights: A Feminist Perspective" by Sonia Correa and Rosalind Petchesky (again from Feminist Theory Reader, page 89)

"The idea that women in particular must be able to decide whether, when and how to hace children originated in feminist-birth control movements that developed at least as early as the 1830s among the Owenite socialists in England and spread to many parts ot eh world over the course of a century. Leaders of these movements in Western countries... linked the 'problem of birth control' not only with women's struggle for social and political emancipation, but also with their need to 'own and control' their bodies and obtain secual knowledge and satisfaction. Their counterparts among women's rights advocates in 19th centure Asia, North Africa, and Latin America were more reticent about women's sexuality, emphasizing instead a negative right: that of women (married or single) to refuse unwanted sex or childbearing."

I myself found this interesting, because while the struggle for acknoledgement was universal, the reasoning was clearly western vs. eastern in ideals of why... thoughts?

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You CAN handle the truth:

"Violence is but one means by which men as a class enforce conformity of women as a class. Moreover, it is not necessary for all men to engage in violence against women, since the very threat of violent censure is constantly with women. Violence against women, then, is indeed a "classic" form of hate crime, since it too terrorizes the collective by victimizing the individual. In so doing, hate crime against women reaffirms the priviledge and superiority of the male perpetrator with respect to the female victim" (Perry "In the Name of Hate," 2001:83).

"Harassment becomes a frequent response to women's invasion of male bastions. It is a means to simultaneously create a particular masculinity and enforce a particular exclusive femininity...Men often perceived sexual harassment of women as a well-deserved response to their economic and professional advances. Their encroachment into male realms interferes with, indeed calls into question, men's ability to prove themselves to be men" (Perry "In the Name of Hate," 2001:91).

"Sexual Harassment allows for the reassertion of masculinity and femininity, and especially the 'natural' differences between the two...it reassures men that they are at once heterosexual and empowered, and [reminds] the women that they are sexual objects." Many women do not report harassment and simply stay away from the harasser/place of harassment instead of seeking out justice (Perry "In the Name of Hate," 2001:91).

"'Prejudice' is a hostile attitude directed specifically toward the members of an outgroup" (Jack Levin, "The Violence of Hate," Page 1)

"Gender-motivated violence is a mechanism that perpetuates the marginalization of women, gay men and lesbians. Moreover, gender motivated hate crime also provides a very useful resource for doing gender, especially for accomplishing hegemonic masculinity." (Barbara Perry, "In the Name of Hate," Page 5)

A bit radical but still resonates truth: "From prehistoric times to the present...rape has played a critical function. It is nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear." (Brownmiller 1975:14-15 in McPhail, B. (2002) in Perry, "Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader," Page 267)

"Although not all women are raped, most women fear rape. (Gordon & Riger, 1989). Women alter their daily lives in numerous ways to avoid the violent behavior of men. Choundas (1995) noted, 'While potential victims of racial, ethnic, or religious violence might attempt to avoid certain neighborhoods in which prejudice might run particularly rampant, women remain safe from street harassment and violent assault only by straying out of those areas known as public' (pp1090-1091). And yet, even in "private," women are not safe from the hands of intimate partners. Again, this intimate relationship often cloaks the reality of the violence" (McPhail, B. (2002) in Perry, "Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader," p271).