Our Bodies Are Our Own

Our bodies are our own. Each individual should have the power to control what their body experiences. But that is not how our society, and specifically the patriarchy, has shaped our world to operate. Instead, women’s bodies are violated in acts of sexual assault and rape, medical choices are taken away by a government that believes the choice is theirs, and women are taught to grow up incredibly self-conscious and critical of the way their body appears to others. This means growing up lacking confidence, fearing certain situations, and knowing that your body is not entirely your own, that someone else somehow has some power over the body that you walk in. In no world that continues to function like this can people of all genders be equal.

In the era of #MeToo, our generation has grown up aware of the impact and prevalence of sexual assault. Women have begun to speak up and awareness has spread. People understand that women are more likely to be sexually assaulted than men are, and 18-24 year old women are at least three times more likely to be assaulted than all women in general. However, even with #MeToo, women are still not entirely comfortable reporting the attacks for reasons such as believing it is a “personal matter” or being afraid of potential repercussions (RAINN).

Some of these voices are still not confident enough to speak up or are not being heard due to the continued lack of intersectionality of feminist movements. #MeToo specifically has largely limited its platform to white, middle class women (Chicago Tribune). Chessy Prout, a freshman girl raped by a senior boy at a prestigious New England private high school, was able to share her story in her book I Have the Right To thanks to the culture of the #MeToo movement. Her book comments specifically on the privilege she has as a white woman to be able to share her story. She says “I am a white, straight, blonde haired girl from an upper class family. I grew up privileged and my parents…[made] sure the judge didn’t forget about the human behind the word ‘victim.’ Too many victims are forgotten or afraid to report because of the intersectionality of racism and sexism” (Chessey Prout). If feminism truly wants to confront the rape culture and sexual assault that permeates throughout our society, it has to recognize the intersectionality of the issue. There needs to be more awareness about the differences in the threat of sexual assault for people of different identifiers and the fact that our court system is constructed only for the rich white population. In order for all genders to be equal, everyone of all identifiers need to feel that their body is their own and will be protected.

In a similar sense, people have the right to decide what happens to their body. This means that women should have the right to choose if they are going to terminate their pregnancy. Yes, after a certain period of time the fetus is an individual of its own, but before that time, the women’s body is her body and her life is her life, so she should have the right to decide her future. This issue is incredibly important to confront today due to the Trump Administration’s attacks on women’s health. The United States is the only developed country without universal health coverage and one of few that does not guarantee paid maternity leave. The administration rolled back the birth control mandate that had required employers to “offer insurance that covered contraception for women” and it is actively defunding Planned Parenthood (Julia Belluz).

What some fail to recognize is that these changes, as well as individual state legislation changes such as Alabama’s restriction of women’s reproductive rights, disproportionately affect groups of the population. “Communities of color, and primarily African Americans, are disproportionately affected by limitations to abortion and experience elevated rates of maternal and infant mortality compared with non-Hispanic white mothers" (Anusha Ravi). Factors that affect this include limited access to contraception and adequate medical centers ("Black Women's...). This again reflects the importance of recognizing the intersectional nature of almost all issues that feminists are or should be fighting for. Women’s reproductive rights and the right to choose are one of the corner stone issues for the feminist movement. There needs to be a larger, more pronounced push for these rights in the face of the current administration, and the feminists fighting for the cause need to understand how much this issue affects women of color specifically. Recognizing the complexities of issues like this means we can fight for the changes that will actually create real equality of all genders and honor the different experiences of every woman.

If our bodies are our own, then we also need to learn to be confident in them. Girls Girls Girls Magazine recently published an ad titled Be a Lady They Said. The video highlights the impossible beauty standards and expectations that women are constantly held to. It highlights the dichotomies of “Be hot. Don’t be so provocative… Go on a diet. God, you look like a skeleton!... Botox your wrinkles… You’re trying too hard. Men don’t like girls who try too hard” (Be a Lady...). These standards are literally impossible to live up to. They reflect a world that now experiences one person die as a direct result of an eating disorder every 62 minutes (National Association...). In the age of social media, the beauty standards and comparisons between women has been emphasized to the point that there is now starting to be some push back against the societal expectations for women’s bodies. There are body positive movements now, such as Aerie Real and Dove Real, that focus on allowing and teaching women to love their bodies and who they are. This means hiring models that are not simply white, tall, size 00 women on a regular basis (The Recovery Village). Body positivity means that young women can grow up confident in who they are, spend less time worrying about how they appear to others, and simply lead a happier life. For women of color who have historically been left out of mainstream beauty media, it means having role models to look up to and loving who they are completely. To create a society where all genders can be equal, society needs to rewrite the beauty standards that women face and recognize the importance of self-love.

In order for women to feel that they truly own their bodies and that their bodies are beautiful and powerful, these three areas of focus, sexual assault, reproductive rights, and body positivity, cannot be addressed alone. Additionally, in each area, the intersectionality of the issue needs to be at the forefront of the conversation to ensure that no one is left behind in the movement for equality for everyone any longer. I am proposing that we host an event on a Sunday on campus called “Our Bodies Are Our Own.” The key message of the event will be the importance of self-love, power over your own body, and uplifting others. The event would feature student and faculty speakers sharing personal stories and experiences, spreading awareness on the issues they are passionate about, and speaking up about what they want to see change on the Porter’s campus or in the world at large. There would be a large board where people could write about what makes their bodies beautiful and powerful, and a big final event with music and dancing that leads into an on-campus protest. The protest would not be a solemn march with chants and signs, but one with women being radically self-loving and happy and free, simply being who they are. That is what we can do to protest the patriarchy that so narrowly defines what rights women have over their own bodies. It is what we can do to begin taking back power over our own bodies.

Bibliography

Be a Lady They Said. Directed by Girls Girls Girls Magazine. vimeo, 2020. Accessed March 5, 2020. https://vimeo.com/393253445.

Belluz, Julia. "How women's reproductive rights stalled under Trump." Vox. Last modified January 30, 2018. Accessed March 5, 2020. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/1/30/16947086/trump-womens-health-reproductive-rights.

"Black Women's Maternal Health: A Multifaceted Approach to Addressing Persistent and Dire Health Disparities." National Partnership. Last modified April 2018. https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/health/reports/black-womens-maternal-health.html.

Chicago Tribune. "#MeToo: A timeline of events." Chicago Tribune. Last modified February 24, 2020. Accessed March 5, 2020. https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-me-too-timeline-20171208-htmlstory.html.

National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. "Eating Disorder Statistics." ANAD. Accessed March 5, 2020. https://anad.org/education-and-awareness/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/.

Prout, Chessy, and Jenn Abelson. I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope. N.p.: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2018.

RAINN. "Campus Sexual Violence: Statistics." RAINN. Accessed March 5, 2020. https://www.rainn.org/statistics/campus-sexual-violence.

Ravi, Anusha. "Limiting Abortion Access Contributes to Poor Maternal Health Outcomes." Center for American Progress. Last modified June 13, 2018. Accessed March 5, 2020. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2018/06/13/451891/limiting-abortion-access-contributes-poor-maternal-health-outcomes/.

The Recovery Village. "The Importance of Body Positivity." Edited by Megan Hull. The Recovery Village. Accessed November 21, 2019. https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/related/importance-of-body-positivity/#gref.