Society and The Control of Women's Choice
A woman's choice regarding her body should be only hers to make. So, why are there endless laws and regulations making it impossible?
It is well established that patriarchical societies are built on a well constructed heirarchy, which puts all the people within it into predetermined lifestyles, that will go on to ensure the prosperity of this structure. So, why is the patriarchy determined to keep women within a certain role, and most importantly, from where does the obssession with fertility stem?
It comes as no surprise that our laws and traditions all contribute to stripping women of their bodily automony, however, this menifests in more ways than you might expect. Moreover, the notion of linking a woman's worth to her fertility is damaging, and throughout the ages it resulted in the objectification of women, sexism, and misogyny.
Whilst many women wish to become mothers and have a family and naturally fall into a domestic lifestyle, to many others, the idea may not seem as appealling, however, whenever women express their desire to lead independant lives and not follow the predetermined lifestyle, the response is usually a mix of anger, and condescension and while many might think it is harmless for people to disagree on principles and beliefs, it crosses that line when it affects womens' ability to choose the life they wish to lead, such as, lack of medical access to reproductive rights, and rise in domestic violence, and femicide. Not only does this lead to women's inability to make choices regarding their own bodies, however, it further creates a hierarchy placing women at the bottom.
Ultimately, this extent of control didn't simply ensure that women continued to bear children, however, it further went into limiting procreation among women of certain backgrounds through forced hysterectomies. This shows how the control over women's bodies has always been a political issue made to ensure women's oppression. To sum up, as complicated as the issue of body autonomy may be presented in the media or though politics, at its core, it could not be more simple, any choice regarding a woman's body can only be determined by her, and only her.