Who owns women? And who owns their bodies? When it comes to social justice for women, patriarchy sees to it that women are not allowed to be in charge of themselves, their bodies, their wellbeing. This line of thinking is parental; this line of thinking leads to deficit ideologies, resulting in structured inequalities; structured inequalities are deniers of social justice.
And since patriarchy is a social system permitting males to hold primary power over others in general and women in particular, I believe it is a candidate for “fragging.” And that’s because patriarchy is controlling, abusive, greedy, and destructive. These attributes are demonstrated by the number of recent laws proposed to regulate women’s bodies. Namely, during the first quarter of 2013, states suggested some 694 provisions related to a woman’s body, to include how she gets pregnant and how she chooses to terminate that pregnancy. Are we talking about children here? Are we talking about minors? Again, who owns women’s bodies? Who are men to dictate how women should manage their bodies? They’re saying women cannot think for themselves.
Why are women treated like offspring? Who are the 21st century leaders? Where are they? And why the silence? Not enough women speak up for what’s happening to them; not enough blacks speak up what’s happening to them; not enough Americans speak up for what’s happening in America. The silence among us is deafening; and its consequences are dismal especially when it comes to social justice in general and women issues in particular.
Many male politicians have smarmy or slimy ways of cherry picking issues. When asked about climate change for example, their lame and vacuous response is “I am not a scientist.” When it comes to women’s bodies, male politicians are not gynecologists either; yet they are patriarchal enough to prescribe or dictate what women are allowed to do with or to their bodies. Why? It is because they can; it is because they are misogynists. Misogynists do not ensure social justice for women; misogynists demonstrate an unhealthy recognition of human differences.
Patriarchy is no different because it assigns value based on differences among different groups; it assigns value based on differences to the disadvantage of one group (women) at the same time advantaging another group (men). This behavior stems from deficit ideologies which create social, economic, and structured inequalities; structured inequalities lead to disadvantages, violating social justice principles; ergo, we have much work to do.
A politician a leader doesn’t make. Denying women the ownership of their bodies is not leadership; it is a form of misogyny.
It needs to stop.
What are your thoughts?
Thank you. The issue of white male “ownership” of social justice issues is very much on my mind these days as the U.S. elections concludes its race to the bottom.
As a white gay male I am in a kind of awe regarding the sense of entitlement expressed by (typically) white heterosexual men on issues ranging from abortion to “gay” (properly, “equal”) marriage to Black Lives Matter. My response has become: If you are not a member of that class of people, try NOT stating your “opinion”, but instead LISTENING to the conversation and learning about the issue from the relevant point of view – women, LGBT, the black community, etc. The response to my suggestion? Outrage.
I don’t know the solution to this sense of entitlement, but in terms of women’s concerns, the way forward is clear to me: Women must be in control of their bodies. Men must learn humility.
David,
Wow! We thank alike. I wish we would listen to each other more. I have never heard of a class in school, titled “Listening 101,” or “Listening for…” I think it would be a great start especially if men could listen to women, listen to learn and understand. I also believe in dialogic civility which is absent, sadly. When I heard Trump say, “Such a nasty woman,” something happened inside me, not sure what.
I must ask you what will you do with your “Outrage”? What would you like to do with it? Blogging is one of my ways of dealing with my frustrations/anger. Another way is using ideas from a class I taught for years, titled “Leadership & Social Justice.”
I thank you again, David, very much!
Thanks for your kind response. What do I do with my outrage? A good question. On a good day, I respond – hopefully, rather than react – whenever I see men pontificate on topics they cannot possibly know anything about. Also when I see rigid ideology, simplistic thinking, coarse insults and personal attacks – this could be a full-time job if one responded to everything…
And yes, I blog at http://www.slowpainful.com – but there I get my anger and bile to take a (blackly) humorous turn. As Colette said, “Total absence of humor renders life impossible.”
Regards
David Roddis
I visited your blog—stimulating, informative; I shall visit it more often.
I think you have an excellent leader! He seems very cool and connected. I saw him with Obama and they seemed like two schoolyard friends and beyond—Wow! I wish all world leaders would behave as such.
Thank you for responding!
Rachel,
Please clarify. I don’t understand what you mean and want to very much. I would love to increase traffic or visibility with my blog. Please let me know. And thank you for commenting.