The Abortion Divide was an eye opening documentary because it showed the process one goes through to have an abortion, mentally and physically. I thought it did a great job of showing various women’s stories and what they/we have to go through in order to have autonomy over our bodies. The church as well as the government goes to great lengths to control and manipulate women’s education on the science of abortion as well as why someone may need to have an abortion. The documentary showed that abortion is not something that women look forward to have but is a very difficult decision to make, but one that is necessary in many cases and completely up to the individual.

It is difficult to understand why white men are typically the ones to protest outside abortion clinics but when one thinks about it – they are the largest group of oppressors on the planet and it just comes down to them wanting power and to continue their wave of manipulation and control under the guise of religion and so called godliness.

*In the thick of the pandemic I began to watch a *very* uplifting show called the Handmaid’s Tale. People kept asking me why I kept watching it, telling me it was too sickening. I too found it extremely difficult, but at the same time oddly validating of what it feels like to be a woman in today’s age. Things can change in a moment, we’ve seen that throughout history and people never expect it. It does feel like the choices I have over my body could easily be stripped away if women don’t continue to fight for our freedoms. It gets tiring. To watch grown men who believe they are full-realized stress that women are choosing to kill their babies is so crazy to me. To see nurses tell the camera that they don’t give contraceptive to people at their clinic because it is promoting sex makes my head spin. I know they think they are doing good and following scripture but they need to see that they are limiting people’s choices and freedoms. People struggle every day and it is manipulative to tell young people that desiring sex is unnatural. People will have sex anyway (as it is one of the natural orders of life) and with the lack of education on how to be safe about it be forced into a situation where the woman, typically, is guilted into having a child with no support. Young mothers are banished from society, are thought to be reckless and undeserving when in reality they need the most love and support from our society as a whole. It is hard for me to see that these older white men love children when they can hardly comes up with solutions that benefit the child. And why is the mother always and afterthought? Fathers are not expected to have the same kind of parental role and burden in our society and get off easy. It is just enough in people’s eyes that the father see his child once in a while and at least he is still around. I hope abortion clinics are able to run efficiently with the resources they need and not all these crazy loopholes that makes it incredibly hard to run their operation. More women will die if they are not given safe options for abortions.

“…we all participate in something larger than ourselves,
something we did not create but that we now have the power to affect through
the choices we make about how to participate.”, writes Allan G. Johnson in “Patriarchy the System”. This perspective really helped me decipher how people choose to correlate their individual acts within a larger system. Like Audrey Lorde explains, systems of oppression all meld together and while we each feel the affects of oppression differently and on a very personal level we have to understand the separation and the closeness that we have to our larger society. We need to know ourselves in the larger context and know how we choose to participate even if the problems feel so daunting.

I was reading an article the other day, unfortunately I don’t remember where and by who, but the topic was on how we have others take accountability for sexual assault and rape cases. A father was saying in an interview that he would hate to have his 17 year old son’s life be clouded by something harmful he did when he was younger. The writer of the article talked about how that is not a bad thing. If society stops acting like men of any age doesn’t understand what it means to be non-consensual and we changed the larger scope of what being accountable looks like in these situations, there would be less victim-blaming and a belief in women when they say that they have been in these harmful situations. All of this is to say that we need think about where and how they situations arise and are continue to happen under the larger scope of our society. What subtle and non so subtle messaging has people feel like the woman is to blame in these situations. With this we can find solutions like in school education on these issues and a better understanding of how to problem solve without victim blaming and painting the story as a boy just not understanding what he was doing.

Without resistance and a want to educate ourselves in the ways in which our society operates we allow, even if personally we live comfortably, other individuals to be oppressed. Although like Johnson writes, even though when speaking about the patriarchy men often think that women are only thinking about women’s rights, patriarchy also directly affects and harms men in many ways even if in it’s nature is trying to uplift and protect men. This shows through in examples like toxic masculinity and homophobia. Another example is that in society we usually deem women as natural caretakers even if biologically there is no evidence to show that we are better parents and nurses than men are. Women in court with custody cases are more likely to win over the father because of these gender based roles that society continues to promote and have people fall under.

These are all complicated issues and things I’m just learning and forming my opinions about with actual research behind me but I believe that society is ever changing and while we have a lot of work to do, with the addition of social media and more platforms for people of all backgrounds these are conversations that are being more well addressed today than ever before, at least in my context as I know it living in America.

I absolutely enjoyed this week’s readings, it’s unbelievable to know that there’s a huge population of people who are blind to their privilege and think otherwise. Reading White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh and Oppression by Marilyn Frye has given me hope in humanity and society.

In Peggy’s article, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, she gives her personal points as to how many white people are oblivious to the fact that they are indeed privileged. “My skin color was an asset for any move I was educated to make.” says Peggy, then states about 26 advantages she has had, being a white person. Reading this as a predominant person of color, it’s unbelievable that there are people that go about their day without having to worry about their neighbors being pleasant due to your skin color, shopping alone without being harassed, race working against job applications, or other common public situations. White folks’ skin color is a useful tool in their every day life whereas being a person of color is seen as a threat or intimidation. The issue of white privilege stems from unacknowledged power. They often feel as if their skin color is a “pass” or “coupon.” White people have this unearned privilege. What makes their skin color so much better than everyone else’s? They did absolutely nothing to gain this power. Peggy says that her whiteness has protected her from hostile situations, violence and distress. Although she is not blind to her privilege, she promotes the positive and negative advantages that come within. I agree with Peggy’s belief that white people as a whole should distinguish the positive advantages which we can work to spread, and the negative types of advantages which unless rejected will always reinforce our present hierarchies. If they cannot even attempt to open their eyes to the harm white privilege creates, how can we expect any change? As this group of people continue to feed into the hierarchy, their over-privileged advantages are gained from people of color’s disadvantages. Peggy also mentions how men’s denial from the privilege they have, protects them and prevents male-privilege from ending. Similar to white privilege, they are being taught to stay blind and quiet in order to stay persistent.

I admire Marilyn Frye’s words on Oppression. I like Frye’s comparison of oppressive suppression to presses that are used to mold things, reduce them in bulk, sometimes restrain, restrict or prevent their mobility. I also love the door-opening scenario Frye uses to show the macroscopic phenomenon of oppression because it is so obvious. “The door-opening pretends to be a helpful service, but the helpfulness is false.” “What women experience is a world in which gallant princes charming commonly make a fuss about being helpful and providing small services when help and services are little or no use.” The door-opening scenario is very symbolic because realistically, one would open a door for somebody who is incapacitated, unwell, or has their hands full. This is symbolizing that women are incapable of opening their own door, and incapable of anything else. Opening a door for someone is literally the bare minimum and men want to make it seem like they’re doing this grand favor, IT’S ACTUALLY RIDICULOUS! I can name a bunch of other examples where men do the bare minimum and expect women to fall and their knees and praise them. It’s real sad how men usually always want something in return from women by doing the bare minimum or things that a woman can do for herself. In my eyes, little chivalrous things like this are annoying and unnecessary. It is simply un-needed help. It’s funny because men are so quick to open doors for women but can’t seem to help a women in danger, getting harassed or threatened. Who feeds into this oppression? Men. Barriers are enforced by men and maintained by them too, for their own benefit. We live in an economy controlled by them. “That barrier is protecting his classification and status as a male, as superior, as having right to sexual access to females.” Men often hide their vulnerability, making them accepted into the male community, and this validation (from other men) contributes to their self esteem.

“Humans can be miserable without being oppressed, and it’s perfectly consistent to deny that a person or group is oppressed without denying that they have feelings or that they suffer.” NOT EVERYONE IS OPPRESSED! Being a woman is significantly attached to whatever disadvantages and depravations she suffers, be they great or small.” We as women will unfortunately continue to be oppressed as long as men feed into the patriarchy they created themselves.

https://youtu.be/BE5YzRr9yPo

Song by Dar Williams ” When I was boy”

Lyrics

I won’t forget when Peter Pan came to my house, took my hand
I said I was a boy
I’m glad he didn’t check
I learned to fly, I learned to fight
I lived a whole life in one night
We saved each other’s lives out on the pirate’s deck
And I remember that night
When I’m leaving a late night with some friends
And I hear somebody tell me it’s not safe, someone should help me
I need to find a nice man to walk me home
When I was a boy, I scared the pants off of my mom
Climbed what I could climb uponAnd I don’t know how I survived
I guess I knew the tricks that all boys knew
And you can walk me home, but I was a boy, tooI was a kid that you would like, just a small boy on her bike
Riding topless, yeah, I never cared who saw
My neighbor came outside to say, “get your shirt”
I said “no way, it’s the last time I’m not breaking any law”
And now I’m in a clothing store, and the sign says less is more
More that’s tight means more to see, more for them, not more for me
That can’t help me climb a tree in ten seconds flatWhen I was a boy, see that picture? that was me
Grass-stained shirt and dusty knees
And I know things have gotta change
They got pills to sell, they’ve got implants to put in, they’ve got implants to remove
But I am not forgetting
That I was a boy, tooAnd like the woods where I would creep, it’s a secret I can keep
Except when I’m tired, except when I’m being caught off guard
I’ve had a lonesome awful day, the conversation finds its way
To catching fire-flies out in the backyard
And I tell the man I’m with about the other life I lived
And I say now you’re top gun
I have lost and you have won
He says, “oh no, no, can’t you see?”
When I was a girl, my mom and I, we always talked
And I picked flowers everywhere that I walked
And I could always cry, now even when I’m alone I seldom do
And I have lost some kindness
But I was a girl, too
And you were just like me, and I was just like you