Hey, woman, yeah you with the ovaries, we're talking to you:
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months (which, to be honest, is becoming a more appealing option every day at this point) you have probably noticed a lot of political controversy swirling around things that pertain to women's bodies. It is possible that you might not have noticed the "women" part right away because politicians and other key stakeholders keep asserting that they are NOT talking about women but rather discussing issues that solely pertain to healthcare and religious matters and yet the apparent and disturbing trend is that the contestation of these topics always seems to take place around issues that relate to us, as women, exclusively.
Because it is an election year, healthcare and religion are things the American people want to discuss. This is only fair, but oddly it is female contraception and abortion that have been particularly hot topics since President Barack Obama announced the birth control mandate and incited verbal and legislative backlash throughout the country. Many members of the Catholic Church and the Republican Party have voiced contempt for this bill, claiming that it violates the First Amendment by waging a war on religion. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), said the decision amounted to a "trampling of the First Amendment" and a "systematic dismantling of religious liberty for people in this country." But where in any of these critiques are the health and well being of women being looked after? Are women even mentioned?
Spoiler alert: They are not.
With the way things are going now it looks like women's self-worth, not the Republican Party or Obama, is going to be the real casualty of election season 2012. The birth control conversation has strictly focused on female contraception, and yet most of the opposition manages to neglect women and women's health entirely by claiming that what they are discussing has nothing to do with women. Female contraception, it seems to us, would be partially, if not fundamentally, about females. By what logic are men divorcing women from their bodies? At what cost is this war being waged?
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) attempted to counteract Obama's mandate through the creation of the Blunt Amendment that, if passed, would have overridden the mandate's free contraceptive coverage as well as many anti-discriminatory aspects of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, including coverage for HIV/AIDS screenings, prenatal care for single mothers, mammograms, vaccinations for children and even screenings for diabetes based on objections to a perceived immoral lifestyle. Egg-as-Person bills have sprung up in several states, attempting to criminalize abortions even in the case of incest or rape. A failed Iowa bill went so far as to try to make abortion grounds for a murder charge.
Did we miss the memo that made it OK for women to be persecuted for violence that was inflicted upon them by men? Moreover, do the men behind these legislations just not understand the implications of their actions, or are they simply choosing to ignore them? Neither answer is particularly comforting for about 150 million of the people living in the United States.
We as women are not unaffected by all of this. We as women live our lives immersed in this culture of violence, of shame, of twisted reasoning and of oppression. The two women writing this op-ed certainly feel it beginning to get under our skin, and it is not because we are weak. It is because our eyes are open and we have been paying attention. We are exhausted by the amount of energy it takes not to internalize the language being used every day on the national stage. In some ways Rush Limbaugh has done us a favor by lifting the veil of couched language and showing the true colors of this entrenched patriarchy.
Today, we are not necessarily asking you to take sides in the political arena. We are not calling the "Femi-nazis" to arms. Instead we are asking you to stand up and fight back against the rising tide of negativity against women. We are asking you to help us create an America where the Limbaughs of the world would never dream of calling a young woman testifying before Congress a "slut" and a "prostitute" in an attempt to silence her. This is not about political or human rights.
This is about basic human dignity. This is about women understanding that they have a voice - a voice that can create unimaginable change if they only believe in themselves enough to use it. Look what happened when women stood up for Planned Parenthood in February. Look at the outpouring of support in the past few weeks alone. People everywhere have begun to shout at the top of their lungs that we as women, as people, have the same right to self-determination and self-love as everyone else in the world. Please join us. Go out and find a woman and tell her that she is special and important. Tell her she is strong and can do anything she puts her mind to. Tell her that she does not need to carry the weight of the world alone. Because we guarantee you that unless she has been living in total isolation (or under a rock), at least some of the hateful and demeaning rhetoric has reached her.
As it has for thousands of years, the systematic degradation of women often takes place in subtle ways, and women begin to internalize the messages society is sending them. But here is the secret "they" do not want you to know: we have lived in this environment our whole lives, and still we rise. (Maya Angelou illustrates this beautifully in her poem "Still I Rise.")
In times like these the temptation to close our eyes, to turn away is overwhelming. But in doing this we shut our eyes to our own strength. While we may be scared to face what is going on, we have to realize that in many ways we already have. We have faced this same ideology and reasoning every day of our lives. And look what we have accomplished in spite of it! We are here to tell you that you are stronger than you ever dreamed was possible; you are strong enough to stand up and say "no more." Just because women have managed to thrive in spite of their heavy burdens does not mean they should be doomed forever to carry them. Imagine how high we, and the generations of women to come, could rise if we were free?
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Erika Brown is a senior majoring in American studies and community health. Emily Cox is a senior majoring in English.
