If the Patriarchy Can't Control Women's Bodies, No One Can

        

Photograph Source:
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/how-feels-slut-shamed

       As women, we try to control our own bodies and reproduction with birth control- but we aren’t the only ones trying to control our bodies.

 
 Women’s reproductive rights and access to birth control have been under attack since the beginning of time. Since contraceptives have been available beginning in the 1960’s, there was a backlash among white men against women’s access to birth control, and it doesn’t look like the end to this fight is anywhere in sight (Our Bodies Ourselves, 2013, December 14). 

   The discourse surrounding the use of contraceptives among women has placed blame on to women and their sexuality. In a country where we are thought to be extremely advanced- it's shameful that women’s health in the United States suffers. I deem women’s health is extremely poor in the U.S. in part because the biopolitics surrounding contraceptives is used to control women and their reproduction in the United States, and when women attempt to take back this power, scare tactics such as slut-shaming is used to ensure that biopolitics will continue to control women, specifically surrounding the discourse of the 1980’s IUD and contraceptives in the Trump era. 

   To expand on why this discussion is still being had today, in 2018- it is all due to the biopolitics surrounding contraception and its link to women’s sexuality. Biopolitics acts as a mechanism that feeds off of “power, knowledge, and processes of subjectivization”(Garrison, L, 2013, January 21). Biopolitics as a mechanism is controlled by those in power and those who are able to control public knowledge- the patriarchy.  So as contraception was born into existence for population control, this allowed men to feel as though they were in control because they were able to target specific women in which they wanted to control. Then, as contraceptives began to become more widely available women took these devices in order to control their own bodies and reproduction. As a result- the biopolitics surrounding contraceptives enabled for further subjectivization of women who have reclaimed their own sexuality.

    Men use contraceptives as a way to put women’s reproductive freedoms under attack for the reason that the patriarchal system wants to have the power to over women’s bodies Men in history have used women’s bodies as a way for themselves to receive pleasure and reproduce in order to continue their familial line. Since contraceptives have been introduced, this has given women the opportunity to liberate their bodies from the control of men and use their bodies as a source for their own pleasure and gain control over their reproductive organs. It gave women a choice. This scared men- so in reaction, men used scare tactics in order to attempt to gain control back over women’s bodies, these men demanded to have a say.  Scare tactics in relation to women contraceptives began with putting women’s lives in danger, and when this failed to work,  men began to attack women for their bodily freedom, such as naming that having sex with multiple partners put women at risk for pelvic inflammatory disease when the IUD was used. 

 
  This subjectivization looks like women being blamed for the faulty  1980’s IUD. Subjectivization looks like women who are using contraceptives being slut-shamed by the government. 

    What is the role of biopolitics within all of this? It allows the patriarchy to control the public image of women on contraceptives- their belief lies that the patriarchy is in control of the discourse surrounding women and contraceptives

 

 Source:
http://www.ncsddc.org/leveraging-technology-for-partner-services-dis-now-have-access-to-an-ips-toolkit/shutterstock_348145376/

  So the problem isn’t my sexuality, or my sexual freedom, or my decision to use birth control- it’s the biopolitics surrounding contraceptives such as the IUD.  In the 1980’s women blamed for the faulty IUD available at this time, for it wasn't the IUD that cause harm among women’s bodies- it was women and their own sexuality. 

 
 In the 1980’s when cases of pelvic inflammatory disease became relevant in the topic of IUD’s, multiple studies were completed and “ through selective reading of epidemiological data, these medical texts neatly localized IUD risks to the promiscuous sexual behavior of the users and their partner.” (Takeshita, C, 2012, p.92) So rather than the researchers who were responsible for the development of this device asking why  IUDs placed in women’s bodies it raised the risk of infection by 1.8 times higher compared to those without an IUD (Takeshita, C, 2012, p.91). Instead, researchers chose to focus on the fact that women who had more than one sexual partner had a raised the risk of PID to 2.6 times (Takeshita, C, 2012, p.91). Now how does this make sense?

   I’ll try to make this a bit clearer for those reading this- PID is a bacterial infection that is caused by STI’s. So, those who are having sex with more partners have a chance of contracting this infection because they are being exposed more so. BUT, the IUD is causing the risk of 1.8 times higher for contracting this infection. Rather than focus on why the IUD was making the risk higher- researchers decided to say that women with “promiscuous and risky behavior” are at fault. This is biopolitics of contraception in action. The researchers who have the knowledge and power to share information with the public, instead of exploring why the IUD raises this risk, they choose to blame women for their sexuality. The patriarchy controls the discourse, therefore women are going to be shamed for embracing sexual freedom because the patriarchy is threatened by the power women receive through being able to control their own body.

   However, fast-forward to 2018, we are 2 years into the Trump Administration- left with a delusional man as a president and yet the discussion surrounding contraceptives and “risky sexual behavior” among women is still in the national headlines. The reason for this being that the biopolitics of contraception has yet to evolve. When women are taking back their sexuality the patriarchy is stripped of the power and their dominance, in turn, they are challenged. 

 
  This country’s institution over-powered by men does what they believe is rational- attempt to strip women of their reproductive rights. In response to this stripping of power, President Donald Trump renounced the notion that women should be given easier access to contraceptives by spreading a false discourse that contraception increases the risky sexual behavior (Abrams, A, 2017, October 12). This shaming of women yet again feeds into the biopolitical discourse that contraception should be used as a method to control the population and when women use contraception as a tool for themselves, scare tactics are used to ensure that biopolitics will continue to control women. 

Resources:

Abrams, A. (2017, October 12). The Trump Administration Says Birth Control Could Lead to 'Risky Sexual Behavior.' Scientists Say That's Wrong. Retrieved November 8, 2018, from http://time.com/4975951/donald-trump-birth-control-mandate-sexual-behavior/

Garrison, L. (2013, January 21). Biopolitics: An Overview. Retrieved November 09, 2018, from https://anthrobiopolitics.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/biopolitics-an-overview/

Our Bodies Ourselves. (2013, December 14). A Brief History of Birth Control in the U.S. Retrieved November 9, 2018, from https://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book-excerpts/health-article/a-brief-history-of-birth-control/

Takeshita, C. (2012). The global biopolitics of the IUD: How science constructs contraceptive users and womens bodies. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

WebMD. (n.d.). What Is Pelvic Inflammatory Disease? Retrieved November 11, 2018, from https://www.webmd.com/women/guide/what-is-pelvic-inflammatory-disease