Relationship Between Women's sexual autonomy and Women's Equality

Aside from social norms that tend to stereotype women, society is also putting limits on the woman's choice when it comes to child birth.  People who tend to slut women about birth control are the ones who would rather see a person suffer from a mistaken conception.  Pregnancy is not to be taken lightly, as it has severe impacts and changes on a woman's health.  

We can see that while it may seem that reproductive issues should be considered solely by the woman, it is not the case in our modern society.  The generic discussion on whether abortion is right or wrong has been debated for years.  It must take a deep understanding of the psychology of the topic to see that banning abortion is but another vehicle of oppression on women.  According to an online article, Fifty Years After the Pill: Still a Long Way to Go, the birth control pill was the first reliable contraceptive that allowed women to have control over their own reproductive system.  The pill allowed women to express the erotic without having fear of pregnancy.  The article states, “This perspective requires a tremendous leap in social development, which can be achieved only through sweeping away capitalist rule on a global basis and replacing it with a rational, democratically planned economy.”  This statement advocates that a social revolution is necessary for a women’s liberation.  A social revolution is not an act of violence, but instead a spread of awareness in which we can allow women to express their erotic safely and hopefully without the backlash women receive today.

  The film, The Pill, discusses reproductive rights from the point of view of middle class women.  In the film, the women who had access to birth control were more motivated to achieve educational degrees and have top level jobs.  This exemplifies the points made above regarding how the birth control pill and its ability to allow women to express their erotic safely.  As humans, we all have sexual tendencies and if we can have control over the reproductive system why does society slut shame women who choose to be on the pill?  The shaming of women has led to violence and rape against women.  In Valenti’s reading The Blame(and Shame) Game, we get insight on how rape is overlooked by our judicial system and in turn rape and violence are overlooked as a whole in society.  If we can spread the awareness of the staggering number of rape cases that go by without anyone noticing, we can enforce harsher rules on these horrific crimes.  The female autonomy is meant to attract the opposite gender(men), but this is no excuse to force oneself upon a woman unwillingly.

  It seems that women’s equality will not be achieved until society starts educating the fact that the female autonomy is a conscious, living, and thinking human body.  It is not a mere object of sexual endeavor but instead contains a human spirit that should be able to express its creativity and freedom in choice. 

The Pill (BBC Presentations). BBC, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.

 "Fifty Years After the Pill: Still a Long Way to Go." Fifty Years After the Pill: Still a Long Way to Go. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2016. 

 Valenti, Jessica. Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Matters. Emeryville, CA: Seal, 2007. Print.