Motherhood in this developed nation has many of its downfalls, but many of which are due to the psychological repression and disempowerment of these women’s rights and personal needs. To begin, we must delve into the two concepts that are often reinforced in motherhood-- that being the new-momism and motherhood as an institution. The American institution-- aims to hold women’s reproductive rights and their children under the control of men. This continues to exist because it is run by a patriarchal society that seeks to “alienate women from their bodies by incarcerating them” while creating a divide between private and public, which often sets standards for mothers who matter to society. For example, mothers that fit the category are educated, …show more content…
What is rather unique about her story is the fact that she publically displays her sufferings as a mother. She does not focus on making this whole ordeal seem fulfilling in order to conform to the new-momism, but rather sheds light to its realities. For example, she feels a weight lifted off of her after her mother 's death, an uncommon reaction from a child to their mother (Gore 237). Although, it is understandable because throughout her memoir, she reveals the rocky relationship they had to begin with and being held responsible for her mother 's well-being on top of her own family. The amount of responsibility that she must bear especially as a single lesbian breadwinner for the home is difficult. Not to mention institutions for childcare most likely reject people like her because she defies the norms. It is important for people like Gore to open up the subject of motherhood into more than just its empowering experience, but to also show its impacts on one’s individuality and its implications. In addition to highlighting that the work of care should not only be placed upon mothers because they too have their own burdens to worry …show more content…
She believes that the refusal of work promotes anti-productivism, which “allows us to see work as a form of violence, rather than a path to self-discovery or a necessary service to the community” (164). In opposition to Weeks, Berg deems that the refusal of work is a radical way of attempting to accomplish Wages for Housework. Furthermore, she supports this argument by saying that capital binds its workers to the job because it “binds workers to absorb the costs of the risks” (169). These risks are often associated with financials, social expectations, etc which can then interfere with future generations. For example, teachers who are protesting for better pay are often bothered by the thought of the social repercussions of their actions, especially if it can be harmful to their future. These “social repercussions” are defined as “blackmail” or “social necessity debt”because the necessity of their work will contribute to the reproduction of society (163). In Berg 's analysis, continuing this wave of feminism reveal the complexities that is rather hard to make final decisions for because of the many emotional ties and moral obligations associated with capitalism, laborers, and their
In order to understanding how women have been discriminated against we must know the history behind the most controversial topic in women’s rights, abortion. For decade’s legal scholars, social movement activities, and historians, have agreed whether women actually had rights when it came to abortions and understanding the pro-life feminist reform. In Mary Zeigler, "Women's Rights on the Right: The History and Stakes of Modern Pro-Life Feminism.” Pro-life advocates have argued that “abortions cause more to the woman rather than help them.” (Zeigler233) One of the most popular known cases is Gonzales v. Carhart which attempted to justify abortion restrictions on the very basis of the physical or psychological harms that could or assumed to be caused or produced by the actual procedure.(Zeigler234) However, women protective claims, only one part of larger strategy that this Article calls prolife feminism. The article also identifies potential common ground among those proclaiming to be feminist with different positions on abortions. Both pro-choice and pro-life scholars have written extensively on how to their arguments as forwarding women
Internationally, issues revolving around the female body and reproduction are extremely controversial. For a woman, her body is a very private matter. At the same time, however, a woman's body and her reproduction rights are the center of attention in many public debates. Several questions regarding women's reproductive rights remain unanswered. How much control do women have over their bodies? What kind of rules can be morally imposed upon women? And who controls the bodies of women? Although the public continues to debate these topics, certain conclusions can been made concerning women and their reproductive rights. An undeniable fact is that government has a large degree of control over female reproductive organs. All around the world, time and time again, several national governments have implemented policies, enacted laws, and denied women control over their reproductive organs. Several governments have crossed the border between intimate and public matters concerning women's reproductive organs, by making laws about contraceptives, abortion, and family planning programs.
Both reproduction and sexuality no longer were off limits to government influence, they were ideas and actions up for political review. Interestingly, the regulations regarding abortion, where thequestin is usually dependent on the “rights” of the fetus, are not included with murder but with criminal threats. In this way, the law makers are forcing the issue away from a personal matter and more into the community’s problem. The reproductive rights of women are appropriated to control medical professionals. While these women’s issues are brought into the political sphere, they are also gaining theoretical equality, they have a stronger influence over the honor of the
The debate of abortion continues to be a controversial problem in society and has been around for many decades. According to Jone Lewis, “In the United States, abortion laws began to appear in the 1820’s, forbidding abortion after the fourth month of pregnancy” (1). This indicates that the abortion controversy has been debated far back into American history. Beginning in the 1900’s, legalized abortion became a major controversy. In 1965, all fifty states in the United States banned abortion; however, that was only the beginning of the controversy that still rages today (Lewis 1). After abortion was officially banned in the United States, groups such as the National Abortion Rights Action League worked hard on a plan to once again legalize abortion in the United States (Lewis 1). It wasn’t until 1970 when the case of Roe (for abortion) v. Wade (against abortion) was brought...
The term "reproductive rights" has become synonymous with abortion rights, birth control access, and issues surrounding reproductive technologies, yet the struggle for a woman's right to choose when and how to become pregnant often overshadows a woman's right to choose where and how to give birth. The lack of feminist discourse and activism surrounding issues of childbirth may attest to the hegemony in the modern American birth ritual of increasing medical intervention from obstetricians in hospital settings. There are currently several movements to challenge this dominant birth model--prepared childbirth advocates offer education classes and natural childbirth advocates lobby for the rights of midwives and home births--but I refrain from giving either of these movements a feminist label because neither are invested in challenging prevailing gender ideology or the equation of woman with motherhood. This paper will argue that a feminist discourse of childbirth is necessary by using a Foucauldian analysis to chart the current web of power and knowledge in the American hospital delivery room and how it works to deny agency to women in labor, alienating them from their experience. Recognizing that power and knowledge operate on a myriad of levels and tactics, including counter-tactics, I will not limit my focus to the dominant discourse of medical experts, but also explore what I call counter discourses of childbirth, particularly from the prepared childbirth and natural childbirth advocates. Within this discussion, I hope to offer suggestions on a feminist ethic of childbirth that reaffirms women's autonomy during labor, but does not limit them to prevailing codes o...
When intensive mothers are busy with thier responsibilities in the public sphere, due to their belief that a mother is the central caregiver, their temporary replacement must exclusively be female (Hays 414). Even with a female nanny who “leaves the place in a mess, makes a petty point of not putting the dishwasher on […], never gives the correct change from the supermarket and “loses” all the receipts” (Pearson 84), Kate still makes every effort to keep the nanny in her family. From the perspective of intensive mothers, men are not capable of providing the same quality of care that a woman is able to provide (Hays 414). From a gender essentialist perspective, Kate argues that “Emily and Ben need me, and it’s me that they want. […] Daddy is the ocean; Mummy is the port, the safe haven they nestle in to gain the courage to venture farther and farther out each time” (Pearson 169). Therefore, intensive mothers find “alternate mothers,” that is, credentialed female child-care providers (Hays 412) such as Paula, Kate’s nanny, as well as Jo, Alice’s nanny who are able to promote the intellectual enrichment of their
Work is a word that one hears on a daily basis on multiple different levels; work out, work at school, go to work, work at home, work for change. Society today is made of people that work hard every moment of their day from sunrise to twilight, these workers work for food, housing, family, education, and transportation. Essentially in today’s world if one wants something they must work for it, gone are the days where handouts are common and charity is given freely. The question then arises, who speaks for these voiceless workers that are often working so hard they have no time to voice an opposition? The authors Levine and Baca speak very well for these workers and for society in general, their narrators speak of not only work but of the world
Weeks (2011) proposes to challenge not only the economic and political organization of work but to confront its normativity and moralization. She examines the dominant idea of the “ethic of work”, which implies work is essential to individual growth, self-fulfillment and keeps status and social recognition within society (p.11). Hence, in a struggle against work issues the central claim should be to refuse to work instead of struggle to get better wages.
Even though the United States has ruled abortions to be legal, there is still controversy. One may say that this is a growing problem in our country. However, for every problem there should be a solution. Erika Bachiochi argues that: “The state's suppression of a woman's right to choose [was] simply a perpetuation of the patriarchal nature of our society...To free women from [the] gender hierarchy, women must have a right to do what they please with their bodies” (22). She says that women have always been suppressed of their rights, and men believe that they have more power than women. Bachiochi, as well as many other women, believe that they should have choice over something as simple as their own bodies. Having a right to their bodies helps make women feel free from the idea that men are superior to women. Women have always been told how to act in society, but when it comes to abortion they believe that their voices should be heard. If women have no other right, at least let them have a right over their own bodies. The solution may be simple, but getting there may not be so easy. On this issue Eileen McDonagh proposes that, “The right...
Parenting has been a long practice that desires and demands unconditional sacrifices. Sacrifice is something that makes motherhood worthwhile. The mother-child relationship can be a standout amongst the most convoluted, and fulfilling, of all connections. Women are fuel by self-sacrifice and guilt - but everyone is the better for it. Their youngsters, who feel adored; whatever is left of us, who are saved disagreeable experiences with adolescents raised without affection or warmth; and mothers most importantly. For, in relinquishing, a mother feels strong and liberal; and in guild she finds the motivation to right wrong.
[9] Shanley, M.L, Surrogate Mothering and Women's Freedom: A Critique of Contracts for Human Reproduction, (Politics and the Human Body) editors-Elshtain, J.B, and Cloyd J.T1995, Vanderbitt University Press, Tennessee back
From the very beginning of history, women were portrayed to be insignificant in comparison to men in society. A woman 's purpose was deemed by men to be housewives, bear children and take care of the household chores. Even so, that at a young age girls were being taught the chores they must do and must continue through to adulthood. This ideal that the woman’s duty was to take charge of household chores was then passed through generations, even til this day. However, this ideology depends on the culture and the generation mothers were brought up in and what they decide to teach their daughters about such roles. After women were given the opportunity to get an education and treated as equals, society’s beliefs undertook a turning point on women’s roles in society. Yet, there still seems to be a question amongst women in search of self identity and expectations from parents.
Furthermore, the mother states that she is physically out of energy which means that the intimate relationship that she has with her husband is become less and less fruitful in the bed. Overall her experience of motherhood has been one of an unsatisfactory nature, but most importantly all of these child related tasks don’t come off as instinctual so why do every one thing that motherhood is ins
In her essay, “Motherhood: Who Needs It?”, Betty Rollin emphasizes the pressures of motherhood that society puts on women and highlights the fact that becoming a mother is not a natural instinct.
Ramona T. Mercer is the theorist credited for developing the theory of Maternal Role Attainment, which is also known as the theory of Becoming a Mother. “Maternal role attainment is an interactional and developmental process occurring over time in which a mother becomes attached to her infant, acquires competence in the caretaking tasks involved in the role, and expresses pleasure and gratification in the role (Tomey & Alligood, 2006, p. 608). Mercer’s career has been primarily focused in pediatrics, obstetrics, and maternal-child nursing. Mercer’s greatest accolades have been based on her extensive research on the topic of maternal role and development (Tomey & Alligood, 2006, p. 605).