Tuesday, July 27, 2004

PART I: Nature vs. Suture

I've posted these questions to We have Brains and Sinister Girls

I want to get some input from different sources, and I'll answer my own questions in subsequent posts. I think there might be some method to this madness, so work with me, y'all!
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I read a really obnoxious article on Alternet (The Cult of Nature Worship and my response here) which got me to thinking:

As a Feminist, what do I think of Nature when opposed to Technology? Modern Medicine? Finance ? Fashion? Convenience?

Consider these 3 sets of procedures:

I. Reproductive options:
a) Birth control – what if it might kill you? Make you sterile?
b) Abortion- I know a girl who refused to use birth control and had 6 abortions. Any problem with that? (She knew better, she just didn’t care)
c) Planned Cesareans – having surgery so you can plan your birth around your schedule. Any conflicts? Is it better for the mother to have a safe surgery or a risky natural birth? Would cutting a pregnancy short hurt the mother? The baby? Would it matter to you if there were increased risk to the baby? Is vaginal birth passé?


II. Breasts – Are any or all of these purely a matter of choice? A necessity? An abomination? Vanity? Any issues of patriarchy, or oppression here?


a)Breast reconstruction- done after breast removal due to cancer, paid by insurance.
b)Breast reduction to alleviate back pain, paid by insurance.
c)Breast enlargement as an elective? What if the only implant available can be deadly? What if the Army is paying the bill? What if she's doing it to make more money or get a raise? Or because her boyfriend wants her to?


III. Beauty hurts

Women in China used to be subjected to foot binding, which was a cruel and painful practice that crippled women permanently.

Cinderella is a tale about foot binding. In the older versions of the story, the stepsisters cut off toes and heels to try and fit the glass slipper. As American girls, we were socialized to want to be Cinderella and find our prince.

Right now, on the East Coast, women are paying doctors to have bones removed from their feet so they can fit into expensive designer shoes. Any problem with that? Do you ever buy shoes that don't fit because they're pretty ? Or on sale?


IV. Genital surgery.


Little girls in Africa and the Middle East are systematically mutilated. Our government does not see this as a human rights issue.
Women in America pay doctors to 1) create a false hymen 2) modify their labia for aesthetic reasons and 3) tighten their vagina to make sex more pleasurable for their (male) partner. Women are also known to have genital piercings done. Bikini wax, anyone?

Give me some Feminist Feedback - are we fighting for the right to torture ourselves in ways that used to be (or still are) forced on us? Are we getting in our own way?

posted by Morgaine @ 2:44 AM
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1 Comments:

At 1:15 AM, Blogger duanna said...

Dear M. Swann

I was very intrigued by your Nature Vs. Suture. In trying to respond, I found my mind wandering all over the map, there were so many parts of this post I could have really sunk my teeth in. So I concentrated (for brevity) on the final two questions posed:

Q1. are we fighting for the right to torture ourselves in ways that used to be (or still are) forced on us? And, Are we getting in our own way?

In formulating my response I had to revisit what I considered to be the definition of feminism. In truth I have found as many definitions of the word as there are feminists!

I once asked my "feminist" mother and her friends what feminism meant, they explained it to me as the conviction that each individual woman requires, deserves, demands etc. the right to choose for herself what she will have, or not have in her life. Seemed pretty simple to me. Still does. The "issues", however are not so cut and dried.

Our Mothers, GrandMothers and Great Grannies spent centuries working (fighting and dying) towards realizing our freedoms and rights in the workplace, in the home, in our own bodies, (not actually in that order) and have contributed in many, many ways to the culture within which I live.

With that in mind, I can't walk down the street without seeing the image of somebody's pre-pubescent little girl, all sexualized, dressed, posed and made up to look "mature" in all sorts of suggestive ways - plasted 12 feet tall - draped across my city's sky line in every direction the eye can see! (okay okay a small exageration)

Along with disgust, anger and growing resentment, these images tend to Inspire in me little day dreams of donning skinny black outfit's, 30 feet or so of rope, repelling equipment, a balaclava and a BIG juicy can of spray paint. Of course during these little reveries, I have the dextarity of France's daring Spiderman and I have the time, coordination, and gumption to swing through our fair city adding a little dignity and composure to the daughters of my sisters who may or may not care!

Then I may find myself doing a double take at the mall and realise well, actually, those jeans are FAB! Where can I get a pair? I get home, pour myself into the latest distressed denim, feel real sexy and sleek in front of my mirror. Take them off, hide them under the mattress, and in guilt slink over to the fridge, pull out any remaining Haagen Daas I may or may not have, and stuff my face, all the while wondering how many hills I'm gonna have to slog up on the old stairmaster to keep this fresh caloric intake from settling to fat.

When my head clears, I again remember the truth of my mom's statement those many many years ago, and I wonder who am I to judge?

I realize that at some point even pre-pubescent little girl's have to excersize their rights to choose, for themselves, what they will and will not have in their lives, I just wish each growing girl has balanced and loving guidance coming to her from somewhere in her life, to help her understand she also needs to live with the consequences of her choices, these can be far reaching, and unpredictable.

This 12 year old just may be the one with the last laugh in the end. You know the ending where she sits in her dream home, built as per her dream design, sitting on some prime piece of property, of her choosing, reflecting on her life, her PHD, her adventures, her lessons, her joys, her pains, her triumphs and so on completely cogniscent of the fact that SHE crafted this life, and perhaps, just perhaps, her 12 year old savvy in choosing her assignments netted her a large enough nest egg to provide for her education, (or not) her adventure in Peru (or not), her wedding (or not), the little shack on the beach while she rights the great American Novel, (or not).

And then I remember, Hell I'm not a fat factory, and to quote Abbey from Law and Order, "I don't store fat, I burn calories." That's right, that's how my female body was made to work. Trust that, and enjoy your damn ice cream!

So in response to the very intriguing questions posed:

Q1. are we fighting for the right to torture ourselves in ways that used to be (or still are) forced on us?

We manifest our hopes, our desires, our fears into reality. What happens when a group of people have been systematically, ritualistically, routinely, subjugated for well, dang near 5000 years? Women have been conditioned in so many ways to adopt and accept "other" desires, as our own. It can be damn confusing! Now (very simplified) what if those desires (conscious and unconscious) are to keep women subservient, or under some other form of social control, "for the good of the whole, for the good of the family, the community, the country", or whatever other propaganda fits the bill for the moment? We torture ourselves in so many ways, each and every day just to find acceptance, inclusion, employment, love, why would we treat our flesh any differently than we would treat our Selves?

Q2. Are we getting in our own way?

Woman, Man we're both Human, the worst enemy of any human being is undoubtedly, themselves; Yes we probably are getting in our own way.

Oh yeah! BTW This woman you mentioned, the one who refuses birth control and has so far had six abortions and doesn't care? Holy Cow Man? I wonder, is she into self harm? Enduring an abortion is a great trauma to the body, I've nursed too many friends afterwards to not know this, the physical pain while at first surprising wasn't as surprising as the length of time it took for some to recover, and no one I have ever spoken to has ever mentioned they enjoyed having an abortion. The preventation of pregnancy a relatively simple thing, if she is refusing birth control, and ubderstands the cycle of sex then she knows no B.C.=STD'S, Babies, and or Death, and she doesn't care about her past, future or lets be real, possibly present foetuses (hmmm is that even a real word?), is she actively looking to catch an STD? I doubt it, no sounds to me like this woman may have a death wish, she certainly doesn't fit the profile of someone who loves and cherishes life, not hers, not anyones. She needs help, and quickly before she finds a new and novel way of causing trauma to herself.

cocobannan

 

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