Body Politic as Far as The Eye Can See.
Updated: Feb 18
What is the distinction between men's and women's bodies? If both are Flesh and Blood, why are women's bodies always viewed as sexual objects?
People believe that women's bodies should be used to satisfy men's sexual needs and that women's bodies are sexual objects to satisfy men's needs. They are oblivious to women's sexual needs.
The main reason for rape and sexual harassment is the perception of a woman's body as an object. The importance of body politics is to avoid this kind of violence against women's bodies. The thoughts of body politics were raised in the United States as part of feminism in the 1970s.
Body politics is also concerned with women's reproductive rights.
Women's bodies are primarily viewed as sexual objects in low-human-development-index and religious countries. Many religious texts support the idea that women are supposed to fulfill men's sexual needs. When you read all the religious books one by one, you will notice that they all boil down to discrimination against women, such as a lack of choice, being viewed as a machine for birth, and a slave to their master to meet their needs.
This type of preaching may mislead people about the concept of body politics. (Click Here for more information)
Body politics encompasses the fight against female body objectification and violence against women and girls, as well as the campaign for women's reproductive rights.
Women's bodies have been a political battleground in the abortion debate. Many people still believe that women are only meant to bear children and that women are incomplete without the capacity for reproduction.
They are unaware of women's reproductive rights. In many relationships, having children is done without the women's consent. Marital rape is still prevalent in marriages. Laws are in place to prevent marital rape, just like any other rape. However, in parts of the world, these laws are not even known.
Following the First World War and the granting of the right to vote in many countries, women fought for sexual equality and control over their bodies. The second wave of feminist body politics encouraged people to speak out about rape, sexual abuse, and violence against women and girls, which many people saw as extreme examples of sanctioned male power.
Personal body issues such as rape, contraception, hair, dress style, pregnancy, and sexual harassment were considered not only political but also political science.
The origins of this argument can be found in protest campaigns against rape and sexual violence, campaigns for access to birth control and abortion, and the feminist health movement, which emphasized women's right to control what happened to their bodies.
An intriguing variation is that weight is the most general aspect of the body that affects women, and the study conducted in Australia discovered that brides expressed a desire to lose weight before their wedding. The findings indicate that wedding-related weight change may be a crucial factor in newlyweds' body image. Other cultures impose restrictive and debilitating body changes on the female body.
Sexual violence is frequently the result of aggressors' dehumanized perceptions of the female body, which they acquire through the interpretation of objectified body images. Women are disproportionately victims of rape and intimate violence in many countries because they are not violent warriors or perpetrators of violence.
Now it is time to reveal how to accomplish the goals of body politics. Giving a sex education class to the next generation is the first and most important concept for achieving body politics. People will understand women's sexual and reproductive rights if they receive sex education. And the significance of women's consent for sexual relations and reproduction.
Another way to achieve body politics goals is to emphasize the importance of feminism. Teach people that men and women are equal and that women are not a toy used to satisfy men's sexual needs.
In the future, we need a world in which men and women are treated equally, and women are not treated as a toy for men. Let us hope for a more equal tomorrow.
Books that you might want to read.
*Disclosure: some links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.
The Kurdish Women's Freedom Movement: Gender, Body Politics and Militant Femininities by Isabel Käser
Belly Of The Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness by Da'Shaun L. Harrison, Kiese Laymon
The Politics of The Female Body in Contemporary Turkey: Reproduction, Maternity, Sexuality (Gender and Islam) By Hilal Alkan, Ayse Dayi, Sezin Topçu, Betül Yarar