It is always "we hear you," but are you listening? It is still "protect our women," but you disregard. It is always "I stand with you," but you were against us. Who is this 'you' I am referring to?
Read this word: Aciremafosetatsdetinueht. You glance at it and realize it doesn't make sense.
Well, you know what else doesn't make sense? The fact that a woman's body is not treated as a temple. Instead, the woman's body is disrespected, neglected, and unconcerned. A woman can't walk out her own home without being physically judged by her sense of dress, whether wholly covered from head to toe, or half-dressed. You may say, "her body, her choices," but you forgot the part about criminalizing a woman for being a woman.
What happened to "we all came from a woman, got our name from a woman, and the game from a woman?" Instead, we take, rape, beat, and hurt the makers of human beings on this earth. Do we hate our women? Since a man can't make one, "He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one."
We live in a world where a woman always has to prove herself-whether it is for her rights, her decisions, consent, and safety. First off, I want to address that women are not experimental animals. Let's establish that women are not vessels or resources and should not be forced to do anything that violates her mentality and physicality. It is sick that we live in a society where it is acceptable for men to violate a woman comfortably. We live in a society where it is sufficient for men to control women socially.
We saw it coming. It's been done. This was not surprising.
This feature was intentional and was part of the system's design. What element am I referring to?
The force sterilization of women. No "stranger danger" to the world.
We see the long history of women neglected because they are women. Women have been expected in society to be more nurturing, accommodating, and demonstrating "lady-like tendencies. Even with these social norms set in stone, we still see how power structures affect women's lives. Even with the long history of sterilization during the eugenics movement, it was legal to sterilize women -over 70,000 women. This coercive sterilization has targeted against all women, specifically women of color. This also included incarcerated women. No matter what people may do or say to cover their behinds on this nonconsent procedure, this is abuse in action. Let me give you some insight into what this "sterilization" issue is all about:
Recently, a whistle-blower reported that a "gynecologist has been performing hysterectomies at a disturbingly high rate at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Georgia." Also, the first formal report was made by a nurse who worked in the facility. However, these allegations have yet been confirmed to be true. Let's be real here for a minute. If sterilization has been an ongoing issue for many decades, why in the world would this allegation not be true?
Many women were told the sterilization would be temporary or reversible. This automatically makes women become more onboard. We can't deny that as women, we sometimes have "motherly" instincts, or sometimes our "uterus hurts" because we see children. It is in our nature a lot of times to feel "motherly." To tell women this procedure is reversible or temporary is outright evil and directly against many (not all) of women's (our) NATURAL feelings.
In Tennesse, the judge, Sam Benningfield, offered 30 fewer days to women who did NOT refuse sterilization- Excuse me? Also, this happened in the year 2017. He said he was trying to give people "the chance to make something of themselves." Oh, that's right. It's because women aren't anything if they don't have kids. Finagle women beyond their ability to reproduce.
Over 30% of Americans favor using the punishment of sterilization for women who use crack cocaine. If we look back in history all the way back to the Nixon era, that is EXTREMELY racist to Black women. Considering this era set up crack users (Black people) rather than cocaine users (white people), to receive punishment, this is directly racist-even though it is the same drug. Cocaine happens to be more expensive.
Violation after violation...
Not only does it affect the women having the "procedure" done, but it also affects all women because women have been fighting their entire lives to make rational choices of their own. Not only does this affect the inability to have children physically, but emotionally, women are ruined.
It is not like the doctors did not know what they were doing. They knew exactly what they were doing. The ones who are supposed to be advocates for health are advocating for wealth. These procedures were put in place for two important reasons: 1) social control of women and 2) enforce the law of white supremacy. We can see how social control is connected to violence and oppression against women. Forced sterilization is another way governments have "weaponized reproduction to subjugate communities that are considered undesirable and expendable in a nation." We see how regulating women's bodies is part of the system's historical pattern: to make an unequal society and have power and control over those who are the most vulnerable. Women were one of those factors.
Remember the word Aciremafosetatsdetinueht? Read it backward. The word spelled backward is The United States of America. Why? Because it doesn't make sense.
Additional References:
Allegations of Forced Sterilization in ICE Detention Evoke a Long Legacy of Eugenics in the United States. (2020, September 18). Retrieved October 09, 2020, from https://ccrjustice.org/home/blog/2020/09/18/allegations-forced-sterilization-ice-detention-evoke-long-legacy-eugenics
Fayyad, A. (2020, September 18). America's shameful history of sterilizing women - The Boston Globe. Retrieved October 09, 2020, from https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/17/opinion/americas-shameful-ongoing-history-sterilizing-women/
The U.S. Bears International Responsibility for Forced Sterilization of Women in ICE Detention. (2020, September 29). Retrieved October 09, 2020, from https://www.justsecurity.org/72587/the-u-s-bears-international-responsibility-for-forced-sterilization-of-women-in-ice-detention/
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