{"id":695,"date":"2013-06-05T06:30:58","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T01:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asap-asia.org\/blog\/?p=695"},"modified":"2013-06-05T06:37:20","modified_gmt":"2013-06-05T01:07:20","slug":"abortion-personhood-before-biology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asap-asia.org\/blog\/abortion-personhood-before-biology\/","title":{"rendered":"Abortion: Personhood before Biology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever looked up the term \u201csubversion\u201d on Wikipedia? If not, you should do it now: http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Subversion<\/a><\/p>\n

Subversion is as Wikipedia says, \u201can attempt to transform the established social order<\/a> and its structures of power<\/a>, authority<\/a>, and hierarchy<\/a>.\u201d We discussed this term in detail at our \u00a0Youth Advocacy Institute in November 2012, encouraging our participants to recognize oppressive social orders and work toward removing these barriers.<\/p>\n

But, while subversion could well mean the road to an oppression-free world to some, it is interesting to note how all but one of the six definitions on Wikipedia brim with negative connotations and make subversion sound like a treacherous and potentially dangerous even detrimental act.<\/p>\n

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I am somewhat reminded of the popular British show MI-5. Yes, the one about the secret service, where every environmentalist and socialist is portrayed as a maniac threatening the oh-so-vulnerable capitalistic world order, and the elite who benefit from it. Her majesty\u2019s secret service of course works to protect \u201cthe world order as we know it\u201d and ruthlessly takes down protesters. (I specifically love how casually they use terms like \u00a0\u201cthreat to national security\u201d and \u201cterrorist.\u201d).<\/p>\n

But as feminists, we represent these protestors: those involved in the traitorous and deceptive act of deconstructing patriarchy. \u00a0Conservative and traditional leaders play the role of MI-5 secret service agents, trying to remove conflicts that threaten the \u201cworld order as we know it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Very often, they resort to emotional arguments. In very conservative societies \u2013 be it Louisiana in the U.S, or Iran in the Middle East, or India in South Asia, a woman discovering her independence and individual identity is seen as a threat to \u201cfamily life.\u201d Family, of course, in this context is not a group of people who respect and support your opinion, but a basic fundamental unit (based on very heteronormative ideas of “men” and “women”), which helps in procreating and furthering the race.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Which is why a woman choosing to terminate her pregnancy has turned into a huge international debate, and is likely to always remain so. Abortion is in itself a form of subversion. It challenges the patriarchal idea of \u201cwomen as a womb\u201d much more significantly,\u00a0deliberately\u00a0and effectively than do several other feminist issues. If a woman can choose not to be a mother, by terminating a pregnancy, then she stands up against any emotional argument that can be leveled at her in the name of \u201cfamily\u201d or \u201cwomanhood.\u201d In some sense, abortion challenges gender roles much better than other arguments do, by placing a woman\u2019s personhood above her biology.<\/p>\n

But in making that argument I would not like to\u00a0trivialize\u00a0from other feminist debates, which have challenged gender, and class. A great example is James Finn Garner\u2019s extremely funny and interesting work \u201dPolitically Correct Bedtime Stories\u201d<\/a>, which uses fairy tales to question gender roles and classism! (One of our resources for the Youth Advocacy Institute)<\/p>\n

Below is an interesting you-tube version of one of the most interesting plots: Red Riding Hood!<\/p>\n