Body Image

I chose to represent the medicalization of childbirth, and show the control over women’s bodies and choices. Media plays a big role in advertizing the medicalization of childbirth and tarnishing the image of midwives and homebirth. They promote the image of perfect childbirth; in a hospital, on the back, with a doctor and sudden complications that lead to C-Section.

 Hollywood actresses are part of the medialization of the C-Section as the new trend, a fashionista thing, and a symbol of the new modern woman trying to find a free time in her busy schedule to give birth to her child. They schedule their childbirth, enter the hospital and they are out in few hours holding their babies happy, in shape on their high heel, smiling: “why do you have to suffer when you can take the easy way, look at me I did it!”   

I have chosen Victoria Beckham because she had three C-sections. I have chosen this picture because she is holding her baby and she seems worried. I associated her worries with the dangers of having multiple C-sections; physically and mentally. As if she is aware of those dangers and wants to raise awareness and change the situation but still it should be in accordance with her husband’s needs. The notion of control is still there, it has to fit her husband’s schedule, the obligation to accommodate women with men, society or institutions’ needs.    

 

Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Justice

Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Justice

The reproductive right discourse is about reproductive freedom, the choice to determine reproduction, the right to chose to prevent pregnancy, to bear children, to control fertility. To reach those rights, women need appropriate sex education, affordable and reliable birth control, safe, legal and affordable abortion, parental care and care through childbirth, health care for infants and children and alternative insemination.

Meanwhile, reproductive justice discourse is the access to all reproductive rights; to put reproductive rights within a social, economical, institutional, political justice frame work. All women no matter class, gender, sexuality, ability generation, and immigration status should have access to the reproductive rights.  

When talking about birth control, reproductive rights are about safe contraception that doesn’t affect the body, like does the intrauterine device which causes heavy bleeding, pain and cramps, or with some pills like Depo-Prevera and Norplant. And for that women need appropriate funding from the government, international resource, private foundations in the field of reproductive research and more support.

For reproductive justice all women should have access to safe contraception; for example low-income women of color are much more likely than white women to be encouraged to use long-acting contraceptives (Depo-Prevera and Norplant). “Official policy seeks to limit their pregnancies and assumes that these women would be unreliable using other methods, thereby continuing the long connection between birth control and eugenics, or selective breeding, often linked to racism and ableism, supposedly to create healthier and more intelligent people, to save resources, and to lessen human suffering” (Roberts 1997, Ross 1993, smith 2002) (chapter 5 page 212).

Abortion is the most controversial subject in controlling fertility, the fight for safe and legal abortion has been very long and hard; between criminalizing abortion and legalizing it (with the Roe V Wade that gives the right to privacy, which means the woman and only the woman have the right to decide whether to have the abortion or not), the abortion choice is full of difficulties, that’s why women need to make the right political choice, choose pro-choice politicians and make sure that the Roe V Wade is not overturned and avoid the re-criminalization of abortion, more funding for abortion, create a safe environment for the clinics and people who exercise abortion.    

Reproductive justice organizations call for the right to abortion rather than sterilization abuse for poor women especially women of color (Latina, African American and Native American women). By 1982, 24 percent of African American women, 35 percent of Puerto Rican women, and 42 percent of Native American women had been sterilized, compared with 15 percent of white women (Black’s Women’s health Project; also see Davis 1983a; Jaimes and Halsey 1986; Lopez; Nelson 2003; Silliman et al. 2004; Smith 2002) (chapter 5 page 214)

The increasing rate of C-sections scares the reproductive rights organizations, because it changes women’s experience of pregnancy and childbirth and affects their knowledge and confidence about their bodies, women should have the right to choose between having a natural childbirth (which requires appropriate care) or C-section.      

Reproductive right discourse and reproductive Justice are complementary; because you can’t make the choice if you don’t have access to the rights

 

 

Service Learning Proposal For MVP (Mentors in Violence Prevention)
By: Emily Leiter
Raati Kumar
Racara Jackson
Jamie Crenshaw
Amanda Santos
Fadia Braktia
September 26, 2012
Meredith Tweed
WST 3015-0001

Community Partner Profile:
Community Partner: MVP (The Mentors in Violence Prevention)
Contact: Abigail Malick

Community Partner Mission Statement: “MVP provides the leadership necessary, within sport and beyond, to address the global issues of sexism – especially men’s violence against women. In our advocacy efforts and training programs, we educate, inspire and empower men & women to prevent, interrupt and respond to sexist abuse” (MVP).

MVP is an organization put together to bring awareness to sexual abuse. Motivate and educate students on prevention against violence on gender and bullying. Their goals are to inform students on violence accruing against men/women and help bring light to those everyday issues happening. Also, the organization will be challenging and developing their volunteers to inspire and inform others on potentially dangerous situation.


Political and/or Social Basis for Organization: ‘’MVP was founded in 1993 by Northeastern University for the Study of Sport in Society and the National Consortium for Academics & Sports. The multi-racial MVP Program was designed to train male college and high school student-athletes and other student leaders to use their status to speak out against rape, battering, sexual harassment, gay-bashing, and all forms of sexist abuse and violence’’ (MVP).

Still today many schools are using the MVP program to bring awareness to those issues. The program is influencing individual to have a voice and helps to prevent accruing situations. They have events protesting and informing student on sexual abuse, bullying, rape, violence’s, and gay-bashing. MVP allowing those who have or have not been victims stand up and fight to prevent these issues from happening.

The Proposal

The following is a proposal to outline the needs, rationale and feasibility for a service learning project to benefit Mentors in Violence Prevention. The following proposal contains background on the need for and benefits of a Community Outreach project, an outline of the work I plan to do, the rationale for its inclusion in WST 3015, and a scheduled timeline. This proposal may need to be revised after beginning the project and must be flexible to meet the needs of the both the Service Learning project and the community partner.

Need for volunteers for the Community Outreach Program

The Mentors in Violence Prevention program acts to prevent violence against women. Their main goal is to raise awareness of violence against women, and to educate everybody on ways to prevent such violence. Our community does not see domestic violence as being as serious and other forms of violence. MVP strives to make people understand that this violence is, in fact, preventable. Through different trainings, MVP achieves their goal of prevention by having volunteers look at the subject of domestic violence differently, not just as this taboo subject that nobody wants to address. It is MVP’s hope that through these trainings, participants will become inspired to be leaders in our community, when it comes to dealing with domestic violence and educating others about ways to prevent such violence.

Plan Proposal:

Throughout the semester, MVP will have various activities to raise awareness of men’s acts of violence against women. Some of these activities include screenings of victims’ documentaries, such as Telling Amy’s Story, at least once a month. Another activity in which MVP hopes to raise awareness of violence against women is through holding brown-bag lunches, in which people discuss attitudes toward abuse while having lunch together. During these lunches, participants will be talking about abuse in society with scenarios that people can relate to. To advertise these events, volunteers will create flyers and posters to be displayed around campus, advertise via social networks like Facebook. We will also be sponsoring a table in front of the Student Union, as well as making announcements in class inviting people to attend and support the organization. MVP will invite local community partners involved with domestic violence to attend the activities as well.

I will be part of a team of volunteers that will dedicate our time and effort into this organization, educating people about domestic violence, bullying, hazing, as well as its implications. By informing others, especially women, of our individual rights I can take part in making this community, state, and country domestic violence free and become better citizens.

Rationale for Women’s Studies

Action:
I didn't have a meeting with Abigail yet, but I'm contacting her and I will go to the MVP Training for Volunteers  on Monday october 1st, 2012.
Timeline:
 
The Service Learning Project will be completed approximately November 20, 2012. The dates that have been listed may change, due to other activities that might become available throughout the semester. Also the Social Media Blogs are continuous throughout the semester; there is no specified deadline as of now.
1. Invite people for the Brown Bag Lunch-In -October 3
2. Make flyers for Tell Amy’s Story -October 8
3. Social Media Advertising - October 12
4. Brown Bag lunch-In - October 17
5. Tell Amy’s Story - October 24
6. Invite people for Brown Bag Lunch - October 31
7. Brown Bag Lunch - November 14
8. Social Media Blogs - (no specified date)

Introductory Letter

I’m Fadia Braktia, I’m a Fulbright scholar from Algeria and I’m a teacher assistant in Arabic language in UCF. I have a master’s degree in translation Arabic, French and English.  Both my parents are feminists, so I have been raised in a family that believes in equality between man and woman. But, when I went out to the society I faced concepts and ideas that are contradictory to mine, concepts that worship man, and put him in a leading position and woman in a position of a passive follower. As I rejected those Ideas, and refused to say yes to men and just obey them, I was considered as an unfaithful rebellion.

In 2010, for my master’s degree thesis I translated three chapters from a book entitled “Feminism in Islam: social secular and religious convergences” by Margot Badran.  The book is a selection of the writer’s essays and articles about feminism in the Arab and Islamic world. Reading and translating the book made me more comfortable with myself, and made me understand that it is ok to say “no, I cannot accept that”.  It was the guiding book telling me that I’m in the right way, and I’m just following the path of all those women struggling and fighting for their rights.

The society and religion have the biggest influence on everyone’s understating to man and women behavior. Feminism in the Arab world is different from feminism in United States. We are still fighting The myths that run in the society about women’s weakness and in a need of protection from men (so if I protect you, I have the right to control you), women being too emotional and can’t rule (which declude women from the political sphere), and women being over-sexualized creatures and they cause chaos in the society, so to keep the order we have to control them, circumcise them, hide them and put the family honor on their bodies and chastity.

            I think that activism in the Arab world is in a contestant challenge with the religion and society. The Moroccan writer and activist Fatima Mernissi, in her book “the Political Harem”, challenged the religious scholars in women’s issues using Hadith (the Prophet’s sayings) to abolish all the believes that god asked women to obey men. The Egyptian writer Radwa Ashur (married to a Palestinian) fought to give her son the Egyptian nationality, because in civil status law only men have the right to give the nationality. In the same context the, feminist, writer and activist Nawal El Saadawi fought for women’s right to give their family names to the children they have out of marriage (illegal children as they call them). She also fought against female circumcision and rejected the idea of women responsible for the family honor, and of course they accused her to advocate corruption of morals and against the religion.      

As part of my experience at the United States, I want to know more about women’s history, fights and gains, see where they succeeded and where they failed and learn from their experience,  in a hope that one day,  I can make a change and help Arab women to get their freedom.

I’m Fadia Braktia, I’m a feminist and proud of it!