No Right to Be a Mother?

Is there a right to be a mother? Any reproductive justice advocate would give a decisive YES - reproductive justice means the right to have children, the right not to have children, and the right to parent the children we have.

Problems arise when mothers are imprisoned, far away from their children and their families. They may be sent to isolated federal prisons or locked away in jails with no ability to see their kids. Some women give birth behind bars (escorted in chains to hospitals), only to be forced to leave their newborn babies and return to prison after a few days. The conditions of imprisonment and the policies of the prison system limit women's ability to have children and to parent their own children.

As a law student involved in reproductive justice, I knew all of this before the event, "Women Prisoners: No Right to be a Mother." But the panel brought the intimate problems of being a woman prisoner to life - the panel included two women who were formally incarcerated.

One woman described the reproductive justice abuses she faced. Some issues are so basic that even reproductive justice advocates would overlook them, such as lack of access to sanitary napkins. She explained how degrading it was to be forced to ask men for pads when you were on your period. The prison would ration pads at a certain number per woman, even though some women need more than others. Then you would have to ask for more pads if you had a heavier period one month. She remembered thinking that this must be wrong - why couldn't she get sanitary pads when she needed them? She used this story to show that people on the outside do not even know what every day life is like in prison, or what female prisoners go through on a daily basis.

Professor Joan Petersilia began the talk by saying, "gender matters." Women prisoners are different than incarcerated men. Yet, prisons treat women just like men, adding a few sanitary pads into the equasion. Petersilia argued that the prison system needs to take gender differences seriously to design programs specific to female prisoners. After fighting for equality in the system, we are now asking for different treatment for female prisoners.

And some of that different impact based on gender relates to being a mother (although we should push for the right to parent for imprisoned men too). Robin Levi from Justice Now discussed her work interviewing female prisoners extensively, when they discussed the impact of prison on being a mother. Two-thirds of incarcerated women are mothers of a minor child, but children of incarcerated women often fall into the foster care system or are subject to fast-track adoption. Women in prison deal with visiting restrictions and limits on talking on the phone and writing letters.

Hamdiya Cooks, one of the formerly incarcerated women, said that she never felt like she didn't have a right to be a mother, she always thought that was a possibility with the love and support from family members and advocates to help her from the outside. One woman wrote to Justice Now that she was lucky to have a connection with her son, and grateful that he was raised to know that she was his mother - something that does not happen for most women locked away for decades.

We have to ask: are we serving women and their families by locking them up? The result is that a whole group of women are missing from their families and their communities. As Ms. Cooks said, women are attempting to be equal participants in society, but they are held back by the degrading and violating prison system. Prison conditions take away women's basic humanity. We cannot attain gender equality if we do not recognize the value of every human being.

Look a Little Deeper: Intergenerational Conflict

As this class draws to a close, I want to reconsider one of the first readings we did at the very beginning of the course: “Intergenerational Change in Feminism: Why is it So Hard to Pass the Torch?,” a blog post by Karen Bojar.

Honestly, before this class, I didn’t see much of a generational divide in feminism.  The feminists I know who are older than me have always been gracious, supportive, and helpful: I need only look as far as my own life to see women helping younger women progress as leaders.  So when we first read this article, I viewed it as one of those media debates, which don’t really exist, but which are manipulated to undermine our movement.

After this class, I think that statement is somewhat true.  I do think that to some extent, the generational divide amongst feminists are highlighted by the media to prove that feminism is indeed dead and that it no longer resonates with young women.

But over this past quarter, I have seen a very real divide among feminists, one that goes much deeper than Bojar’s argument that the leadership of the feminist movement is unwilling to pass the torch.  I think that’s true, but I think it’s due to something more upsetting than her claim of older feminist’s desire to control the movement.  I think a substantial portion of this feminist leadership thinks young women are incompetent and unenthusiastic about the future of this movement.

I can tell you from my experience this is untrue.  Look at this article: ask young women like Jessica Valenti (whose books have taught me countless things about the nature of feminism) if young feminists exist.  They do… they just might not look the way older feminists seem to want them to.

But as has been continuously cited throughout this symposium, a lot of young feminists don’t “look like” feminists.  We dress like “sluts”… or not.  But some of us do, and this seems to be the single defining factor of our generation, at least if you ask other generations.  It’s our “screw you” to the hard work of the women who came before us… and they’re angry.

I admit that I come from a biased position: I like mini skirts and I enjoy dressing up.  To me, it’s not an undermining of the feminist movement, but an embrace of it.  That I believe that I can wear whatever I want, and still demand to be treated with respect and still claim my right to walk safely wherever I choose is a direct result of the strides of the feminist movement. 

If we can’t look past surface differences like how we choose to dress or what forum we use for discussion, there will be an unbridgeable divide between the different generations of feminism.  But, if, as has been my personal experience, young women feel comfortable expressing themselves to older feminists, and feel respected and appreciated by them, this young generation of feminism could be unstoppable.  

Feminist Humor

I have two all-time favorite Ms. Magazine covers.  The first is the “Rape is Rape” cover, which I think is brilliant in all its stark simplicity.  The second is the cartoon in which the man says, “Did you know the feminist movement has no sense of humor?”  To which the woman replies, “No, but hum a few bars and I’ll fake it.”  This is the cover that Professor Fisher-Fishkin used as the first image of the night during her lecture on feminist humor and it could not be more apt.  The thing about feminist humor is: it’s subversive, it’s self-referential, it’s revolutionary… but above all, it’s funny. 

Professor Fisher-Fishkin began her talk with a quote from Mark Twain,  “Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”  This theme of humor as a weapon was something that pervaded her talk as she went on to discuss the ways in which feminists can and do use humor as a revolutionary tool.  As Professor Fisher-Fishkin said, “any joke is potentially subversive” and I think that she did a great job of displaying the diverse ways in which feminist humor can subvert the dominant paradigm.

She dove into examples such as inversion (flipping the gender to point out the absurdism of sexism), impersonation, and illumination (making the invisible visible).

Before taking questions and examples, she ended with the quote, “Feminist humor is serious and it is about changing this world.”

Overall, I thought this was a fantastic lecture that proved feminists can take a joke… as long as it’s funny.

However, when she then asked the audience for questions and examples, the generational divide reared its ugly head.  One of the older members of the audience stood up and discussed how young women are setting the feminist movement back by self-objectifying through dress.

I’m quite frankly sick of hearing this argument.  While I do think there is something to be said for the case that young women should not feel pressured to be sexual, I also think there’s nothing wrong with a young adult choosing to express her sexuality through her choice in clothing… even if that makes some older feminists think she’s dressing like a slut.  It’s time we stop slut-shaming and look at the deeper issues affecting women and the objectification of their sexuality.

That being said, from there, the audience participation took a more humorous tone as people began to share their favorite examples of feminist humor.   A favorite of mine was the sharing of “Feminist Hulk,” an anonymous Twitter account which is here to “SMASH GENDER BINARY.”

Feminist humor is awesome and here to stay.  Yes, feminism takes on serious issues: rape, the wage gap, reproductive justice… But that doesn’t mean that we can’t revolutionize with a laugh or two.  Humor may be the best medicine… but it’s also the best weapon.