Rebecca Walker's article "Lusting for Freedom" in Listen Up brings up a lot of issues regarding sex that affect women and girls everywhere - regardless of age, race, affluence, or location. She cites HIV/AIDS, limited access to health care, and parental notification laws as three major obstacles in protecting ourselves. "Moral codes and legal demarcations complicate rather than regulate desire. And judgments like 'right' and 'wrong' only build barriers between people and encourage shame within individuals" (19). It is interesting to think that most regulations are put in place to protect people, but actually end up doing more harm than good. Requiring parental notification for a young woman to get an abortion sounds like a good idea in theory, because that promotes dialogue and gives her a support system. However, if a young woman is uncomfortable in doing so, this can actually be damaging because she will find ways, often times dangerous, to "beat the system." I elaborated on some of my other thoughts on Walker's article in response to classmates' posts in other blogs earlier this week.
Parental involvement in a young person's life, in my opinion, is more important than what is taught in the schools. Most students view sex ed classes as awkward or funny. Nobody really takes them seriously. Middle and high schoolers generally adopt an "I already know everything" attitude. If parents can instill strong values in their children that allow them to make confident and appropriate sexual decisions, that will have a far greater impact than anything a gym teacher is going to say to them in sex ed. They should also try to educate their children on what is fact and what is fiction before they start hearing rumors on the schoolbus. Parents need to not turn a blind eye to such an important issue and try to keep an open dialogue with their children to promote safe sex. Simply asking a daughter if she would like to go on birth control rather than pretending that she will never have sex can go a long way.
Sonia Shah's article "Tight Jeans and Chania Chorris" ephasized the importance of an open dialogue between parents and their children when it comes to sexual behavior. Generational and cultural gaps can lead to major misunderstandings and discussion is vital to allow everyone to be on relatively the same page.
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Rebecca Walker’s article, “Lusting for Freedom” addresses many of the pertinent issues of female sexual exploration and self-understanding. She laments the fact that certain societal institutions deny women the right to safe sexual exploration, and instead force them to feel shame and discomfort regarding their own sexuality, to the point where it damages a woman’s ability to even know what sexual pleasure feels or looks like. By denying women the social freedom to know their bodies, society commits a great injustice. Walker says, “For giving our bodies what they want and crave, for exploring ourselves and others, we are punished like Eve reaching for more knowledge. We are called sluts and whores. We are considered impure or psychotic” (23). These social restrictions placed on a woman’s freedom to understand her body should no longer be acceptable in the world we live in. It is obvious that young women will continue to have sex despite the various negativities associated with it. Knowing this, women (and men) with a positive understanding of their sexual selves should be compelled to effect change and reverse the antiquated process of shaming sexuality. We must seek to create a world in which young women are allowed to explore this fundamental part of our human nature. I agree with Walker’s notion that achieving healthy sexuality is a deeply personal experience. Through experience and education, young women should be encouraged to understand that “bodily pleasure belongs to us; it is our birthright (24). By asserting personal responsibility for our sexual selves, young women can and should make sex and dynamic, affirming, safe and pleasurable part of our lives.
ReplyDeleteI feel like we should be clear that there is a difference between exploring your body,feeling empowered by it and sleeping with a lot of man to feel loved or worthy. but this is a fine line and maybe women do not know when they cross and names like whore start coming up. Overall, I agree with Emily and Missy because our sexuality is many times ignored and not talked about to the point that it give us shame about our bodies. The idea of our bodies as something dirty by the invention of scented pads, shaving legs shows that we think are bodies our abnormal, dirty and something we should be careful and sometimes ashamed. I agree with Emily in the fact that young women should be allowed to explore their sexuality and develop strong personality by it. With this I dont mean teenager should be having sex because I disagree with that. I think that young women should learn about their vagina, their bodies and sex. It is important to know that what you have is something to be proud and not something dirty because that leads to insecurity than empowerment.
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