In last weeks seminar, we discussed some very interesting questions about our society. Why do we feel the need to reproduce? Why is it important that our children carry our DNA? We discussed that it might be partly because of our survival instincts which urge us to continue existing through our children, and partly because of how our culture and society is shaped. In many cultures around the world, it is easy to see the pressure of the society on adults to have children. This pressure might come from family, friends and generally people around us having children at a certain age. It has come to a point where, when someone decides not to have children, they are criticized or looked down upon.
In today’s society, especially women are subjected to criticism for their decisions about what they want to do with their own body. This includes reproductive rights such as birth controls and abortion. This article from Maddie Crum posted on Huffington Post discusses the opinions of feminist science fiction writers that highlight the important rights of women, focusing on their reproductive rights. Among these novels, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is also mentioned, which was a novel that we saw in the list of novels and stories for our response paper assignment. I believe that feminist novels like that present a different perspective that shows the importance of some truly inalienable rights, as Crum also mentions in the article. This quote from Elizabeth Bonesteel is a very progressive thought on this topic, in my opinion;
“As much as it seems reductive to say it, the issue revolves around women’s role in the human reproductive cycle. In order to depoliticize basic health issues, we need to get to a point where women have control over when (or if) they become pregnant, and how often.”
I suggest everyone to read the other authors’ answers to how the reproductive rights could be protected and improved in the future as well. Speaking of feminist science fiction novels, here is an article that lists 8 feminist science fiction books that diversify from the commonly seen sci-fi stories in which the “Caucasian, heterosexual men” saves the day and gets the girl, as Sadie Trombetta writes in the article.
Last week we also talked about how women are associated with technology and robots. We can see this in the sci-fi movies and novels as well. Here is another article of an opinion about the possible reasons for such an association between women and robots exist.
References
- Crum, M. (2017, March 06). Feminist Sci-Fi Writers Predict The Future Of Reproductive Health. Retrieved March 26, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/feminist-sci-fi-writers-on-reproductive-health_us_58a7475de4b037d17d27983d
- Trombetta, S. (2018, March 23). 8 Must-Read Feminist Science Fiction Books. Retrieved March 26, 2018, from https://www.bustle.com/articles/139734-8-feminist-science-fiction-books-because-yes-they-do-exist
- Mack, B., Dunn, S., & Kennedy, C. (2017, December 27). Why are robots designed to be female? Retrieved March 26, 2018, from https://idealog.co.nz/tech/2017/12/why-are-robots-designed-be-female
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