Brave New “Men’s” World
Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World paints a dystopic vision in which the government exercises control over women’s bodies and reproductive rights. Women are denied any form of freedom over their own bodies, as demonstrated by the quote, “There was no escape from the servitude of their own bodies” (Huxley 5). This authoritarian system forces women to accept their predetermined station in life and threatens them with the idea of being removed or banished if they defy it. The government is able to manipulate the population through a strict procedure of sleep-teaching and “hypnopaedic” conditioning, which reinforces gender roles and shuts down any hint of rebellion. Huxley further emphasizes the lack of freedom women
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The government's control over their reproductive rights is painfully clear; of the two-thirds of women unable to have kids, the majority are required to use contraceptives, and ovaries are removed surgically. This dystopian lack of freedom is further emphasized by Huxley's profound quote "words can be like X-rays, if you use them properly – they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced". It shortly shows the control over sexual mores and reproductive rights that suffocates women's ability to have control over their bodies. In a brave world, the ability to freely make choices about their own bodies is a fundamental, essential right that shouldn't be debated or taken from them. As stated by the Center for Reproductive Rights "Simply put, reproductive freedom lies at the heart of the promise of human dignity, self-determination, and equality" and should be defended and respected …show more content…
This lack of power among women is a dangerous consequence of the backwards views on gender present during Huxley’s time period, and it still influences the present day. In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, the backward ideas of gender, particularly concerning women, are highlighted in order to emphasize the need for female control of their own reproductive rights. Through themes of dehumanization, constraint, and anti-feminism, the novel serves as a powerful reminder of the limitations imposed on women in controlling their own bodies. For example, medicine has been used to reduce women to nothing more than objects of reproduction. Furthermore, reproductive rights are women’s rights, and access to legal and safe abortions is a human right that must be protected. Thus, Brave New World shows both the challenges and importance of striving for a better future in which female reproductive rights are protected and
When Birth Control first hit the market in the 1960’s, it took off in a way no one expected, not even the doctors. In the book, “America and the Pill”, Elaine Tyler May focuses on the revolution of birth control and the effects it’s had on society. One of May’s main arguments were that “the pill” gave women new power they didn’t have before. This new invention paved the way for women’s right’s in the United States.
When Gianna Jenson addresses the argument that abortion should be legal for support of women’s rights, she states “if legalizing abortion is about women’s rights, where were my rights as a female when my brain desperately tried to search for oxygen while the saline solution was supposed to kill me before I could even think.” This strong rebuttal to the argument makes the audience think, if abortion is in women’s rights, why isn’t the baby allowed those same basic rights, or even the right of survival? Again, Gianna puts the topic of standing up for your rights into perspective for the audience by saying, “how much are you willing to take and how much are you willing to risk to speak the truth in love and in graciousness, to stand up and at least be willing to be hated, or at the end of the day is it all about you, or me?” In other words, Jenson asks the audience how far they will go to stand up for what they believe in, because she went as far as delivering a speech about the topic to the public. This provokes the audience to wonder if their arguments were valid enough and if their personal thoughts are strong enough to be fought
Rather than stating the argument, Willis poses it as a question, “Are the fetuses the moral equivalent of born human beings?” (Abortion Debate 76), thus showing how modern feminists can only support one side of the argument in their chosen stance, and cause limitations by doing so. In doing so, Willis shows how to some “extent… we objectify our enemy and define the terms of our struggle as might makes right, the struggle misses its point” (Ministries of Fear 210), which implies that feminists have completely missed the point of the argument by getting caught up in an answer. Rather than looking for a compromise or gray area, they exert their stance as the only solution that woman can have. Willis also shows how feminists fundamentally “see the primary goal of feminism as freeing omen from the imposition of so called ‘male values’, and creating an alternative culture based on ‘female values’”
Aldous Huxley’s text, Brave New World, will leave you questioning your perspective on life and it’s choices. Within the novel, curious readers can see that government control over all in an attempt to create a utopia, can sometimes have a counter effect, creating a dystopia. Wielding it’s tool of conformity, The World State has forced its ideology into the minds of its people at a young age, in hopes of avoiding rebellion. In many ways this is how our society functions in the real world. The genre of Huxley's text may be fiction, but the society fabricated in Brave New World may not be so fictional after all.
Through Cross’s article “Abortion in Canada: Legal but Not Accessible”, I will discuss the conflicts of abortion that range across Canada and how it can lead to the reduction of women’s rights and consequently cause harm to a woman’s mental health. I also follow Cross’s example of self-proclamation of pro-choice movements in YWCA and women’s empowerment to ensure a positive attitude towards women’s health. Canada is currently one of very few countries where no legal restrictions on abortions exist today. Since the first criminal law against abortion was enacted within Canada in 1869, regulations and accessibility to abortion have undergone serious changes (Cross 3). Today, the rights and morality of a woman who access abortions are brought into question in both educational and political thought in our nation, since the topic is complex in the nature of a woman’s body, it is in deep importance of Canadian history and current politics relating to sexuality.
She tries to convince the reader that although the woman may think that she has no other option, there will always be something more appropriate than abortion. In summary, the author says that it is wrong to act impulsively and that women need to think about the consequences before attempting the termination of her child. She explains how the small human inside is “alive and growing” (P 23). Mathewes-Green addresses the concept of the child being “unwanted”, and how that is not true because “we are valuable simply because we are members of the human race” (P 21). The language the writer uses has a strong effect on a woman's heart, especially future and current mothers.
From 1848 to 1920, an outrageous span of 70 years, women fought for equal rights, to have their voices and opinions heard. Little by little women have gained rights they have so passionately fought for. In 1973, about 50 years after women became eligible to vote, and began to be taken more seriously, the case of Roe v Wade granted women to have one of the most impactful rights to date, to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Now, it is safe to say that all women and perhaps most men would not want women to lose the rights they have today, especially because there have been many influential women around the world who have been given the chance to be impactful because of the rights they possess. So, if we do not want to take away women’s rights and
Roumel Ibanez P:4 ERWC Brave New World Essay The purpose of my paper is to explain how men and women are not equal in Brave New World. From the very start of the book, huxley had made men superior to women.
Everyone has the right to make decisions about their own health, body, sexuality and reproductive life, without fear, violence or discrimination. However all over the world, people 's freedom to make these decisions are controlled by the state, medical professionals, even their own families. Criminal laws or illegal actions are frequently used to control such choices. In the end, many people are prevented from making any choice at all. Every woman has the right to make any decision that involves her body.
They are being forced into prostitution, and they are being barred from the bank lending offices and banned from the ballot box.” This quote provides some of the many struggles that women face daily. It uses the topic of motherhood, which is an extremely emotional topic, and the complications women have watching their children suffer as they try their best to provide for them. This quote also addresses the fact that fathers and brothers of women, or men in general, deny them the right of getting an education.
In her pilgrimage to fight for women’s rights, activist Margaret Sanger created a speech on a severely controversial topic not only during her time period, but during our present time period as well. While many firmly disagreed with her and still do, she did bring to light a major disparity between sexes and social classes. By vocalizing her qualms with the rights of women, mainly in the middle and lower classes, to decide for themselves if they wish to have children or not. By voicing her opinions in an extremely misogynistic era she made herself a totem in women’s history. Women do have a right to decide for themselves if they wish to have children or not.
She questions society’s actions to boost the clarity of why pro-choice is beneficial to the advancement of the “century of the
In 1960, the first birth control pill was put on the market. This was the first time a woman’s reproductive health was in her own control. Ever since the 1900’s women have been fighting for the right to their own reproductive rights (“The Fight for Reproductive Rights”). With the upcoming presidential election the right to obtain birth control and other contraceptives for women could be jeopardized, and taken out of the control of the woman. Thus, the history of birth control, the statistics of how it affects today’s society, why women should have the ability to obtain it easily, and how if outlawed it would not only hurt women, but also the economy are all important topics in the women’s rights movement and very relevant in modern day society.
Doris Gudino Professor Chounlamountry Political Science 1 27 July 2015 Pro-Choice Anyone? A woman has, undoubtedly, the freedom to procreate, but once a woman chooses to retreat from that freedom, a commotion arises. Abortion is a woman’s choice for many reasons. It’s her body, therefore, no one else can decide for said person.
This “Utopian” society seems to still struggle with gender equality. Huxley demonstrates several instances throughout the novel in which women are portrayed as sexual objects, and even deemed as the bad ones. Brave New World begins with a class of students who are being toured around by the director of the facility. Much like that classroom and most top positions it appears that women are not as valued as men.