Sexuality-April 13

The purpose of theoretical writing on sexuality is to explore women's rights and access to sexual health and freedom.  The feminist theory lens allows us to look at women's corporeal health in a social and global context.  In the article, "Reproductive and Sexual Rights: A Feminist Perspective," Correa and Petchesky lay out a model for establishing and protecting women's reproductive rights.  The authors argue that although the concept of human rights derives from Western theory, reproductive rights transcend historical and geographical scales.  The central issue of reproductive rights concerns a woman's ability to decide when and whether to have children.  However, many other issues are at hand when dealing with this issue.  Corporeal rights for women both drive and are driven by social change.  In other words, women's control over their bodies is largely encouraged on a government scale, and yet women gain political status when they are able to control their reproduction.  More importantly, the state of the economy determines women's reproductive matters.  For example, women of lower economic status do not have the means of transportation necessary to access contraceptives and gynecological treatments.  The economic inequity of women facilitates the consciousness of social needs greater than women's bodies.  To accommodate the social needs of all women and strengthen the foundation upon which women's reproductive rights are constructed, Correa and Petchesky urge feminists to uphold bodily integrity, personhood, equality, and diversity.  Because women's bodies around the world, and especially in patriarchal locations, are integral to social traditions, the pillars of the social model must remain respected.  In the case of Saudi Arabian women, we have to wonder if the patriarchal mandate to completely cover their bodies rejects the pillars.  To some extent, Saudi Arabian women lack agency in bodily matters.  It is believed that women whose bodies are not completely veiled will draw men into sin, which would jeopardize the pure, Islamic state.  The mandate for women to veil their bodies creates an environment in which women's bodies are concealed from the male gaze, yet they lack freedom in the decision to be veiled.  Furthermore, the veil and its social implications prevents women from exploring their sexuality outside of the Islamic law.  In the analysis of Saudi Arabian women, however, it is important for a "western" feminist like myself to remember diversity.  The veiling of women and maintenance of purity is essential to their religious tradition.  The veil also benefits women by concealing their sex, avoiding sexual assault (somewhat), and preventing themselves from getting distracted by fashion frivolity.  What remains important here is that women do not have the choice to be unveiled.  In the minds of Correa and Petchesky, forcing women to be veiled by a patriarchal and theocratic regime would diminish the freedoms of the other three pillars.