One of the classes that I'm taking this semester is Women's Studies. On Wednesday, one of the topics that we discussed was "Women and the New Race". Margaret Sanger was one of the women that contributed to this topic. She is the founder of the birth control movement; also known as "the Pill" today. But something that really interested me is the argument that she was a racist and did not believe that birth control should be provided to Americans of African descent. I was really baffled after hearing this because it didn't mean that she was really fighting for ALL women. Sanger published articles in her newsletter, the "Birth Control Review,"
that portrayed her opinions that certain groups of people "never should have been born"
and that birth control was intended to "create a race of thoroughbreds" and ensure that society had "more children from the fit, less from the unfit". Planned Parenthood never acknowledges any of these
views upon which they were founded in 1942. Although they honor
Margaret Sanger each year with the “Maggie Award", they
pick and choose which of her beliefs to condemn and which to rather silence. They would never consider releasing posts of the twisted theories and philosophies of Sanger. People (in this case, Planned Parenthood) will only tell you what they want you to know. Although today it is available by prescription to all women and is a lifesaver to a lot for females I still don't respect her views on how birth control should be handled or accessed. Some women who were poor and couldn't afford to have kids couldn't have equal access to birth control due to discrimination. Is she really fighting for Women's rights? Just some food for thought...
I agree with you on this one completely. It seems to be that she claims to be fighting for women's rights for use of birth control, yet she is only fighting for some. I don't believe it's right for her to campaign women's rights when she isn't really fighting for all women. That is falsification and isn't right. I also believe that the use of birth control should be used by any women who would like to be on the pill.
ReplyDeleteYes unfortunately people will say one thing because they want people's support and they want to be viewed as righteous or figurely, but then underneath, you may see that they are not fighting exactly for what they say they are.
ReplyDeleteThats an interesting statement "She was fighting for woman, but not all woman." It's amazing that someone can work to do something so good, but then work to make it only available to a specific race. It kinda makes me think about how it doesnt matter how many good things you do but people will remember that one bad thing.
ReplyDeleteShahad, These are really important questions you are raising. I am interested in how this converges with some of our studies in English this semester. I am thinking for instance of the Colin Stokes TED talk about gender and kids' movies. Isn't it interesting that he never brings up the issue of race as connected to gender. I think that the marginalizations of different groups of peoples is all very related. It seems important for you to keep unraveling what you are noticing here about Maragaret Sanger and see if you can make some connections to our thinking about schooling or popular culture.
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