In the softness of the belly… There is a war on women is a testimony to the lived stories of abortion from a perspective which transcends time and national borders. This research paper is structured around two intertwined trajectories with varying text formats and writing styles. This structure merges the personal with the political and explores their relationship as it reveals how they can’t be separated in a society with deeply rooted structures of patriarchy and misogyny.
The first trajectory chronologically tells the story of the author's own experience with abortion integrated with the personal stories from friends and family members. The process of dealing with abortion is gradually laid out starting from childhood memories, proceeding into the practical turmoil and the contradicting emotions surrounding the experience itself, moving onto the mental and physical aftermaths, and lastly processing the experience and slowly healing.
In the second trajectory the topic is explored from a more external perspective rooted in history, politics, culture, and society. Through research on the history of reproductive rights and procreation, the permeating role of patriarchy from the past to the presence is addressed. The investigation of patriarchy dives into the misogynist history of witch-hunts, hysteria, capitalism, domestic labor, and into the present where reproductive rights are both improving but also continuously being tightened or removed. This trajectory further explores several socio-cultural aspects of abortion through research-based text and more sporadic and poetic writings. The topics that are addressed are shame, guilt, religion, gender roles, depiction both visually and written, the public discussion, and the perception of blood, violence, and war in relation to women and reproductive rights.
The aim of the research paper is to break down and reveal the patriarchal structures which compromise women's reproductive rights, and to state the importance of reclaiming the personal narratives as well as the autonomy over one's own body, narrative, and life.
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