SPOTLIGHT ON ABORTION CARE & REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE听

Women Hold Up Half the Sky,
But What About the Conditions on the Ground?

Written by Jeff Koetje, MD, 91暗网黑料Reproductive Health Programming Strategist

As I sit down to write this post for a special edition of the 91暗网黑料Repro eNewsletter in recognition of the start of Women鈥檚 History Month and National Endometriosis Awareness Month (March), International Women鈥檚 Day (March 8), and National Abortion Provider Appreciation Day (March 10), I am mindful – and with a heaviness in my heart – of the truth that this is a world, in 2025, that still does not recognize, honor, and protect the full humanity of roughly half the world鈥檚 population. We are alive during a time in human history when the ideology of patriarchy and the systems of patriarchal power have a grip – a death grip – on the world. Of course, patriarchy and patriarchal systems don鈥檛 operate in isolation, as they are inextricably linked with heterosexism (heteropatriarchy), cis-sexism (cis-heteropatriarchy)听 and white supremacy (white supremacist cis-heteropatriarchy).听

When we also include, as we should, a consideration of globalized capitalism and (neo-)colonialism, we must honestly acknowledge that there is currently no globally-dominant ideology or system that views women, girls, femme people, and people with uteruses as fully human. I鈥檓 not going to start an essay about the status of women in this society (the US) or globally, by gaslighting anyone into thinking that the material conditions of life are better than they actually are for women, girls, femme people, and people with uteruses. They are not. And to have to say this in 2025 is the shame that will hang forever around the collective neck of all of us who are alive in this moment. Or let me say, this will be our shame, unless we actually take radical action to radically change the status of women, girls, femme people, and people with uteruses, by radically changing ourselves, our beliefs, our values, our systems, and our politics.听

If you鈥檝e read my previous Spotlight articles here in the 91暗网黑料Repro eNewsletter, you know that I frequently write from a deeply personal perspective. This article will be no different. I grew up as an effeminate, quiet, bookish boy in a cultural milieu that was thoroughly saturated in white supremacist heteropatriarchal religion, militarism, and politics. For the entirety of my primary and secondary education, within the walls of a Christian听 school, I was relentlessly bullied for my non-normative masculinity – called a faggot, a fag, a girl, a pussy – and it was never not clear to me that the violence directed at me was because I somehow violated the terms and conditions of my membership in this giant club of men and boys (which I never recalled signing up for in the first place). So, from my earliest awareness of myself as a boy, I was also aware that I was already in violation of the rules of what boys must be. And what they must not be, and cannot be allowed to be: a girl. One of the earliest memories I have, related to my gender, is of being scolded for not being 鈥渂oy enough鈥� – which was really much more about being 鈥渢oo girly鈥� – when my mother observed me tuck my robe underneath my legs (like one might do when wearing a dress or skirt), as I sat down on the family room couch, and she said, with shame dripping from every word, 鈥�顿辞苍鈥檛 do that. 顿辞苍鈥檛 sit down like that.鈥� My mother murdered my spirit in that moment; I knew instantly that what she was saying had everything to do with my failure to be 鈥渕an enough.鈥� It was also an early lesson in the god-awful truth that, among the oppressed, there will always be some number willing to serve as overseers in the interest of the oppressors.听

Femmephobia (the root of misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia) runs deep. Notions around gender are matters that I鈥檝e had to pay attention to my entire life, because my own self-preservation required the development of a hyper-awareness of the spoken and unspoken boundaries that separated 鈥渂oy/man/masculine鈥� (good) from 鈥済irl/woman/feminine鈥� (bad). In this way, I鈥檝e internalized a heightened awareness of the sociopolitical, cultural, and material status of women, girls, femme people, and people with uteruses, because, for a significant portion of my life, I鈥檝e been lumped in with the half of humanity which white supremacist cis-heteropatriarchy deems less-than-fully-human. I was rejected by patriarchy, first, for听 my effeminate mannerisms, and then, ultimately, for being gay (quite literally rejected: my father and my mother have disowned me for being gay.)

So, I鈥檓 writing this essay at the start of the month that focuses on the sociopolitical, cultural and material status of women, girls, femme people, and people with uteruses, and that also foregrounds, celebrates, and honors what women and femme people have contributed to the human experience. Afterall, even Mao Zedong, referencing an old Chinese proverb, famously said during the Chinese Cultural Revolution of 1966 – 1976, 鈥淲omen hold up half the sky.鈥� Honestly, this is an understatement, but even if we just accept the statement at face value, I have to ask – we all need to ask –

Sure, but do we really mean it? Does the undeniable truth of the full humanity of women, girls, femme people, and people with uteruses actually mean anything in the material sense,
in terms of the conditions of their lives, here on the ground, where humans actually live?

Patriarchy has no problem putting women on pedestals, ostensibly to honor them; but pedestals are just another form of patriarchal confinement, control, even imprisonment.

Here鈥檚 a prediction that should cause all of us to stop dead in our tracks. According to the World Economic Forum, our world will not reach full听 gender parity until the late 2150s if the rate of progress does not accelerate from the current trajectory.听That鈥檚 another 130 years, or more – that鈥檚 another five to seven human generations from now! No wonder the theme for this year鈥檚 International Women鈥檚 Day is 鈥�Accelerate Action!鈥� What do we do with this prediction, in light of the legal maxim, 鈥淛ustice delayed is justice denied鈥�? As earthly creatures with morality, how are we going to respond to this miscarriage of justice? If we do nothing to change the trajectory and the rate of change for the status of women, girls, femme people, and people with uteruses, our non-action is our response. And, just as much, to do nothing would give the lie to any claim that we make about recognizing their full humanity. In the absence of taking a radically different course of action, the ongoing denial of justice and the ongoing harm – even to the point of death – that half of the world鈥檚 population is subjected to will continue.听

From my positionality as a cis, white man, my call to action at the start of this month – which is actually a response to the call to action coming from women, girls, femme people, and people with uteruses – is, in part, to call in my male and masculine kin. We, who inhabit the gendered embodiment of masculinity which patriarchy deems most fully human and for which patriarchal systems claim exclusive rights and privileges, must recognize the inhumanity of patriarchy and the inhuman violence of patriarchal systems. And then, we must do the necessary work of delegitimizing the ideology, disentangling ourselves from the false beliefs, and dismantling the violent systems of patriarchy. This is on us (men and masculine people). This is our problem to solve. Our harm to repair. The lives and livelihood of real, flesh-and-blood women, girls, femme people, and people with uteruses depend upon this. And just as much, the embodied humanity of men and boys and masculine people depends upon this, too.

*Image Celebrate Abortion Care Providers on March 10 and Every Day! Learn more 鈥� Find Resources @AbortionCareNetwork听and听@fabiolitadraws

Find info & resources about Endometriosis throughout March on Instagram @AMSAnational. Read & Share On Call Spotlight – The Reality of Endometriosis

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*Note: an excerpt of this Spotlight is included in 91暗网黑料Reproductive Health Project eNews #40: Special Issue – Abortion Provider Appreciation Day Next Week & Beyond!
Find the current and past issues in the 91暗网黑料Repro eNews Archive.

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