By: Iyabo Onipede: Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
How does a person know they think of women’s bodies as property/chattel?
How does a person know they are racist?
Denial is always the first step.
Women can be sexist towards women and communicate in their values that they think a woman’s body is most valuable as property, as an incubator for babies. Black people/POCs can suffer from internalized racism and work against their own best interests.
Don’t let these two categories fool you.
If you are a male, assume blindspots towards women, especially on this abortion issue in Southern states. Any law that criminalizes women for abortions says that our primary role is to be an incubator. That is treating women’s bodies primarily as chattel.
In Georgia, no abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy. Most women do not know they are pregnant until 8 weeks. They signed a law to give women the death penalty if they have an abortion after 6 weeks’ yall.
In Texas, a bill was passed that there will be no abortion after 20 weeks even if the fetus is dead. The woman is required to carry a dead fetus even if it kills her.
When I did not have any children and I picked up people’s vibes that somehow I was broken and something was wrong with me and that my life was somehow incomplete because I did not bear children, I was not mistaken that many people just viewed my body as a baby-bearer – in other words, chattel.
The functionality of my body as chattel for sex and baby-bearing is how some people value my life.
Let that sink in…….
When you dehumanize me by thinking of me as property and communicating that thought through your actions and values, you are guilty of a terrible, terrible sin – The murder of my soul, the dishonoring of my own humanity.
But then, you think God is a “he” so of course, history is on your side as you choose willful ignorance.
In the meantime, you are not doing a dang thing about that same baby you forced me to have when a shooter kills that kid in a school shooting because you value guns more than you value human beings.
Go fix yourself.
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Iyabo is a Leadership Development Coach whose work focuses on the soul of the leader. She moves leaders from thriving careers into discovering, crafting and living into their life work. By helping successful people integrate spirituality into their leadership roles, they become more engaged with their work, expand the connection of their work to social justice issues and experience more satisfaction in their life work. Using the power of narrative and reflection, she helps leaders fine-tune the sacred “work their souls must have” (Alice Walker).
Iyabo is located in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from Goucher College (B.A.), Georgetown University Law School (J.D.) and Candler School of Theology at Emory University (M.Div.).
Iyabo’s home on the web is at http://www.coachiyabo.com
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