After reading Sprague’s “Holy Men Big Guns” article, I started to think about how much of American society is ruled by privileged white men. Not only are social problems looked at through this perspective, but they are corrected and legislation created based on this white male perspective. How limiting is it to only look at things from one perspective? It’s limiting enough to cause an entire history of social ills that were approached in all the wrong ways.
One of these social issues is reproductive rights. According to historian Rickie Solinger, in her book Pregnancy and Power, women’s reproductive rights have always been controlled by white men. She isn’t referring to white men controlling reproduction on a personal level, but on a public level. Over the years, women have been restricted by various laws and regulations that determined: where, when, how many and with whom they were able to reproduce.
Sprague laid out three main problems with the sociological cannon solely comprised of white, middle class men: a hierarchy of social, poor analytical categories and a social theory that is highly misguided. The regulation of reproductive rights across American history also suffers from these central issues.
The hierarchy of social entails that there is privileged and selective attention in the study of social theorists. Applying this to the issue of reproductive rights, white men have always given white women, especially wealthy white women, different privileges compared to poorer and minority women. Throughout history, African American and Latina women have been restricted in their reproduction whereas white women are often encouraged to have children (Solinger). Another aspect of this hierarchy concept is that social issues are viewed on a macro level instead of micro level. This could not be truer in terms of reproductive rights. Individual women are not considered in legislation decisions; it is looked at as a larger social issue. Instead of reviewing it on a person by person basis, the reproductive rights of certain women were controlled by laws that regulated the masses.
The poor analytical category refers to the notion of abstract individualism. In abstract individualism, a person is seen outside of history. Concepts are overgeneralized into universal laws. For example, in the 1970s the government was concerned with the rapid reproduction of the Latino population in the United States. The common notion and overgeneralization of the Latino population was that they reproduced like rabbits. In attempt to control this, many Latina women were coerced into having their tubes tied after they gave birth to their first child. Many women were refused drugs during child labor unless they agreed to have their tubes tied, or they were asked while still under the effects of heavy doses of pain medication (Solinger). The idea that all Latina women were reproducing at rapid rates was inaccurate and the subsequent actions of white men in control unfortunately caused the sterilization of many Latina women throughout the seventies.
The final problem with a white male focused perspective is that social theory becomes largely misguided. Since reproductive politics was under the control of white privileged men, a lot of the efforts were not successful in attaining women safe and reliable reproductive rights. As a result, many women over the decades have fought against legislation for the rights to their own bodies. Reproductive politics has the potential to do great things for women: safe reproductive care, better health for the woman and baby and a safe health environment for women. Yet, because reproductive politics has largely been under the control of privileged white men, none of this has been possible. Instead white men have used their control over reproductive rights to get their end goals accomplished; preventing the full emancipatory potential of reproductive politics.
In regards to Sprague’s idea that a privileged white male cannon for social theory is a flawed system; she couldn’t be more right. After briefly analyzing the social issue of reproductive politics across history, it is evident that white privileged male control has greatly limited any potential of reproductive politics. Not surprisingly now, with a biracial president, reproductive rights have taken a turn for the better. Women now have more access to reproductive health care than ever before, and it is more equally available to all women. This makes one wonder what other social issues could be changed for the better with a little change from the typical white male cannon.
Photo Credit: http://www.salon.com/2013/01/11/a_deja_vu_congress_targets_reproductive_rights_again/
References:
Solinger, Rickie. 2005. Pregnancy and Power: A Short History of Reproductive Politics in America. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Sprague, Joey. 1997. “Holy Men and Big Guns: The Can[n]on in Social Theory.” Gender and Society 11(1): 88-107.
One of these social issues is reproductive rights. According to historian Rickie Solinger, in her book Pregnancy and Power, women’s reproductive rights have always been controlled by white men. She isn’t referring to white men controlling reproduction on a personal level, but on a public level. Over the years, women have been restricted by various laws and regulations that determined: where, when, how many and with whom they were able to reproduce.
Sprague laid out three main problems with the sociological cannon solely comprised of white, middle class men: a hierarchy of social, poor analytical categories and a social theory that is highly misguided. The regulation of reproductive rights across American history also suffers from these central issues.
The hierarchy of social entails that there is privileged and selective attention in the study of social theorists. Applying this to the issue of reproductive rights, white men have always given white women, especially wealthy white women, different privileges compared to poorer and minority women. Throughout history, African American and Latina women have been restricted in their reproduction whereas white women are often encouraged to have children (Solinger). Another aspect of this hierarchy concept is that social issues are viewed on a macro level instead of micro level. This could not be truer in terms of reproductive rights. Individual women are not considered in legislation decisions; it is looked at as a larger social issue. Instead of reviewing it on a person by person basis, the reproductive rights of certain women were controlled by laws that regulated the masses.
The poor analytical category refers to the notion of abstract individualism. In abstract individualism, a person is seen outside of history. Concepts are overgeneralized into universal laws. For example, in the 1970s the government was concerned with the rapid reproduction of the Latino population in the United States. The common notion and overgeneralization of the Latino population was that they reproduced like rabbits. In attempt to control this, many Latina women were coerced into having their tubes tied after they gave birth to their first child. Many women were refused drugs during child labor unless they agreed to have their tubes tied, or they were asked while still under the effects of heavy doses of pain medication (Solinger). The idea that all Latina women were reproducing at rapid rates was inaccurate and the subsequent actions of white men in control unfortunately caused the sterilization of many Latina women throughout the seventies.
The final problem with a white male focused perspective is that social theory becomes largely misguided. Since reproductive politics was under the control of white privileged men, a lot of the efforts were not successful in attaining women safe and reliable reproductive rights. As a result, many women over the decades have fought against legislation for the rights to their own bodies. Reproductive politics has the potential to do great things for women: safe reproductive care, better health for the woman and baby and a safe health environment for women. Yet, because reproductive politics has largely been under the control of privileged white men, none of this has been possible. Instead white men have used their control over reproductive rights to get their end goals accomplished; preventing the full emancipatory potential of reproductive politics.
In regards to Sprague’s idea that a privileged white male cannon for social theory is a flawed system; she couldn’t be more right. After briefly analyzing the social issue of reproductive politics across history, it is evident that white privileged male control has greatly limited any potential of reproductive politics. Not surprisingly now, with a biracial president, reproductive rights have taken a turn for the better. Women now have more access to reproductive health care than ever before, and it is more equally available to all women. This makes one wonder what other social issues could be changed for the better with a little change from the typical white male cannon.
Photo Credit: http://www.salon.com/2013/01/11/a_deja_vu_congress_targets_reproductive_rights_again/
References:
Solinger, Rickie. 2005. Pregnancy and Power: A Short History of Reproductive Politics in America. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Sprague, Joey. 1997. “Holy Men and Big Guns: The Can[n]on in Social Theory.” Gender and Society 11(1): 88-107.