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Similarities Between 'Racism, Birth Control, And Reproductive Rights'

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Feminism is about listening to other people and their experiences. Unfortunately, in the past, the feminist movement has not done this much. This can be seen in how feminists from different demographics see the same topics and issues. Chapter 4 of Feminism: Issues & Arguments by Jennifer Saul and “Racism, Birth Control, and Reproductive Rights”, a chapter of Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis, approach the topic of birth control very differently. In this essay, I will be discussing these differences. First, I will discuss the most striking differences in focus or subject matter between them. Next, I will discuss whether or not there are any ideas from Saul’s text that are helpful when applied to the issues described in Davis’s essay. Then, I will …show more content…

Although there are many that could possibly be related to Davis’s essay, Jaggar’s ideas make the most sense to apply to it. As Saul states, Jaggar believes that “decisions should be made by those who are most affected by them” (Saul 124). Thus, it does not make sense for someone to talk about their experiences regarding an issue if they are not affected by it. We can apply this concept to Angela Davis’s essay by considering the reactions that some white feminists may have to women of color and women of other marginalized groups that mistrust feminism and the birth control movement. As Davis said, “... the birth control movement has seldom succeeded in uniting women of different social backgrounds, and rarely have the movement’s leaders popularized the genuine concerns of working-class women” (Davis 1). As she explains later in her essay, women of color and poor women have been victims of the eugenics movement, which explains their aforementioned fear of feminism and the birth control movement. Therefore, it is ignorant and offensive for white feminists to not understand or mock women of color and poor women that feel this

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