MY BODY MY CHOICE
by super-KIKI
(Please note that this contains accounts of sexual assault.)
I first encountered this phrase when I was just starting to encounter feminism. A police officer in Toronto, Canada, said, "To avoid being raped, don't dress like a slut." In a photo for an article about the "Slut Walk," a protest movement organized by angry women, there were people wearing revealing clothes and holding placards with the phrase.
"It's okay to be angry," I thought. I hadn't realized such a simple thing. From a young age, it was not uncommon for me and my friends to suddenly be subjected to sexual acts or have their bodies touched without consent. In my school days, I had friends who were molested on the train almost every day. When I was sexually assaulted for the first time, I didn't even know what it meant, but I was so scared that I could only stand there frozen and cry. It was more than 30 years ago, but it is burned into my mind so vividly that I can still vividly remember the corner of the stairs where I was staring at while crying. But at the same time, I told myself, "It can't be helped." Because I was wearing a skirt, because I was alone, because I was a "woman," everyone does this to me... What was it that made me think that, even as a child? Now I understand.
Things have been slowly changing thanks to people who have had the courage to confess their experiences, but the world is still full of curse words that try to make victims blame themselves, such as "Maybe it's just your imagination?", "You're just being self-conscious," "You're just trying to get attention," "It must be a honey trap," "It's because you dress like that," and "It's wise to be able to laugh it off." Many victims are subject to what's known as a normalization bias, which makes them try to ease the shock by telling themselves, "It's nothing." I can see now that even this is exploited, and it's a cowardly act that robs us of our ability to feel and express anger and sadness.
I get to decide what to do with my body. No one has the right to do whatever they want with my body, no matter how I dress. I can decide who to love, whether to be alone, whether to have children or not, whether to have a safe pregnancy or abortion, whether it is "natural" or "unnatural", and what state I am in, without being told what to do by anyone. And I have the right to access the right knowledge and medical care to do so.
"Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)" are something that everyone has. However, these rights are being violated by people who want to control us at every opportunity (because they are scared of the unlimited power we have).
Since Trump was re-elected in the US, men have been throwing around the ridiculous phrase "Your Body, My Choice," and anti-LGBTQ+ policies, especially those that deny the existence of trans and non-binary people, have been on the rise.
Even here in Japan, which ranks 118th (out of 146 countries) on the Gender Gap Index, sexism is rampant in public spaces and access to emergency contraception is difficult. You can feel the power that tries to control the bodies of "women" everywhere. And even today, malicious words that try to exclude people who do not fit the binary of "women" and "men" fly around on social media.
However, no matter how many powerful people and many people deny it, we cannot be erased because we actually exist. I think that humans are unable to accept the complexity of the fact that they are inherently diverse, and can only think of forcing things into the simplicity of the current system, but the troubles that arise because of this can only be resolved by learning about complexity, and it goes without saying that it is women and sexual minorities who suffer more and more from this. Even if it is difficult, we will not know how to create a better society unless we strain our eyes to see the complexities. I think this phrase, which calls for mutual respect for diverse choices, is a powerful message of resistance to the domination of big things and for coexistence.
MY BODY MY CHOICE
by REINA TASHIRO (FRAGEN)
If you ask me what is the furthest thing from my perspective, I would probably answer, "My own body." For me, my own body was more of an object of loathing than the sexist in front of me.
Every month, I get my period. Every time, I'm surprised and lament, "My lower body is really like a stranger." What is this? Just imagining the project of "birth," which creates another person from nothing (although I've never experienced it), leaves me confused and at a loss.
Our bodies have never been ours. They belong to each of us. We should be able to decide. Humans want to control others, yet we can't even control our own bodies.
A gaze is violence. I have to have a sexy body. I want to be a "popular woman." I remember a difficult time trying to meet the so-called expectations of society. When people made fun of my small breasts, I laughed along with everyone else and despised my body. Grinning was my only weapon.
I thought about how to get my body back. It wasn't easy, but I wanted to live with myself until I died without alienating myself. With that in mind, I tentatively tried various things, from small everyday acts of resistance to grandiose projects that I would bet my life on.
Try wearing a miniskirt. Go outside with a sleepy face. Cook just for yourself every day. Try to stop smiling politely. Talk about feminism at a drinking party. Write down the things you like about yourself. Don't think "me" (even if you do, don't say it). Rage at the absurdity of it all night. Stop hair removal and embrace your hair. Say "that's harassment" (succeeded once). Distance yourself from the mother who reinforces her daughters' misogyny. Try becoming a sexual subject yourself. Attempt a conversation of forgiveness with a sexual abuser after 10 years.
We're still only halfway there.
That's why I want to think with everyone.
How do you get your body back?
MY BODY MY CHOICE
by MIZUKI KIMURA (FRAGEN)
78 years have passed since the abolition of the family system.
It has been 40 years since the abolition of discrimination against women and 26 years since gender equality was established.
I'm 35 years old and I still have a long way to go.
When I was in my early twenties and living in an anarchic community in Australia, I was able to use a private shower for the first time in a long time, and I shaved the arm hair that I had been letting grow for some reason.
Then the guy I liked at the time said, "Why? That's not natural." I was very surprised. It was like a bolt from the blue. I never dreamed that such a world line existed. And while I thought to myself, "I love that you would say something like that," I also thought, "It's up to me whether I want to lose my hair or let it grow." And I think I said that. I clearly remember that at that moment, a new set of values was born within me.
It was mentally difficult for me to ride the Yamanote Line with any hair growing. The same goes for walking around without a bra. My female friends often told me to wear a bra at the time. When I was showing my skin, I had to tell the men who were staring at me that they were staring. When I was weak-willed, I couldn't do that and I felt like I was consumed by others.
Still, I don't want to let societal norms get in the way of my choices. I want to convey this to all children growing up in a country where sexism is still rampant, even in public spaces.
Your body exists only for you.
I am strong-willed, and as long as I have the freedom to express my opinion, I want to continue to speak out about the unjust suffering that women suffer. I want to emulate the strength of my predecessors, who fought for women's suffrage 80 years ago, when their wives were considered incompetent.
I hope that we can find hope in a world where jokes that we used to just laugh at will become a crime, and that one day we can change a society where girls are not allowed to play or learn, where they are forced to marry off as young girls, and where they are subjected to violence and forced to have an abortion if it is discovered that they are not boys.
