NGAI: Women and Choice

Choice is a tricky word, one filled with power and sacrifices. We make choices every day that we barely even think about. Should I drink green tea or peach passion tea? Should I start that term paper or wait until next week? Should I eat chicken or fish for dinner?

Making choices is what we do. As people, we like to think of the choices we make as ours. We would like to think that we are in control. But are we?

My feminism class had made me rethink what it really means to make choices. So often, we believe that our choices are not influenced by those around us or constricted by the box we’ve been placed in.

In one of my very first classes, the issue of choice came up in discussion. At first, we started off simple; was it really a choice for us to go to college? We hear stories of people taking off from school or choosing work instead. Yet, those that don’t choose to pay a ridiculous tuition seem to get punished in the long run when employers demand to see a degree.

So, is there really a choice to avoid getting a higher education if you want to succeed in life?

Then with this simple argument, we applied it to issues regarding women. Are women really making the choices that they want to make or are they forced by society to make them? Are men forcing them or are there standards set for women to make these choices?

We spoke of touchy subjects and of those subjects, two stood out to me: the issue of abortion and the issue of the way women dress.

Abortion is a sensitive subject and one that I have a stance on. But, this is not the time for me to express that opinion. As a class, we discussed not our opinions but our outlook on how abortion affects women.

Often, abortion is a subject that is presented as a choice. The pro-choice movement even has the word choice in it, so there’s no way in avoiding that. However, is abortion really a choice for women?

For women who are poor, some states do not provide coverage in their medical insurances. In other cases, certain states have waiting periods and other various constraints that don’t allow women to seek the help they need.

For women who are young, college-aged students like myself, is having a baby really an option? How many of us would willingly walk into a classroom eight months pregnant and what on-campus resources would help us raise children?

We pondered for a moment whether any of us would be comfortable walking into our classroom pregnant. In a sense, there are no choices for women that would amount to something positive.

At times, it feels like choosing between the lesser of two evils.

The second subject that stood out to me was the way that women dress. On our first day of class, we were handed a comic, one that depicted a woman in a hijab and the other in a bikini. Both women were stating how men were oppressing the other. I had seen the comic before, but hadn’t thought much about it. To me, it just seemed like another jab at cultural norms.

However, when we discussed it in that first class, we talked about cultural differences, but we also talked about choice.

Both these women choose to dress this way due to personal reasons and beliefs. We talked about the extent to which their apparel was really their choice. Are they not constricted by the judgment they’ll receive if they don’t dress this way?

Another thing is how we come to the conclusion of how we should dress. Do women dress a certain way because the fashion industry tells us what’s “in” that season? Do we do dress a certain way to feel comfortable, to feel accepted?

All these questions began swirling in my head as to what choice really meant. I want to believe that the choices I make are solely based on what I want.

So, I decided to reflect on the choices I’ve made in my life. I think one that most women can relate to is the way we dress. I’ve touched upon this in past columns about sexual harassment and how the way women dress should not be a reflection of what a man can and cannot do to them.

I’m a strong believer of women being able to wear whatever they want. I understand the argument of women dressing a certain way to appease men. And I also understand the arguments I’ve heard about how advertising and fashion is manipulated by men and money.

But I believe that women should be able to choose what they wear, even if they know about the “evils” behind it. Whatever makes you the happiest and most comfortable is the right choice.