I believe in the radical autonomy of bodies, babe

[Content note: this post touches on various issues including abortion, rape, voluntary euthanasia, suicide, trans* issues including gatekeeping, sex work, FGM, male circumcision, ableism, racism, body shaming. I would also like to make it clear that I am a cis, white, currently able-bodied woman who is not now and never has been a sex worker and so many of these issues do not affect me personally. I have tried to speak generally, but if anyone feels I have said something out of place or offensive, or have misrepresented an issue, I am very happy to read and respond to or discuss any concerns in the comment box below, or on Twitter. I have tried hard not to speak for anyone but myself.]

I don’t often really think of my politics as being all that radical, to be honest. But they probably are, compared to most mainstream opinions. They are a lot more radical and a lot more thought-out and complex than they were even a year or so ago. Even a few months ago. As I hit my mid-twenties – the age a lot of politically active young people traditionally start to settle down and become a bit more conservative – I started to become more politicised and radicalised.

One concept I firmly believe, but usually don’t think of as all that radical, is bodily autonomy. It seems fairly innocuous on the surface of it – the right to own your own body and to do with it as you like. The right not to be enslaved, not to be physically attacked, not to have others control your body for you. Doesn’t seem that radical? Well, it kind of is, when you think about it.

Now then, the main time the phrase “bodily autonomy” raises its head, particularly in the mainstream, is when abortion and birth control are being discussed. I know that to some, even the idea that a person with a uterus should have control over whether or not parasites are permitted to grow in that uterus is pretty radical, but I’d say that (in the UK at least, which is where I am writing from), advocating access to some sort of abortion and birth control provision is pretty commonplace. In fact, contraception is available FREE at the point of service. Unlike prescriptions for most things, there is no prescription charge on contraception, and condoms and other barrier methods are available free from various NHS centres and family planning clinics, and if you have a uterus, you can get various contraceptive devices and injections for free. Contraception is available free to teenagers who are technically under the age of consent. Abortion provision exists, and again, because of the NHS (which is sadly being taken away from us), abortion is available free at the point of service. There is counselling available before and after the procedure. Of course, there are restrictions, and there are those who would impose further restrictions, or take away provision altogether, but provision exists, and is for the most part not that controversial. In the UK at least, bodily autonomy intact, right?

Well, no actually. See, bodily autonomy is about more than the right to have an abortion within N weeks under circumstances X, Y, and/or Z, and if approved by a particular configuration of medical staff, who might refuse just because they don’t like the idea of someone killing an tiny parasite in someone else’s body. Firstly, bodily autonomy means abortion on demand, for anyone, at any stage of the pregnancy, for any reason, with no coercive tactics used to try and persuade them out of it. Of course, I think it is a decision which should be carefully considered and that an honest and full assessment of the risks and side-effects should be made and discussed with the patient (as with pretty much any medical procedure), and counselling should be available for patients who want it, but if people are allowed autonomy over their own bodies, then the decision ultimately rests with them.

Of course, bodily autonomy also means that no one should be forced to terminate a pregnancy they want to take to term, either by direct coercion or by a society and a system which makes it pretty much impossible for them to carry out the pregnancy and/or raise the child. This is harder to fix than just allowing abortions fully on demand, as there isn’t just one piece of legislation which will sort it out. It involves all kinds of things like accessible childcare, much better support for struggling parents, the destigmatisation of teenage parents, young parents, single parents, and all sorts of other family arrangements and circumstances, it involves the eradication of ableism and much, much better care and support for people with disabilities and their families and friends. It requires some pretty radical changes to our society, in short.

Another area you sometimes hear “bodily autonomy” discussed is trans* issues, particularly with regard to medical gatekeeping. It is not for me, or you, or anyone else to police someone’s gender, or police their body in relation to their gender. There are various surgeries, therapies, treatments, etc. which are available to trans people and very few people decide to go for the full range. Some trans  people will have surgery on their genitals, others won’t. Same goes for chests and faces. Some will want laser hair removal, some will want treatments to store sperm or eggs in case they later want to reproduce. Others will have no interest in this. Some trans women will put make-up on their bodies, others won’t. Some trans men will want to grow a beard, others will shave. Hell, some trans* people don’t even opt to take hormones. It’s not for me, or you, or anyone else to judge them based on this, or tell them they’ll never be/be accepted as a “real man/woman/GQ or non-binary person” if they do or don’t do certain things. That would infringe their bodily autonomy by pressuring them to change their bodies in ways they don’t really want to in order to make other people more comfortable.

On the subject (sort of) of genitals, and leaving other people’s the hell alone, bodily autonomy – as is often correctly pointed out – applies to children, too, and it means that adults have no right to go around making changes to children’s genitals for cosmetic, religious, or “moral” reasons which the child does not consent to and cannot reasonably be expected to understand enough to consent to. Some might think that banning FGM is fine but refusing to allow people to have their sons circumcised (often by people who are not medical professionals) for non-medical reasons is radical. To them I say, if that’s radical, there’s something seriously fucked up about our society.

Bodily autonomy also means that we each get to decide, as individuals, who we have sex with, how we do it, when we do it, and whether or not we want to charge or pay money for it (all this, of course, depending on consenting adults wanting to participate, and on discussing and agreeing any terms or conditions involved). If we have concerns about coercion, abuse, and shitty workers’ rights in the sex industry, we should address those things and work towards eradicating them, rather than pushing for criminalisation and driving the whole industry and any problems involved further underground. But more importantly, it’s not our place to police the interactions others make with their bodies. In the short term, this involves full decriminalisation of sex work and proper, decent working conditions for sex workers enshrined in law. In the long term, it involves a full radical shakedown and restructuring of society, and while we’re at it, let’s tackle those – and other – serious problems as they manifest in other industries too. And let’s not judge anyone for their sexual orientation, preferences, or appetite.

Of course, bodily autonomy also involves the right to not have sex or sexual relations if you don’t want to. It involves this no matter what you wear, drink, say, who you previously had sex with, where you go, who you go there with, or anything else completely irrelevant to your consent and agreement. It further involves the right not to be touched in any way that makes you uncomfortable or feel unsafe. I really, really hate the fact that it is still somewhat radical to speak out against victim blaming and challenge rape culture and street harassment, but sadly it is.

Bodily autonomy means the right to decide whether or not to put alcohol and other recreational drugs in your body, the right to decide how to manage your own medical care in consultation with medical professionals (and anyone else you choose) and with full and accurate information about the benefits, risks, and side effects of the treatments available (note I did not say “in consultation with evil money-grabbing medical insurance companies”). It involves the right for people with mental health conditions to manage those conditions as they choose – and that means not shaming them for their choices, whether you think all medical treatments for mental health problems are harmful and exercise is all you need, or you think medical treatments are the only way forward and meditation is a load of bollocks, or anything else. It’s their health and their body.

Bodily autonomy also means the right to die, if we want to. It means voluntary euthanasia is a fundamental right. It also means that though we must of course support those who feel suicidal, and try to help them to continue living, we must not shame them for their feelings or refer to the act of ending one’s life as cowardly or selfish.

I briefly mentioned ableism earlier in this piece, and I want to return to that subject now. Bodily autonomy means being allowed to relate to and manage your body as you see fit, and it means being allowed to inhabit and come to terms with and love (or hate) your body as you see fit. This means allowing people with physical disabilities not only to make decisions about their own healthcare (see above) but also to relate to their disabled bodies whatever way they like without harassment, abuse, being told what they “should” be doing, or being shamed for things they cannot do or do not feel comfortable doing. This also means that accessibility must be given a higher priority, that we must do all we can to ensure that our society does not contribute to the difficulties and pain caused by many physical disabilities.

On the subject of not shaming bodies, all body-shaming is in direct contravention of the principle of bodily autonomy. Telling people what size or shape their body should be is not allowing them to inhabit and relate to their body freely. Shaming fat people into constant miserable diets and self-loathing is not respecting their bodily autonomy. Similarly, shaming people who are thin or whose body shape doesn’t fit your own personal “ideal” is also completely unacceptable. Bodily autonomy is the right to have piercings and tattoos, or not. It is the right to shave, wax, pluck, trim, style, or grow any and all body hair, to have the hairstyle you want, to personalise and experiment with and alter your appearance and body as you wish. Smashing body shaming once and for all would be pretty radical, sadly. Imagine a world where you knew that no one would tell you how you should and shouldn’t look. Imagine all the extra time and energy you’d have if you weren’t constantly dealing with body shaming or fitting your body to someone else’s ideal. Imagine how much fucking happier everyone would be.

I’d go even further than this, and say that respecting bodily autonomy and the right of people to inhabit their bodies and relate to their bodies in the way they choose is also contravened directly and destructively by racism. Whatever colour your skin, you should be allowed to feel comfortable in it. You should be allowed to exist without the fear that the outward appearance of your body will prevent you from being able to. Attacking someone for the colour of their skin, the shape of their features, is removing their right to inhabit and own their body fully and freely, and forcing your interpretation of it onto their consciousness. Racism is shaming and attacking someone for their heritage, culture, and yes, their body.

When you look at it – when you consider what bodily autonomy really means, it’s actually quite radical. When you consider the implications it has, you realise that achieving and protecting bodily autonomy involves some pretty radical changes to our society. Bodily autonomy is vitally important to me, but it’s not the only reason I feel many of these changes to be necessary – it’s a lot more complicated than that, and there’s a lot more factors at play. But bodily autonomy is key to so much of this stuff – it’s such an important concept. Especially in a world where there is so much discrepancy between rich and poor, so much material inequality, such a big power divide (all things I’d also change, by the way), especially in a world where so many have so little, it is of vital importance that we are at least allowed to own and control our own bodies – our own selves, for the body is not just a vessel we inhabit; we are our bodies as well as our minds. I see a lot of lip service paid to the idea of bodily autonomy, but so often people only want to respect it in one area – pro-choice but anti-sex work feminists, for example, are not upholding bodily autonomy across the board. I really want to see more attention paid to what bodily autonomy really means and how we can work to achieve that.

I’m also sure that this post doesn’t cover all the important implications of bodily autonomy – that isn’t what I set out to do, and to be honest, I just threw this post together based on a few trails of thought passing through my head in my lunch break. In fact, I’d love to discuss any other implications you can think of in the comment box. Bodily autonomy isn’t the only factor informing my politics, and I know that things aren’t always as simple and straightforward as I may have made them sound in places, but this is at the core of my worldview and the way I fight for social justice. I really do believe in (amongst other things) the radical autonomy of bodies, babe. I do, I do, I do.