Abstract

Beginning with my own personal experiences in reproductive justice and bodily autonomy work for the women in my community, the chapter examines how the liberties of women have been taken away since the dawn of agriculture by looking at limits to bodily autonomy, women’s ability to work in self-determined ways, and gender relations through the history of society. The harms of this loss of liberty, health, and other are laid bare including how those harms affect others beyond the women being controlled. The anthropological reasons for women being made into property are also explored revealing how their domination and control have both driven the growth of human societies and been ingrained within the very fabric with that growth used as a justification. Using my own research and work with gifted women, the ways that women approach and are allowed to approach the world of work on their own terms are explored to better understand how systems of dominance can be pervasive and change how women seek out and express their freedom. The history of patriarchal dominance and how it built itself into human societies is discussed to gain a fuller picture of how deeply gender-based oppression and repression goes. Finally, we explore what happens when women and sexual minorities have and express their freedom and the net benefits to society that this brings to all in our communities and society.