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Gender Roles Of Abortion

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I. Gender Roles “Abortion can be seen as women’s ultimate rejection of the traditionally lauded mother-only role. Therefore, it is threatening to the entire gender order when women step outside of the domestic sphere that they are supposed to “naturally” gravitate to” (Bryski J.A, 2005). If a woman chooses to terminate her pregnancy, she is challenging the traditional role of wife and mother; thereby shattering societal expectations and not conforming to traditional gender roles. Based on a study done by Swank and Fahs, there is correlation between strictly adhering to, or strongly believing in traditional gender roles, and holding negative views towards abortion rights, as well as being involved in pro-life activism. 820 college students were studied, and it was found that for women, being a biblical literalist; the view that the bible should be taken as absolutely literal, which involves the idea that women were placed on this earth simply as accessories to men, and that their primary role is to be a wife and mother, thereby assuming that if a woman terminates her pregnancy, she is not fulfilling the role which …show more content…
Furthermore, ‘being married, and endorsing ‘traditional’, patriarchal family structures were linked to more pro-life beliefs and pro-life activism’ (Swank and Fahs, 2016), due to the belief that if a woman does choose to have an abortion, she is simply not adhering to the traditional, patriarchal family structure, and is simply not accepting the role of wife and mother. For men, pro-life beliefs and activism was linked “having an authoritarian perspective, having lower levels of education, and being poorer” (Swank and Fahs, 2016). Religion and being religiously involved also played a strong role in men having pro-life outlooks; as religion plays a role in perpetuating masculine ideals, or goals, such as Jesus, who is depicted as a masculine model; a strong, masculine carpenter

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