Independent Blog Entry #3

In modern america, many feminists view abortion as a right. This fight for autonomy over oneself is perhaps one of the biggest political issues that feminists advocate for. In Herland, the female characters are disgusted by the concept of abortions. This is ironic because these women live in an all female country. One would assume that in a populous made up of women, women’s rights would be taken care of. This detail is very telling of the differences in gender politics from the 19th century versus now. The fact that the author made abortion non existant in what is supposed to be an all female utopia reveals how deep the culture of sexism was around the time period of this books publication. The views that the women in herland have on birth and motherhood are very far off from the views of american feminists today. This is interesting to me because of herlands publication date, 1915. 105 years is a large gap to us, but In the grand scheme of things, this book came out fairly recently. A century is a blip on the timeline of the world. The amount of social and political advancements that we have had since 1915 is immense.The values of feminism change as society progresses and develops new standards. Herland is a fascinating look into how society used to view women’s bodily autonomy.