Liberating the female body : to analyse from a feminist perspective, the political, legal and social discourse surrounding women’s reproductive rights and sexual liberation in Malta

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyse the extent to which female sexual experience is limited by legal, political and social discourse surrounding reproductive rights in Malta. The aim is to analyse discourse to argue the strong relationship between language, sex, and power. The method used for this argument was to analyse current legislation and the Maltese Parliamentary Committee Meeting transcripts regarding the ‘Discussion about the Morning After Pill’ from June to October 2016, using feminist Critical Discourse Analysis and feminist Conversational Analysis. The theoretical framework of the study consists of a critical realist approach, to identify the relationship between discourse and non-discursive elements such as politics, religion and culture in organisational and social structures. The study seeks to argue that the discourse of the speakers during the Parliamentary Committee not only shapes reality, but the discourse also has the potential to reinforce that reality because it occurs in an organisational structure with the power to do so. The history of sexuality is explored to understand the background of the non-discursive elements and themes prevalent in the discourse that emerged from the Critical Discourse Analysis and the Conversation Analysis. Theories of power are used to understand its meaning and how it manifests itself in different organisational and social structures. The study argues that power structures, like language are constructed, and that in order to affect change to the status quo, power needs to be reconstructed to reflect the reality of women’s sexual life. The study concludes with a call to action to challenge the current state of female sexual freedom in Malta by recreating language that can empower individuals towards goals of female sexual independence by reconstructing our understanding of power and our relationship with sex.