In recent years I have become increasingly aware of gender issues and resultantly, I have decided to write a few blogs about gender. This is the first.

I was raised by a very strong woman who continuously stressed the importance of independence. Women were never inferior to men in any way in our family - implicitly or explicitly. In fact, I was brought up to be a vociferous feminist without even realizing it. I once, as an obnoxious tween, told my mom that feminism was an outdated theory and was totally unnecessary. I was not, in my own head, a feminist. I think this is the closest my mom has ever come to slapping me. She tried desperately to explain the ideas of the feminist movement to me for about 10 minutes and then she gave up out of sheer exasperation, saying that she hoped one day, I would finally understand it.

I'm pleased to say that I do, I think, finally understand the feminist ideology. And like my mom, it causes me convulsions of physical agony when women, particularly young girls, declare that they are not feminists. I thought feminism was dead because its ideology was so deeply engrained in my way of thinking that I didn't realize it as an individual strand of thought. It was in no way separate from my very being.

I recently read a post on a social networking site. It is somewhat crude but it does communicate its message succinctly. It read: "women, stick your hand into your pants. Do you want control of what's down there? If 'yes', then you're a feminist."

This is obviously a gross simplification of feminism but it does indicate the most basic premise - a woman's body, including her vagina and the sexuality of her body, belongs to her. For most people reading this, I assume this is not a revolutionary statement. However, for many - be it consciously or subconsciously - the idea of a woman having absolute and total control over her own body and choices is somewhat abhorrent. And no, just for the record, I am not talking about the gender dynamics in Muslim countries, which so often get labeled as the grand oppressor of women. I am talking about the world of comparatively 'liberal' values where women are supposedly free and equal to men.

I don't plan to discuss at present the enormously complex gender issues that are so intricately tied with cultural differences in South Africa. Rather, what concerns me right now is the status of women's rights in the US.

A country which so many consider a role model in terms of rights issues, particularly relating to women's issues, is taking giant leaps backward. This concerns me greatly - not only for the American women who I know and know of, battling for their right to determine their own futures - particularly for women and countries across the Africa and the developing world who look to the US for guidance on the concept of equality.

As a student of American history, I have noticed in US political and social history the shrewdness of Americans - particularly American political parties - in getting around constitutional mandates or undesired outcomes. When it is unconstitutional to disallow something, it is usually not the direct challenge to it that undercuts said activity. Rather, it is made a practical impossibility through indirect legislation and defunding. Often it is then blamed on the victim group. There is no better example of this than the current attempt to overthrow indirectly Roe v Wade.

For those who don't know, Roe v Wade was a landmark case in the US Supreme Court that legalized abortion on a federal level. This was in 1973. In 2012, individuals, groups and states who do not wish for women to have the right to terminate a pregnancy in their own body are lobbying against Roe v Wade. Because it was a Supreme Court decision, no state can decide to declare abortion illegal. However, they are becoming increasingly wily at limiting it. In certain states, it is becoming a practical near-impossibility to receive an abortion because clinics are being removed. In others, they are legislating abortion requirements and procedure to such an extent that doctors and clinics are practically battling to offer abortions. Across the country, Planned Parenthood - the largest provider of health care services to women - is being defunded.

Texas has severely limited women’s abortion options – particularly for low-income women. Arizona, Mississippi and numerous other states have proposed problematic legislations that severely limit the rights of women. Access to birth control is being limited and costs are increasing. There are endless health disparities between men and women, as well as job and pay discrepancies.

When the most basic feminist ideal of women having a right to their own bodies is under fundamental threat, the hazards to other feminist ideals are grand. The decision of the state of Texas to legislate the vagina; vaginas that belong to women, not the state, is somewhat terrifying to me. The US is causing my inner feminist some serious turmoil.