I understand that the issue is of enormous important and involves a what may be a fundamental right. And again. I don't think that there is anything wrong with mobilizing on either side of the abortion debate. And I certainly don't want to get into the merits of that debate, as the merits are actually irrelevent to my point.Brando70 wrote:
Rob, you ignorant slut.
There is no way women would have advanced as far as they have without political activism. Feminism sparked that activism, getting women to fight in the courts, in statehouses, in Congress, in the workplace, and at home. The entire history of women's rights in the 20th century is one of pushing against barriers, not waiting for those barriers to magically disappear at the whim of men.
Despite the progress women have made, reproduction remains a touchy issue is because it's an issue of control, wrapped in the veil of morality. It's not an issue for men because there are no laws against us buying rubbers, getting a vasectamy, buying ED medication, or abdicating our roles as fathers as long as we pay child support. The law does not attempt to control our right to have sex and reproduce.
That is not the case with women. We're talking about a person's personal freedom to control their body, and yet you want to act like it's some single issue like gun rights or immigration. How can someone be free if they face the possibility of going to drug store and being told they can't get their birth control pills? How does that not infantilize women? Once you've done that, it's not hard to start making all kinds of justifications to keep women from getting equal treatment as men.
There are a number of Republicans who don't support that view. But Palin was brought in specifically to win the conservative base over to McCain, and that wing of the party supports things like a pharmacist's right to refuse filling medications based on religious beliefs or for health insurance to cover birth control medication. It's hard to believe that sort of thing could happen in 21st century America. And you think feminism is outdated?
There are women on both sides of the issue, and there always have been. I fail to see how any group can claim to be advancing the interests of women when women themselves are not nearly unanimous with respect to their position on this issue. What they are advancing is their own interest or the interest of the party with which they are affiliated.
If I were a woman on either side of the debate, I would bristle at the presumption that only one side of any issue is the "woman's side." Many women do not even see the debate in the terms you have framed it, so why should they be "represented" by people who do.
If women must be represented by pro-choice leaders (who decide themselves what is "pro-woman"), those pro-life women are beyond marginalized...they're basically sociopaths, or not even women at all.
Did I suggest that the barriers which women faced "magically disappeared?" I think quite to the contrary:
As for what they've gained through "political activism," I think we may assess that quite differently. At the risk of repeating myself, the real social change which they have made and from which they have benefitted has been the result of their own hard work. They've won their independence one strong woman at a time, not through any grand romantic political activism.Since WWII, women have progressed through the collective efforts of millions of women who each did their individual part to demonstrate their value and capacity, not through the selfish and short-sighted efforts of a few politically motivated demagogues. Women have torn down the barriers which once confronted them by demonstrating that given the freedom to do so they can manage the entirety of a life, professional, family and personal without special consideration from government or the law.
People suggest that fighting for their reproductive rights in and of itself was the cause that helped them progress this far. I beg to differ, and I think the suggestion is a bit reductive, making women seem burdened by their reproductive and gender roles.
This is just getting better and better...
