Thursday, September 18, 2008

I've been threatening to write a political post for several days now...

but this isn't exactly it. It's political, I guess, but it's not the "big one". In other words, it's not the post I planned to do regarding the two presidential candidates. I plan on doing that one soon, but this one is more about sexism, feminism, women's rights, etc. Ever since Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, the so called "feminists" all across America have been up in arms. Why? Because Sarah Palin is totally and completely pro life and does not believe in or advocate for abortion. Therefore, according to these "feminists" in our country, Sarah Palin is not a woman for the masses. She is not a woman that other women should vote for and in fact, she is not a woman worthy of any support from other women. Huh. Interesting.

Anybody know the exact definition of "feminism"? I do. Check it out:


fem·i·nism (fěm'ə-nĭz'əm) n.
1. Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.
2. The movement organized around this belief.

Where does it say that one must believe in abortion in order to be a feminist? Not only would I say that Sarah Palin is a classic example of a feminist as explained by that very definition of the word, I actually would classify myself as a feminist, as well. (Although I am in no way comparing myself to Sarah Palin. Love her or hate her, that woman possesses one thing in great quantities that I have never had and probably never will have; Courage!) I happen to think I am the equal to a man, I think all women are. I know this flies in the face of many historical, not to mention some religious, beliefs but I know in my heart of hearts that God made me every bit as smart as a man because I am that man's equal, not his lesser, not his better. His equal. That is not to say that I think I can do anything a man can do. I can't. In balance, a man can't do everything I can do either. Being "equal", in my view, does not mean men and women are equal at every effort across the board. Rather, it means that men and women are equal in their abilities to reason and to exist. Now. Having explained that particular philosophy, let me also say this; One of those things that I can do that a man cannot is have babies. I can give birth. And with the exception of that fella (who was formerly a woman) over in Oregon, no man has been able to match that specific capability. Pregnancy and child birth are the exclusive purview of Woman. (Tragically, not all women can do this, for a great variety of reasons. I do not believe that lessens their "womanhood" in the least. Pregnancy and child birth does not define a woman, rather it is something a woman can do that no man can. Just want to establish my feelings about that before someone lashes out at me for disenfranchising the infertile portion of the female population when that is certainly not my intent.)



Okay. Now that I've stated my belief that I, as a woman, am equal to a man (remember guys, equal yet different!!) let me get about half of you in an uproar by stating that I do not believe in abortion. I deplore the ease of abortion, I deplore it's use as a way of keeping a woman from "screwing up her life". I believe that if a woman voluntarily has sexual relations with a man and becomes pregnant, she should understand that that pregnancy is not an "inconvenience" and it's not just a "bother" to be gotten rid of at the earliest opportunity. It's a baby. I swear I don't get the whole "when does a fetus become a child" argument. Hel-lo!!!! Despite what you may have seen in Hollywood horror films, the results of a human woman's pregnancy is that of a human baby in absolutely 100% of the time. It's not like there's a chance you could give birth to a donkey or a goldfish or a stuffed animal. No, no, no. If left to progress normally, a human child will indeed result from that pregnancy. Even in the case of a miscarriage, what comes out is still human. It's human cells, not monkey cells, not turtle cells, not imploding cells from the 3rd sun of Saturn (if there is such a thing). Therefore, in my mind, any termination at any time during a pregnancy is...well, the only way to say it is, you've terminated a human life. Okay, so now I've gotten some people all tense thinking I'm trying to force my views on the rest of the population. Not so. I don't think Roe vs. Wade should be repealed. I don't see the point in doing that. I'd rather see women being taught personal responsibility for their bodies. I think Roe Vs. Wade merely provided women with a fix for those times when they didn't consider the consequences of sex, unprotected or otherwise. However, having said that, I also have to confess my ambiguity over abortion in the case of rape or incest or even in the case of the pregnancy actually endangering the health of the mother. A huge part of me thinks that a pregnancy should be respected at all costs. But another part of me wonders if, faced with the horrors of those scenarios, would I be strong enough to carry that baby to term or would it destroy me as a person to do so? And listen. I know my views are just that: my views. Not yours or yours or even yours. They're just mine. The bottom line of my view on abortion is that I think it's horrific and plain old wrong to use abortion as a "fix". A woman needs to take responsibility for her body if she ever wants to be considered equal to a man in this world. Part of taking responsibility for her body is to know that having sex can result in pregnancy and pregnancy is not like a boil you should have lanced from your ass just because medically it can be done. Pregnancy is a life. Woman have a great and awesome power in that they can carry another life inside their bodies. Only women can do that! Men cannot! That's huge!! So why do the "feminists" in our country think that the ability to negate and terminate that power is the absolute "cornerstone" of what defines a "true" feminist? That makes no sense. Woman should be treasuring the capability of giving birth, not embracing a method of destroying it. What is wrong with us? Who convinced women that the way to be equal was to become non maternal? My God. Women! Wake up! It's not our differences from men that keeps us from being equals. It's our failure to understand that those differences are what gives us our equality. Men and woman balance each other in this and many other ways. Different strengths, different talents, different capabilities...equal minds, equal hearts, equal destinies. So all you so called "feminists" out there, come out of the dark ages. Don't deny your feminine differences from men. They're there. They're real. They always will be. Cheer for those differences! And for pity's sake, stop denigrating other women who embrace the beauty of being women. Let's join hands and work towards the true definition of "feminism". Standing for abortion doesn't make you enlightened. It just takes away from being a woman. And that, my friends, is an awful thing to do to yourself.


One last thing before I go...I've been watching quite a bit of political tv lately. (And man, don't even get me started on the bias of the networks, particularly Fox and MSNBC! Whatever happened to journalists being neutral?????). Anywho...I noticed that a lot of "pro choice" individuals aren't calling it "abortion" these days. Rather, they've taken to calling it "reproductive health issues". What in the hell does that mean? Can anyone explain that to me? Are they implying that being pregnant is somehow a "health" issue for your uterus? I mean I guess you could say that's sort of accurate. Maybe. But what's with the fancy terminology? The discussion between "pro-life" and "pro-choice" isn't about a woman's "reproductive health". After all, pregnancy is actually a function of a woman's body, not a disease or malady, remember? No, this discussion is about abortion. Let's "keep it real", okay people? I mean, you can put lipstick on that pig...but it's still a pig. Right?


13 comments:

  1. I don't like the thought of abortion. I agree that it is destroying a human being. I deplore the thought of abortion being used as a means of birth control.

    But I don't believe Roe v Wade should be overturned. Some women will choose to have abortions, legal or not. They did before and they will again. For whatever reason. Let's not jeopardize the health of these women - whether or not we share the same beliefs about abortion. We don't need to go back to the days of back-alley abortionists with their coat hangers and strange potions.

    For the women who feel the need for an abortion, that's your decision and you have to live with the consequences years down the road. I don't agree with you, but I'm not going to send you to a quack just because we don't share the same views.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think I'm pro-choice. I would never in a million years have considered abortion as an option for myself, but I think every woman should be able to make the choice themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Being a man, I will not presume to understand the feminist agenda or the nuances of pro-choice decisions and pro-life decisions. Further, I am not taking sides, I am merely attempting to present (note: not represent) one possible view.
    I think the feminists are trying to say that government should not dictate to woman what they do with their own bodies. They might argue that letting the white, aristocratic, male government legislate these areas of a woman's life asserts male control over women.
    It does not need to be stated that women have uteruses (uterii?) and men do not. For the government to legislate any matter pertaining to a woman's uterus (her reproductive health) is to distinguish a woman from a man. This could be viewed as being not equal. "Separate but equal" has not worked so well in the past.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yeah, and during the menstrual cycle, women used to have to sleep in another room (for Native Americans in another Wigwam, no lie! And the word squaw is about the same as calling a woman a c--t...also no lie...you may not find that in snopes, but you'll find it in current history books if you don't know a Native American personally...American women have only been being treated equally for such a short time that they don't know how to handle it yet. When does life begin? At conception...I had two miscarriages and raised holy hell when they termed it "spontaneous abortion"...we don't need men to keep us down, we've got enough women out there doing it for us.
    Great post...way to get me on my soapbox!
    hugs
    Aunt Sandi
    ps
    GO MCCAIN and PALIN

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, two things...first, I love your fall tree...it's beautiful! I've got about 30 gourds we grew, want some? And as to that pregnant man, please don't any of you get your hopes up, because this man who decided he wanted to be a mommy was a woman who wanted to be a man before she changed her mind! I just googled the pregnant man where I verified for myself that I had not misheard...a MAN STILL HAS NOT GIVEN BIRTH TO A BABY...SHE'S STILL GOT HER INNER WORKINGS, SO SHE'S STILL A SHE...case closed!
    love again
    Aunt Sandi

    ReplyDelete
  6. I loved your post. For me to say that I am pro-life, but that other women may be pro-choice is the same as saying that I am opposed to murder for myself, but it is okay for you to murder if you want to (yes, I feel that strongly). One thing I'd like to see done immediately is to stop the federal funding for abortion. If a woman wants an abortion, I certainly don't want my tax dollars used for it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good post Kari! Man you know how to cut to the chase girl. And you do it so eloquently, you really have a way of laying out your thoughts. Now me on the other hand am usually all over the place with my thoughts. LOL But seriously, I believe life begins at conception. My son believes in evolution, he is a physics major in college and I was so hoping after the birth of his son he would see that we are not born of chance because we evolved from monkeys. But I guess that is a whole other can of worms for another day. Have a great wekend!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This reminds me of a joke I heard recently:

    If the evolution theory is correct then why are there still monkeys???

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi...first time to your blog. I agree with you 100%. You put into words what I feel. I also agree with what "Vee~A Haven For Vee" said.

    Loretta

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love how you just tell it like it is :) I agee too - I don't believe in abortion and I don't understand the discussion on when is a fetus deemed a human life. I've always been taught, and believe, that a life begins at conception!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I loved this post and totally agree with you all the way. Some people are just idiots!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comment. I love to hear what you have to say!