Aug 09
“She .. had three abortions, because the men did not seem to her to be originally enough minted from the human stock to make their progeny worthwhile.” Doris Lessing, Shikasta
We should keep that reason in mind next time asked to justify an abortion.
May 26
Recommended!
A few quotes and notes:
“… pregnancy as a proxy for punishment …” (p.x)
But only for the women, even though the men are mostly responsible for causing the pregnancy (males have 100% control over ejaculation in a vagina; females have no control over whatsoever over ovulation and very seldom force a man to ejaculate in her vagina). The impregnator of Sanchez (forced to give birth in a jail cell without any medical assistance) isn’t even mentioned, let alone similarly punished. We need to police the penis.
I read on and am amazed at how absent the man is from all this discussion of pregnancy and abortion. It’s as if pregnancy just comes out of nowhere rather than being the result of a conscious decision on the part of some man.
Instead of decades of books and legal cases agonizing over abortion, why haven’t there been decades of books and legal cases about impregnation? Maybe we should be prohibiting that except in certain circumstances (such as, for starters, the signing of a contract pledging half of the cost of an abortion or childbirth, six years of complete financial support for the child and whoever takes responsibility for looking after it, and another twelve years of half of the financial support for the child).
And about the whole ‘no foreign aid unless you agree NOT to provide abortion or even inform women of contraception’ policies (chap9)—so irrational! Wouldn’t those in charge of providing foreign aid want to encourage abortion? Or at least information about contraception? Because that would reduce the amount of foreign aid required!
“Legislators frame pregnancy as being controlled and conditioned by women.” (p198). Indeed. All of a sudden, men deny agency, deny power. How curious.
Apr 22
“What would I be if I didn’t live in a world that hated women?” Jessica Valenti, Sex Object
Apr 16
Compare ‘So he fucked her and now she’s knocked up’ with ‘So he made her pregnant and now they’re saying it’s his fault’.
Apr 11
https://medium.com/the-matriarchy/things-you-wouldnt-have-without-feminism-e743e694801e
Sad to say, I’ll bet some will surprise you.
Apr 10
I especially liked the newborn giraffe comment.
(And of course the astute ‘equality’ argument and the point about who was ousted when he was chosen for inclusion, which to my mind, fully justifies the mockery.)
Mar 25
I almost stopped watching this movie because ‘men are selfish stupid dicks’ is so very tiresome, but the women at the dinner scene (about 20 minutes in) made me keep watching.
Even so, men. I can’t believe how clueless they are. Do they really not know the difference between a vasectomy and castration? Do they really think it’s their orgasm that causes pregnancy and not the presence of even the tiniest bit of seminal fluid? Do they really not know that childbirth causes severe, often permanent, injury? Do they think women’s screams are just … hysterical? Exaggeration? (I swear, every thirteen-year-old should have to watch a film of childbirth. ‘Oh but that’ll ruin sex for me; every time I even think of having sex, I’ll think of that.’ Duh.)
So. Recommended viewing for men. (Free on Plex.)
Mar 21
Watched The Mad Whale yesterday. The description was something like ‘Lunatics at a women’s asylum put on a performance of Moby Dick‘. I was hoping to see an expose of historical treatment of women vis-a-vis madness and was not disappointed. But I was delighted, further, to see a couple other unexpected (shame on me!) exposes and some female heroism. (It’s free on Plex.)
