Not just speaking about experiences with abortion though— we need to speak about experiences with pregnancy. Pregnancy can be wonderful and pregnancy can be terrible, but we very carefully never describe the terribleness of some pregnancies. We don’t want to acknowledge how hard pregnancy can be. Until we do, calls for bodily autonomy will never hit home. https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/9/1/lsac003/6548698
Several years ago on one of those awful days when the antis all come out to demonstrate in front of healthcare clinics that offer abortion, I went across the street to stand next to some of them to thin their ranks so onlookers would know they were not in the majority. One of them wanted to start a conversation with me and said, "Isn't the weather lovely today," and I responded by snarling at her, "Fuck you!" I couldn't help myself and now I know why. THANKS!
Right on! Any person, minister or government that wants a woman to stay pregnant against her will is demeaning her autonomy and her humanity. This is akin to slavery. Everything else is bullshit.
Debating is meant to keep alive the pretense that we live in a functioning democratic nation. As what happens around us gets worse and worse, the topics of 'debate' get more and more absurd.
I'm less concerned about the conservatives who want to 'debate'. You've correctly described them here. What bothers me about debating is the media and other institutions desperately want to pretend that everything that's happened in the past seven years is okay and somehow within the range of normal. Because I think that does matter at the margins. People are naturally more followers than leaders, and they look for cues to what to believe and how to respond. The people in power, ESPECIALLY the ones who don't agree with what's happening, are doing the devil's work by treating it as the normal back-and-forth of democracy.
Not just speaking about experiences with abortion though— we need to speak about experiences with pregnancy. Pregnancy can be wonderful and pregnancy can be terrible, but we very carefully never describe the terribleness of some pregnancies. We don’t want to acknowledge how hard pregnancy can be. Until we do, calls for bodily autonomy will never hit home. https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/9/1/lsac003/6548698
Several years ago on one of those awful days when the antis all come out to demonstrate in front of healthcare clinics that offer abortion, I went across the street to stand next to some of them to thin their ranks so onlookers would know they were not in the majority. One of them wanted to start a conversation with me and said, "Isn't the weather lovely today," and I responded by snarling at her, "Fuck you!" I couldn't help myself and now I know why. THANKS!
Right on! Any person, minister or government that wants a woman to stay pregnant against her will is demeaning her autonomy and her humanity. This is akin to slavery. Everything else is bullshit.
Yes. That is all.
You hit the nail on the head. These people just use "debate" as an excuse to target and malign people.
Debating is meant to keep alive the pretense that we live in a functioning democratic nation. As what happens around us gets worse and worse, the topics of 'debate' get more and more absurd.
I'm less concerned about the conservatives who want to 'debate'. You've correctly described them here. What bothers me about debating is the media and other institutions desperately want to pretend that everything that's happened in the past seven years is okay and somehow within the range of normal. Because I think that does matter at the margins. People are naturally more followers than leaders, and they look for cues to what to believe and how to respond. The people in power, ESPECIALLY the ones who don't agree with what's happening, are doing the devil's work by treating it as the normal back-and-forth of democracy.
Well said.
Thank you, once again for you judgement and willingness to share it. If someone tried to debate with me I'd just tell them to go away and grow up.
Damn well said.