Sunday, May 15, 2005

By request...The War on Choice - A bitch's perspective

A bitch would like to thank everyone for the feedback regarding the heathen situation next door! Needless to say, all predictions that the problem would not be taken care of have proven true. Fuck it all to heaven and back! I had to leave the house just get away from the mini-riot next door. Add to that the massive rehab dig down the block that started at the ungodly hour of 8am on a fucking Sunday and…well…a bitch is beyond bitchy today. I'll keep y'all posted on the heathens.

A friend in need sidetracked my weekend plans of debauchery. Most folks come to me in bullshit-distress, but a friend was truly suffering over her mother’s illness and I was her shoulder to cry on. It hurts when someone you care about has a problem you can’t solve… Vodka-crans can’t solve…fuck it; cheesecake, Vodka and fried chicken can’t even solve this shit! But I was glad to be there and repay some of my emotional debt. Needless to say, a bitch was not able to party Saturday night as planned and now I feel that my weekend has been hijacked by reality.

The comment by Jolly Green Julie did perk a bitch up. It referenced the Radical Right’s attempt to block the availability of the Plan B emergency contraception pill. Now, I should state upfront that I’m a huge supporter of reproductive freedom. As a volunteer at several local women’s shelters, I have seen the devastation that is wrought when choice is taken away from us. Having said that, I would like to see some planning going on with all the parenthood I’ve been seeing lately. However, no woman should be told to fucking pray when a night of fun turns into a possible lifetime investment. Religious zealots should take comfort in the fact that tons of prayer takes place while women wait to see if it's blue or pink or clear of whatever. And I mean tons of fervent "Please Jesus, I'm begging you don't let my ass be pregnant!" prayer. Add a few girlfriends and it's a fucking prayer circle!

ABB's Thoughts on this Bullshit.

The recent move by the Radical Right to remove sex ed. from our schools is, in essence, a class war. Why, you ask? Well let a bitch tell you! Access to reproductive choices has always been the privilege of the rich. Bitches with money haven’t been surprised by a baby for 100’s of years. Lack of reproductive choices has always been the burden of the poor. In Missouri, this class war has the unfortunate added element of race and geography. Decision are being made in Jefferson City by people who have never been to St. Louis or Kansas City, have never seen the faces behind the numbers and have no idea what goes on inside a city clinic. And that pisses me the fuck off!

Our young women are being besieged by a culture that has become rapidly sexualized. And not in that 1990's "I'm going to get my freak on" empowered kinda way, but in that "oh God I'd better blow him or I'll loose him" 1950's feminist nightmare kinda way. At the same time, we are taking away any useful education about our bodies, our rights and our options. Now, after sexual education has been rolled back to a pre-pill state, these Radicals seek to remove emergency contraception from the picture. The end result is that an ignorant, unprepared young woman who can’t get on the pill because her pharmacist is a fundamentalist and can’t buy Latex because her local drug store is scared of the local preacher, and can’t get an abortion or even find out about abortions because her state Rep. doesn’t want to get turned away from communion, will stumble back home and try to solve the situation herself. We know this, chil’ren! We have the documentation and we also have logic; when you were 16 what would you have done? Be honest. MmmHmmm.

A bitch would like to focus on what motivates of these Radicals, rather than their rhetoric. Why would you not want to educate a young woman about her body? Why would you teach only abstinence in a society that has so many safe options for those who want to have sex? When did sex become the enemy? Why would you also seek to shut down clinics? Don’t you know that clinics treat a multitude of STD’s, often are the only medical testing a young woman gets and are a huge resource to women who don’t have healthcare and need to get a fucking pap smear? Oh, and why go after Plan B now? Is it because you want to promote a "culture of life"? Or is it because you want to see poor women have poor babies, remain uneducated and unemployable, and stay captured and controlled in a state of abject poverty? Could it be that you fear planned parenthood because you in some way benefit from unplanned parenthood?

A bitch thinks this may be an organized attempt to cripple the masses then soothe their tortured minds with...well...prayer! Consider the rising syphilis and HIV infection numbers and this becomes a war of attrition. Just think about it...and then write a check to NARAL and/or Planned Parenthood.

ABB wants everyone to know that I do not want women going out and having unprotected sex. I want to see women empowered to protect themselves and able to address any situation quickly if they didn’t. As for the religious argument, try this - a bitch wants to see women live long enough to still have the option of finding God... or not.

Education, freedom of choice and lots of safe options - I call those basic rights, not a mandate to fuck.

4 comments:

Maven said...

Again, you're right on the money. This is not only a means of keeping women in their place (not just the disenfranchised poor, either). The problem that the male theocrats have is that once women have the RIGHT and CHOICE about what to do with their bodies, it takes away the male power. I believe Pope JP2 said in the issue of pregnancy from rape the women should just accept it as a gift from God blah blah. This is especially heinous when you take into consideration this is happening on the scale of tens of thousands of women in Rwanda. And while on that thought, there should be a death penalty for rape and incest. I think then and only then, it will drive home the point to the rapists that this nonsense will not be tolerated. But hey, rape and incest is purely a woman's problem right? A second class citizen... why should anyone bother with it?

Speaking as a white woman raised in a mid-to-lower working class family, I think it's a shame that sex ed is being removed from some schools. My mother's way of giving me the "talk" about sex was sticking me on the pill at 15. Sure it prevented pregnancy--however, it's only by the grace of God him/her/itself that I never came down with an STD or HIV. If parents can't or won't be responsible for educating their kids about sex, and if the schools are powerless about it... the kids will have no place else to learn about this shit but to pick it up on the streets. It's irresponsible on so many different levels, socially, not to mention jeopardizing lives of countless teens as a result of this kind of closemindedness.

Maven said...

PS: I found this a while back, and I think it's fitting to share it here:
http://www.bigbrassblog.com/2005/04/what-makes-woman.html

Elizabeth said...

ABB has a firm grip on what many of us think, white or black or purple or striped, etc. This issue cuts across color lines and involves everyone. ABB articulates the concerns, frustrations and issues in her usual well-crafted style. I thank her for that.

If I may add my thoughts:
It is just stupid and irresponsible to deny birth control/birth control education to people who want it. I suggest that those who deny these resources to those in need agree to adopt one unwanted child for every referral they refuse to make, every pamphlet they refuse to hand out, every prescription they refuse to fill and every condom they refuse to sell. Then we might see some progress.

Anyone who opts to take responsibility for his or her sexual activity should be encouraged and commended, not penalized, I think.

And I don't want my ability to choose to be controlled, influenced or determined by people whose religious and political views I do not share.

Okay, I'll climb down off my soapbox now.

"Radical" Russ said...

Of course there is a benefit to keeping young poor women down and making them breed more poor babies. Offices don't clean themselves. Richie Rich needs a nanny. Somebody needs to fight the War on Terrah. Would you like fries with that?

When people point out to me the systems that are broken down and not working, I tell them to think about how that system may actually be working exactly as intended.

Schools churn out stupid kids? It's because somebody wants a lot of stupid kids.

Borders allow in a flood of illegal aliens? It's because somebody wants a lot of cheap labor.

Drug war continues to lock up disproportionate numbers of poor and minorities? It's because somebody wants lots of poor folks locked up.

Women's reproductive choices are being taken away? It's because somebody wants lots of pregnant women.

Americans can't get decent health care? It's because somebody wants lots of sick dependent people.

John Lennon was right. Follow the money.

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