"Fatherhood" & Control over the Female Body (was re: Yoshie's

Michael Hoover hoov at freenet.tlh.fl.us
Tue Aug 24 19:04:21 PDT 1999



> All in all, the question of abortion highlights how mutually bound is human
> existence, yet the answer seems inescapably one of rights and obligations
> in individualistic terms.
> And Yoshie might have the right to say stuff like:
> >You certainly exhibit hatred and contempt for women whose ideas do not
> >agree with you.
> ... but I reserve the right to think it wasn't one of her better moments.
> Rob.

In _Abortion and Woman's Choice_, Rosalind Petchesky criticizes individual right to privacy (negative freedom) because there is no state obligation to facilitate reproductive rights and because it conceals public responsibility for reproductive freedom. She emphasizes both individual right to self determination (positive freedom) and social determination (pregnancy affects women more than men so they should make decisions about abortion).

whether the moment was Yoshie's best or not is irrelevant, her comment was in response to the following remark: 'I believe she favors choking on it'

And the person's followup was to call her an idiot (which my dictionary defines as 'a mentally deficient person who is permanently incapable of rational conduct.').

Perhaps she should have said: 'You certainly exhibit hatred and contempt for *a woman* whose ideas do not agree with you.' Since the 'idiot' remark confirms that point, above might have been a better moment (at least for you). In any event, the focus of criticism should have been on the 'choking' remark and the person who posted it.

Slouching towards sovereign individualism, Michael Hoover



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