selfish genes

joanna bujes joanna.bujes at ebay.sun.com
Thu Feb 28 10:31:22 PST 2002


At 12:22 PM 02/28/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>On Tue, 19 Feb 2002, joanna bujes wrote:
> > Except that given equal access to birth control....which may be the
> > sticking point...class should make no difference.
>
>I don't mean to be dense, but why do you think that's so?
>
>The classes aren't homogeneous; that's the point of defining classes. Why
>should they suddenly adopt similar behaviours when a relatively small
>thing, access to birth control, is changed?

Acess to birth control is not a "relatively small thing": it determines whether I as a woman have ANY control over my body; it determines whether I (as a woman) can work outside the house; it determines the extent to which, given limited resources, I can educate my children and protect myself (through savings) from economic crises....the list goes on and on.

My mother had sixteen abortions on somebody's kitchen table. Do you think access to birth control was a small issue in her life?

Different classes may have different reasons for using birth control. The rich may use it for narcissistic reasons; the poor may use it for economic reasons; they may both use it for similar reasons --- to have more resources for the children they do have, but whatever the reasons and differences, access to birth control is a big deal.

Joanna B.



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