Guys arguing about abortion rights

Diane Monaco dmonaco at pop3.utoledo.edu
Sat Feb 1 11:36:37 PST 2003


Well said Lou. I appreciate your thoughtful, progressive AND feminist words on the topic. It is amazing to me as well...but you know, we shouldn't be all that amazed since a patriarchal quagmire still abounds. And control over women's reproduction is but another ancient source of muck and sludge along with a few others (control of resources...). What we really need are more muckrakers not muck!

Diane (pro-choice with no buts and feminist in a patriarchal world)

Postscript: But I do look forward to being post-feminist in the post-patriarchy

At 07:01 PM 1/30/2003 +0000, you wrote:
>It always amazes me in this kind of discussion how many men there are who
>will
>quote and defend anti-choice, or pro-choice-but-anti-abortion women, and
>defend them as feminists and progressive, and then quote and defend each
>other
>and other supposed 'progressive anti-abortion men', COMPARED WITH the number
>of "anti-abortion progressive women" who ever get into the argument.
>
>Clearly the notion is very widespread among some 'progressive men' that,
>among
>some 3 billion females on this planet, there are very few with adequate moral
>sense or debating skills to come forward and properly represent the interests
>of babies and feti. No, the "leftist" men have to step forward and educate
>the women about how they need to care for their babies in the interests of
>democracy and all that.
>
>Personally, I think that women probably have at least as good a record of
>caring for children as men, and at least as much experience at it, and at
>least as much insight into how their own legitimate rights and the legitimate
>rights of babies can be conceptualized and mutually advanced. And possibly
>MORE. Which is to say that if by some miracle all men were struck dumb and
>powerless on the issue, not only would there be a tremendous saving in
>bandwidth, but the resultant debates among women alone would probably be of
>high quality and result in policies at least as good as if we men had
>assisted
>in their formulation.
>
>I am not inflexible, and would be willing to read arguments against
>completely
>unlimited and unrestricted right to abortion on demand, IF AND WHEN, that is,
>they were to come from genuinely representative and uncoerced assemblies of
>women, and if the determination and enforcement of any such rules or limits
>were to be left in the hands of such women alone. Of course I would never do
>anything to promote or enforce such limits, but I would read the arguments.
>
>Lou Paulsen
>Chicago



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