What makes a feminist?

What makes a feminist?

Thursday, February 25, 2010

disgusted

Woman live Tweets her abortion.

I just...I don't know WHAT to say to that. I've heard so many pro-choice people proclaim "oh, it's a private decision between a woman and her doctor!". You call this private? "I don't feel like I'm doing anything different from what I do every day," said Jackson. "But now I have people calling me a killer; it's surreal."

I really, really hope she doesn't mean that she considers taking the life of an unborn child an "every day" type of event. I can't believe even someone who is pro-choice would condone this. No...I take that back. I can. Plenty of women publicly proclaim that they're not sorry.

I wasn't one of those pro-choice women. Many years ago, I terminated a pregnancy. I didn't feel 'empowered', I didn't feel 'relieved'. I felt empty and hollow and sad and thought there was something wrong with me. After all, only weak-willed women regretted their abortions, right? I was supposed to be strong, in control of my own destiny, fiercely independent, every girl-power label.

Would I have twittered about my experience? Good golly no. I wanted to sweep it under the rug and pretend it never even happened. Later as I began to process my feelings about both the abortion and the father of my unborn child (he did not know until after the fact), I realized that I felt bad because I knew deep down I had not made the right choice. Would I dare admit it to any of my pro-choice friends? No. Admitting that some women regret their abortions is tantamount to claiming that all women are weak and need to be controlled by the patriarchy, apparently.


Something is terribly wrong in a society where we not only leave women feeling like they have no other choice but to abort, but treat it as a positive thing besides!

Monday, February 22, 2010

"We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience."

"The voice of conscience has always clearly recalled that there are truths and moral values for which one must be prepared to give up one's life." Pope John Paul II


I have a deep and abiding love of history, and a fascination with the men and women who stood up against evil. WWII resistance groups rank pretty high on that list-so few groups, after all, represent evil like the Nazis.

I also got inspired to write this after seeing Sophie Scholl-The Final Days, which I highly recommend.

In 1943, Sophie Scholl, along with her brother and several others, distributed leaflets harshly criticizing the actions of the Third Reich and Hitler's regime. Calling themselves the White Rose movement, this group of students drew the attention of many (including the Third Reich) with leaflets calling the German people to action against the Nazi regime.

In February, Sophie and her brother Hans were spotted by a janitor as they dropped a stack of leaflets at the University of Munich. They were arrested and taken into custody, followed shortly by Christoph Probst. Their trial was overseen by infamous judge Roland Freisler, and the three were sentenced to death on February 22nd, 1943.

The executions were carried out on the same day as the sentencing. Proud of her actions to the end, Sophie's last words before being led to the guillotine were recorded as "Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?".

Photobucket
left to right: Hans Scholl (22 September 1918 – 22 February 1943), Sophie Scholl (9 May 1921 – 22 February 1943), Christoph Probst (6 November 1919 - 22 February 1943)

Sunday, February 21, 2010

dear plus-sized clothing manufacturers

Just because I have a rather bountiful chest, does NOT mean I wish to show it off to the world!

Does it seem all that strange, I wonder, for a secularist to want to dress modestly? Some feminists seem more than happy to label the modest dresser as repressed, a tool of the evil patriarchy that seeks to repress and control women's sexuality.

Bollocks, I say. Repressed, me? Assume what you like about the conservatively dressed woman you pass in the street. The real me is my own secret :-)

Monday, February 15, 2010

On non-consenual pregnancies

A common exception I hear about in abortion law is "exception should be made for rape victims".

I've read the arguments stating that pregnancy cannot possibly occur as a result of rape. This cannot be a true statement--where there is unprotected intercourse occurring, there is the possibility of pregnancy. To state otherwise is to imply that the victim wasn't really raped at all, which is why I have a problem with this particular mindset.

That said-the unborn child doesn't know how he was conceived. He doesn't know who his father is, he doesn't know what his mother suffered. His mother may find the experience of pregnancy healing, she may likewise find it to be a further unwanted invasion of her body and resources.

She may grow to love the baby, she may grow to resent him. But her baby has committed no crime.

Her rapist has, and accordingly he should be punished as the law requires. There can be no justification for sexual assault.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Where are the fathers?

I had the opportunity to break bread with a man of about 24, whose girlfriend had an abortion. He had begged her not to-he wanted to raise the child, to be a father...to take responsibility for his actions.

I hold this in contrast to another young man who identified as "pro-choice". When asked what he would do if he got a girl pregnant and she refused to abort, he said "I'd leave the country, change my name...anything to avoid having to pay for it!". When questioned about a vasectomy, he asked "why should I have to do all that?".

The first man is a MAN. The second will never be anything more than a boy.

On Facebook there is a group called "I bet I can find 1,000,000 men against abortion". The description is heartening:

GENTLEMEN: We must stand strong in the defense of innocent pre-born babies. Real men defend and protect their children- that is THE core of what it means to be a man.

Men do not need to be given the right to stand against abortion, because we already have a RESPONSIBILITY to do so. We have been oppressed for long enough as it pertains to asserting the our rights as fathers in protecting our children.

The time to act is NOW.


This will offend some pro-choice feminists, I'm sure--a common argument is that as men will never get pregnant, they shouldn't get a say in abortion rights. This argument completely and utterly discredits the feelings, emotions, and connections that men have to their offspring. Are these women all dating boys, I wonder?

In the next few days I'll be posting about how I went from being pro-choice to pro-life, and the mistakes I made myself.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

...to the natural end

I don't support the death penalty.

I find it a cruel, barbaric practice that should not continue to be practiced in any civilized society. From Amnesty International's website, The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state. This cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment is done in the name of justice.

It violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.


A culture that values life cannot abide the death penalty. A culture that embraces violence will practice it openly. What do we know about it?

We know it doesn't stop crime. We know it doesn't serve justice or bring peace to anyone. It cannot be reversed if the accused was indeed innocent. It is discriminatory-those who can afford a good lawyer are more likely to be spared death, and minority prisoners are significantly more likely to be given a death sentence than whites. This cannot be acceptable.

Even the most 'humane' methods employed (lethal injection being the preferred method in most states) do not guarantee a painless death. And that's just the practice in the United States--overseas the atrocities are yet worse. They make no secret of this-videos of public executions are all over YouTube. They are very difficult to watch, but if they won't sway a heart against capital punishment, then I don't know what will!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Whose body is it, anyway?

A rallying cry of the pro-choice movement is "hands OFF my body!". The child growing within them is not treated as a separate being, but as the woman's property.

Sound familiar?