Letters to the Editor
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Right on, Right on, Right on.
"stunning lack of humility" neither nor anyone else has put this issue to clearly. I actually got into an arguement with a man who said that pregnancy is something that happens to a woman. She just sits back and lets it all happen, and that is why she has no more right than the man when it comes to abortion or carrying to term. Stunning lack of humitity indeed.
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Wow
That is about all I can say. Wow. Well, and beautifully, said.
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well written steve Lewis.
well written steve Lewis.
I'd only tweak it by clarifying his statement *Nor do we suffer the profound physical, spiritual or emotional trauma of miscarriage or abortion.*--
overwhelmingly, the major emotion felt after abortion is relief. It can be traumatic, but generally is not.
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The flip side of the coin.
I haven't done too much research into this topic, but what's the standard feminist position on men's rights regarding abortion? For instance, should a man be able to give away all rights and responsibilities for a child if the woman chooses to carry it to term and the man doesn't want it? Does the reverse apply? Should the power of procreation rest totally and utterly with the woman?
I'm a fan of birth control and choice, I just don't know where feminism stands regarding men's reproductive rights.
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Male rights re: abortion
In answer to the person who asked what the 'feminist' view of male rights is - I can't answer for the feminist view, but as a feminist I will say that the man has the right to his feelings, and to expressing his wishes. He does not have the right to be the decision maker about another autonomous being's body.
Look at it this way - say a man is married, and wants a vasectomy because he does not want children, or any more children. The wife wants a child/more children. Should she have any legal say over whether he has the vasectomy?
While it is true that sperm is not a fetus, and therefore not perfectly applicable to the abortion question, the comparison is apt - should one person have legal sway over another's body?
Even though the fetus is a separate entity in some ways, it is totally dependent on the woman's body to exist and grow to viability.
The human who is providing the 'body environment' should have the legal say...and the woman who's husband wants a vasectomy should either go along with her husband's wish, or divorce him and find someone who wants to father more children.
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One Man's Opinion
big whoop.
technology will fix this problem and give us men control over their reproduction too, as women have control today and refuse to allow men to share in.
no more being bullied and blackmailed by women. totally sick of the cowtowing and wimping out some men like this clown do because THEY KNOW THEY HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE.
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Cold-hearted bastard
"Nor do we suffer the profound physical, spiritual or emotional trauma of miscarriage or abortion."
Physical, I'll give Mr Lewis. However, to write, as he does, that men "suffer none of the profound...spiritual or emotional trauma of miscarriage or abortion" is one of the most stunningly ignorant and offensive things I've read in quite some time. Men don't suffer spiritual or emotional trauma when a pregnancy ends unhappily? Really? I guess when that happens, most men just shrug their shoulders and go back to the football game on TV, eh? It just doesn't bother them much at all if they've spent months eagerly awaiting the birth of a child, only to discover that child will never be born alive, is that it?
Mr Lewis isn't a wise granddad. He's a nasty, cold-hearted bastard. I hope someone drops a cinderblock on his foot.
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Always About the Physical Body, Never The EFFORT
<<- should one person have legal sway over another's body>>
Funny how conveniently women place all rights at the physical limit of the physical body, ignoring the blood, sweat and tears millions of fathers put into raising a kid by providing a home, love, money. Ignoring that ONLY men are conscripted into dying in far off lands in wars for the past two centuries so that Boopsie can luxuriate in FREEDOM with her latte. Ignoring that men provide too, nearly EQUALLY to women, but get nearly ZERO say over the situation regarding THEIR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD kids.
I've had nearly enough feminasty prattle to last me a lifetime, time to look for women who actually LIKE AND RESPECT MEN and grant us some rights too instead of constantly making like their bodies are the be-all end-all. Talk about vast EGOs.
I only wish I was a sacred entity like women profess themselves to be EXCLUSIVELY. I guess it takes having a vagina to be considered HUMAN these days. fuck it
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Fairfax is So Right
The only way the letter writer is correct is that he has learned that it is futile to challenge the women in his life and therefore he must cave in to their wishes and hence submit his male offspring to another generation of being slaves to women's whims, no matter how illogical, grossly disrespectful and hateful of men those whims may be.
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Yikes
Wow, as some of these letters & those from the 3 previous "takes" indicate, there sure are some bitter, angry, and sometimes hatefilled people out there.
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Elegant indeed.
In my opinion, this is the only way any man should think on the subject. He summed it up perfectly. Wish he were MY dad.
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Heres whats going on here
He of course has a right to his oppinion, and he did write elegantly. I dont disagree with all his points, but he is an older man. Men who grew up before the feminist movement , pre 1970, dont have the perspective of the younger generations of men. They still largely view women through the lense of their experiences, and grew up nourtured in a very male centric period of time. Quite frankly, the women he knew and married are not the women of today. The younger men post 1970 grew up in a period of time much more hostile to their gender. Thus the younger men are less forgiving of giving an inch, and much more bitter about their lifes' experiences. Most reasonable men would concede that there is no realistic way for men to limit a woman's choice concerning her body, although a financial opt put clause is somthing else entirely. The frustration expressed in many of these posts simply has to do with the general frustration felt daily by a generation of men concerning their own identity and sexuality, and a general feeling of strong favoritism towards the woman of their generation.