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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Or is it like that woman who claimed she was getting pregnant and having abortions as an art project?
Honestly, if true, this is a horribly ill-conceived idea. If you want your friends to help out, go to them quietly, one at a time. Not that it's a matter to be ashamed of, but I really think, ten or twenty years down the line, it's not something the party-giver will be glad to have celebrated. Yes, I know it isn't the abortion being celebrated, but still, you are associating what should be a somber, well-thought out, difficult decision with an opportunity to get wasted.
I can see why right wingers would be upset. I am upset. And I think the commentators are being way to easy on this.
And an abortion is not like a tonsillectomy. It's pretty easy to take measures to avoid an abortion. Not so much a tonsillectomy.
This sounds like a typical made up story. They take a fundraiser for an abortion that is likely real, then start interpreting everything as negatively as possible, making up a few details, etc. I'd bet the 'womb' was some party decoration only the writer saw as a womb.
If this goes like usual, we'd be able to find out that it was a get together, with music and booze, without abortion decorations and all the exaggerated attitudes.
Were it real - it'd be in more than somewhat bad taste - like celebrating a brisk with meatball and mini-hotdog appetizers, arranged anatomically. But that's about it.
I can understand that you all think it's tacky that she threw a big party, but I think you miss the fact that abortion is a rather emotional choice and women need support. I think it's brave of this woman to be open and honest and ask her friends to be there for her, not just financially, but also physically. Who are we to say what one person needs and why is it our place to mock her for still wanting to enjoy her life even if she is having an abortion? What if it was to pay for chemo or plastic surgery, is it the same level of tacky?
I'm guessing this is a hoax. But I wouldn't take the bait and be outraged by it. If someone did throw a fundraiser for an abortion, what horrible harm was done to anyone? Tackiness? Like we aren't overrun with that already.
I took the liberty of reading some of Mr. Duncan's other work- and it looks good. After reading it, I believe he's sincerely pro-choice, and trying to work his way through an extremely difficult topic.
His use of "male" to mean "expressing forceful opinions"? Weak, especially given his friendship with feminists, but I'm sure he'll have his consciousness raised eventually. Hopefully they'll also address why having a child at a pro-choice event isn't a "Contradiction", even if it's terrible parenting to have a toddler up past 11.
Where he leaves the rails, as far as I'm concerned, is in his use of an extraordinarily rare event as a jumping off point for the question of the role, if any, for men in the political and personal abortion debates. I drove my college classmates to get abortions (2), and gave birth control/sexual health seminars to every dorm on my campus over 3 years, and I have NEVER heard of an abortion party.
It's his experience, he's entitled to write about it, but I'm hard pressed to think of a context less likely to result in a thoughtful discussion on abortion, save a Kansas tent revival.
An abortion party with a cover charge, complete with dance floor "womb" and all, is a great campy way to deal the all too common financial problems. I see nothing wrong with the party, and suspect that all the handwringing about it is tacit tithing to the anti-choice meme that abortions should be solemn, shameful, private affairs.
I'm all for the "Woo-hoo! I'm not preggers anymore! Pop the keg, not the kid!" approach. Why? Well...
1. There are 6.5 billion of us on the planet. One more unborn, unwanted kid is no kind of tragedy at all. On the contrary, it's doing the world a favor. It's green, even!
2. Conservatives have successfully poisoned abortion the same way they did with "liberal." It's not something to be ashamed of. And I can think of no better way to combat that toxic meme than by an in-your-face, over the top, campy party that goes into the night and gets the cops called, to boot.
3. For college kids, affording an abortion is truly a problem. Anti-choice folks have succeeded in derailing tons of potential public funding, so these kids need to find ways to pay for the procedure out of their empty pockets. And what could be more dear to Republican and conservative hearts than an entrepreneur, capitalist, free market approach of having your friends pony up a cover charge for food and entertainment within? Sounds downright American as apple pie and explosives on July 4th, to me.
I'm all for it, and I am disappointed to see Broadsheet's contributors wringing their hands over it, no matter what their rationalizations for buying into the conservative "shame" meme.
An abortion party with a cover charge, complete with dance floor "womb" and all, is a great campy way to deal the all too common financial problems. I see nothing wrong with the party, and suspect that all the handwringing about it is tacit tithing to the anti-choice meme that abortions should be solemn, shameful, private affairs.
I'm all for the "Woo-hoo! I'm not preggers anymore! Pop the keg, not the kid!" approach. Why? Well...
1. There are 6.5 billion of us on the planet. One more unborn, unwanted kid is no kind of tragedy at all. On the contrary, it's doing the world a favor. It's green, even!
2. Conservatives have successfully poisoned abortion the same way they did with "liberal." It's not something to be ashamed of. And I can think of no better way to combat that toxic meme than by an in-your-face, over the top, campy party that goes into the night and gets the cops called, to boot.
3. For college kids, affording an abortion is truly a problem. Anti-choice folks have succeeded in derailing tons of potential public funding, so these kids need to find ways to pay for the procedure out of their empty pockets. And what could be more dear to Republican and conservative hearts than an entrepreneur, capitalist, free market approach of having your friends pony up a cover charge for food and entertainment within? Sounds downright American as apple pie and explosives on July 4th, to me.
I'm all for it, and I am disappointed to see Broadsheet's contributors wringing their hands over it, no matter what their rationalizations for buying into the conservative "shame" meme.
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