White Guys, God, and Uteruses
I feel especially bitter today, so I thought I would talk about politics. Oklahoma state representative George Faught recently introduced a bill that would make it illegal to abort pregnancies due to fetal genetic abnormalities or Downs syndrome. At face value, the bill sounds fairly mild compared to the legislature that men in suits tend to implement as far as women’s bodies are concerned. However, when it was pointed out that the bill had no exceptions- including none for cases of rape or incest- Faught defended himself by saying that rape and incest were the will of God, and therefore those pregnancies should be protected as well. “Life, no matter how it is conceived, is valuable and something to be protected. Let me be clear, God never approves of rape or incest. However, even in the worst circumstances, God can bring beauty from ashes," he said.
At first, he was reluctant to state that rape and incest were the wills of God. He only came forward with this answer when pressed by democratic representative Cory Williams asked him these questions directly. "It's a great question to ask, and, obviously if [rape and incest] happens in someone's life, it may not be the best thing that ever happened," he said. "But, so you're saying that God is not sovereign with every activity that happens in someone's life and can't use anything and everything in someone's life, and I disagree with that."
This is the best time for a woman to be alive. Looking back at every period of history that we have covered in class, things were far worse for women than they are currently. We are an educated and humane people. And yet rape and incest- two of the worst things that can happen to a person- are being described as “maybe not the best thing that ever happened” by a man that was elected to a position of political power. A man that describes carrying a child that the woman does not want because of an interaction that she did not want is “beauty from the ashes”. All of his defenses are backed up by his crude biblical interpretations. In a country where we allegedly have a separation of church and state, why is it that religious beliefs are still allowed to play a part in legislature on any issue?
This issue is pertinent to class because women are, once again, having their rights challenged and torn down by old white dudes. We tend to discuss that at length. This issue is important because not only does it represent the fact that we are still at an age where women’s bodies are controlled by men, but it also shows that religion plays a large part in the government. We need to acknowledge and examine this issue if we expect to do anything to change it.
#ThePatriarchyIsTricky
#It’sAlwaysTimeForTheGulag
In my human sexuality class last semester, we would regularly discuss hypothetical situations. One that stuck out to me was concerning abortion. The scenario was that you were a female who was a senior in college, about to graduate, and you went on spring break. While you were there you ended up having sex with a stranger that you had no way of contacting afterwards, meaning that you didn’t know their name or where they were from or their phone number. When you got back from spring break, you found out you were pregnant. The professor gave us several options: try to find the father or don’t try to find the father. After deciding that, we were supposed to choose between three more options: have an abortion, carry the baby but put it up for adoption after it’s born, or keep the baby and raise it. While some people didn’t take the discussion very seriously, and said things like “oh even without a name or anything to go off of, I would find the father,” many people did take it seriously.
ReplyDeleteOne response was one that I didn’t quite expect; there was a man in the class who, towards the end of the discussion in which several women who stated that they would carry the baby but not raise it, said that these women were “selfish” for putting the baby up for adoption. It seems to me that this guy has the same mindset as the Oklahoma state representative has.
While most people didn’t agree with this guy, there were a few more (guys) who did. Several guys said things along the lines of “it wouldn’t be that big of a deal for a woman to just carry the baby, I don’t see why women would want to abort a baby.” They didn’t understand that a woman’s social life is greatly impacted, as well as their job in the future. They also didn’t understand that women’s bodies won’t just go back to the way they wereq before. Some women tried to point out the fact that having a baby is a strain on your life, and that people wouldn’t employ you if you were visibly pregnant, but these men didn’t quite understand. One girl in my class even pointed out that she had a heart condition that would make carrying a baby very dangerous for her. She then went on to say that she wouldn’t want to risk death for a baby that wasn’t with someone she loved, and one that she planned. However, some of these same men didn’t quite understand that either. They asked why she wouldn’t just carry one now, since she wanted one in the future, and completely ignored her heart condition.
I think many of the laws and regulations that surround abortion have the same kinds of people making them as the men in this class. I don’t think the men making these laws understand that women are people, too.
Few topics get me more heated that this one. Why do old white men in power believe it is their job to interpret "God's will" for everyone else? Also, not everyone in America is a Christian. Not everyone abides by the bible; so, then, why do lawmakers insist on passing legislation influenced by beliefs that many do not have? When I read an opinion that shocks/angers me, like Faught's on rape and incest, it leads me to ponder the questions I just mentioned. It still blows my mind sometimes that there is still such opposition to a woman controlling her own body in the 21st century. Faught's opinion on rape and incest being acts of God and him using that to defend his anti-abortion bill tells me a couple of things. It tells me that even though church and state were supposed to have separated centuries ago, they really actually did not. It tells me that the men in charge of our country care more about protecting their own beliefs than they do about the happiness and well being of women. It is alarming to me that religion still has such a significant influence over the government and the legislation that comes out of it. I just do not understand how and why politician’s religious convictions are still allowed to play such a large role in how our country is governed.
ReplyDeleteI definitely do agree that this is the best time at any point in history to be a woman. When I remember all of the awesome things I get to do is when I realize how truly lucky I am to be alive during this time. I get to vote, I get to own property, I get to pursue an education, etc. I have all of these wonderful opportunities that women my age before me did not, and yet, and I still feel the threat of my autonomy being taken from me. As a woman, I do not think that the government has my best interest at heart. Men simply have no real clue what it is like to be a woman; so why do they think they know what is best for me? I believe politicians need to be less concerned for the state of my eternal soul, and more concerned about giving me the rights I deserve not just as a woman, but as a human being.