A letter from daughter to mother

[femrap]

regarding abortion and in particular 'partial birth abortion' (Rovian terminology, I am quite sure.)


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/23/14559/6351


I learned quite a bit of the medical facts about this procedure....as well as some great points.

One of the comments really smacked me in the head: 'Single fertile women are a THREAT! And the fear of pregnancy is the only thing that keeps them raping perfectly docile and faithful husbands. Abortion and birth control are the biggest threats to The Taming of Women.'

I remember when many of my girlfriends married (and I was single), I was no longer invited to parties, dinners, etc. I knew it was because they thought their husbands might like me or I like them. It seemed to be a 'no-win' situation for me....I just couldn't say to my girlfriends, 'Your husband is dog-butt ugly....you have nothing to worry about.'

Anyway, this explains to me why some women are against abortion....as well as the fact that they're brainwashed by their religions.

[politicat]

1. That's a great letter!

My mother can be like that... for us, it's death and prolonging life (Terry Schiavo prolonging) but it's the same issue: Who controls the body - the individual (or the persons making the legal decisions for the individual) or the state?

Basic concept she cannot wrap her mind around... in part because I think she's afraid I wouldn't follow her wishes (which, as much as I disagree with her, I would to the best extent possible. Because it's her body.)

[NMMNG]

2. An amazing letter

Very educational and dead on right.

[ismnotwasm]

3. "The Taming of Women"

I was reading that blast from the past "The Cult of True Womanhood by Welter today (as well as a few critiques of it)
http://www.pinzler.com/ushistory/cultwo.html

But that's what it's really all about isn't it? We need to be controlled, We need to live in fear. We need to know our place. We can't be trusted with uterus's.

I think many women don't realize that they walk around in a state of fear, not a primal, stereotypical tiger momma (Don't female tigers eat their young sometimes?) protective fear, but that dark, I can't go to the parking lot after work without a security guard and I take that for granted fear.
I was looking at a recent Danish study on pornography and women, and the biggest problem seemed to be with body image, Not the porn itself, but fear of not measuring up-- body image. Fear.
(I have University access and I was in a mood today)

I was also reading a four part series about the vagina, the labial folds and the recent surgical offerings for "a clean slit"(I didn't know the history of female genital mutilation covered in this series in The US-it's far more extensive, exploitative and racist than I realized Did you they used length, size, color etc. of the labia as a measuring stick-- so to speak,-- of lesbianism?)Reading that article about the relative attractiveness of a women's labia lead me to this
Just to make sure I was well and truly annoyed.....

Johnathan Swifts' "The lady's dressing room"
http://www.potw.org/archive/potw158.html
It's kind of funny, I guess, But women didn't come out very well in any of his satire. I guess women poets of the time got him back. Good.

So I'm browsing through articles on history, of women, of feminism, the roles of women, And the reoccurring theme over and over was control, control control. It took different forms of course. And women were usually, but not always, active participants in the culture of the time.

But Goddam I'm sick of it.