Friday, September 23, 2011

Women: More Than Society Allows Her To Be

Feminist and Feminism are not the same things. Women's Movements in the United States have done great things for women and their goal was always equality. Women gained the right to vote through one wave of the movement, which told the world that women have just as rational a brain and an ability to choose leaders as men. But the thing is, equal doesn't mean the same because, ask anyone who's dated someone of the opposite sex (I'm sure my fiance would gladly add his two cents), men and women process the world differently. One is not better than the other, it can be argued (but not wholly) that one is better suited for certain things than the other and vice versa, but the basic truth is men and women are different. Equal but different. Why is this so hard for us to understand?
Feminism shows us that being a woman is good and beautiful and capable and dependable and just as awesome as masculinity but in a different way. It shows us that being a woman is valuable and respectable. Feminist tells us that being a woman is inherently less. Sure, being a woman shouldn't tie me down to any social norms or acts of depreciation, but my womanhood is only good insofar as I can make it masculine. This is where we get a view of babies as a burden or even a disease; because, in the work place, for any woman who wants to climb the corporate ladder, be a financial success, or just scrape by, babies are a nuisance. Enter abortion and women's right to "choose". Women are giving women the ability to choose to kill the baby in her womb and therefore strip away what makes a woman a woman, taking away the "superpower" only women have, that is, to make babies as no man can carry a child inside of him and nurture that baby and then survive labor like a champ (please note: that transgendered man who gave birth to his and his partner's child kept his lady parts in his operation and therefore is not wholly male and thus a man did not birth a child). Some scientists will disagree with me here and say that a man could carry a child in his abdomen, after being artificially inseminated, and then give birth to a healthy, full-term child by a modified Cesarean (however, all will agree that this poses significant health hazards to both parent and child and is not advisable). So let me modify my statement: no man is born with all of the necessary parts to carry a child within him through an act of sexual intercourse. Only women have the ability and privilege to do this! But I digress...
Feminists seek equality through the destruction of womanhood and the woman. Feminism seeks equality by noting the differences in the genders and showing how each is valuable and good. A real way to get equality for women would be to reinvent the way corporate America sets up her business structures, allowing for men and women to work side by side in an environment that protects femininity and masculinity by giving each the allowances necessary without the destruction of one sex over the other (we have begun this with more generous time and benefits for mothers on maternity leave and the ever-increasing ability to work from home).
But this issue goes far beyond the workplace. Feminist views tell us that to be good, successful, respectable women, we must constantly be doing and achieving things and undervalue the good of doing at home: the good of teaching your child his first word, succeeding as a parent at raising good citizens, etc. Feminism seeks integration of all of these; no woman is better than another simply by holding a job in the workforce over raising a stable family at home, and neither of these is mutually exclusive, women can do both.
What I'm getting at is I hate abortion. It is morally indefensible and inexcusable to recklessly and brutally kill an innocent human life for the advancement of one's own purposes (seriously, dogs get more protection and outrage over cruelty done to them than kids in the womb). Not only this, but it strips women of exactly what makes them women and leaves them androgynous male-wannabes. Most women probably don't feel this when they have abortions, some even feel empowered by it, but they are not being empowered as women, they are being empowered as pseudo-males. It's time to take femininity back and I'm starting today.

6 comments:

Hannah said...

So basically, you think that women should be forced through pregnancy and childbirth against their will, rather than allowing them to get an abortion? Tell me, why do you care more about the life of a fetus than you do about the life of a woman? Do you even know how many potentially-fatal pregnancy complications there are? Some of those complications can only be solved by getting an abortion, such as is the case with ectopic pregnancies. So, in the case of a woman with an ectopic pregnancy, would you rather that she just died than that she got the life-saving abortion she needed? Seriously, just because I'm a woman doesn't mean that I should be treated like a farm animal that only exists to give birth over and over again. Why do I have so little worth in your mind, and why do my wants and needs not matter to you? If I knew that going through with a pregnancy wasn't the right option for me at all, why would you completely disregard that?

Theresa said...

Hannah, you were once a fetus and to care about the woman means to care first about the fetus that she once was at her most vulnerable phase of growth. And regarding potentially-fatal pregnancy complications, I do know. First, my grandmother's doctors recommended she abort her baby, my mom, due to complications. But my grandmother told the doctors to worry about saving both of them and leave the rest to God. My mom was born healthy and my grandmother survived to see her 80s (and have another child after my mom). Also, one of my closest friends almost lost her life due to complications of an ectopic pregnancy. In that case, the baby did die. In some cases of ectopic pregnancy, both the mother and the baby can be saved by removing the baby from the fallopian tube and implanting her into the uterus. And no where did I say that we women (remember, we're on the same team) exist only to breed...in fact, I say the opposite. But I also say, think, and believe, that our corporate and worldly success should not be dependent on destructing little lives.

Hannah said...

If you don't think that women exist only to breed, then how come you want to force other women to carry every single pregnancy they ever have to term? Not all women are going to be okay with that idea, so why expect us to be okay with it? Just because you live your life according to the Bible, and just because your morals say that abortion is wrong, doesn't mean that every other woman in this country should have to live her life that way. Can you not see how pushy it is to enact laws based on your religious morals and to expect those who don't share your religious beliefs to have to live their lives according to those morals?

Also, since you think there are better options than getting an abortion, tell me, what would be the "better option" for me if I ever got pregnant? I've been taking Zoloft for 10 years now, and it's been proven to be harmful to the fetus if taken while pregnant, so I'd have to go through withdrawal from the Zoloft, which, if you know anything at all about addiction, is mentally and physically traumatic. So, tell me, what would be the "better option" for me? Or will you admit that sometimes abortion is the best option?

Theresa said...

This is a really great conversation, but I don't think it's suited for a combox. Please email me if you would like to continue this conversation. I would like to hear more from you.

Hannah said...

Okay, what's your email address?

Theresa said...

I just added it to my profile