Yes, Abortion Is a Women’s Issue, and Yes, More Male Allies Are Welcome
Further, sexist assumptions about women’s role in reproduction are at the core of other oppressions women face. Rape culture is intertwined with ideas that men are irresistibly driven to sex, that women are submissive sexual objects to be conquered, that women are either sluts or prudes. Lack of family supports in the workplace, from paid sick days to paid family leave, are tied with exclusionary and outdated middle-class white assumptions that there will be a woman in the home to take care of the family, and discrimination in pay, promotion, and leadership is underpinned by assumptions that men are primary breadwinners. Pretending that social discrimination against women is not linked with sexual discrimination against women, which can therefore be ignored, may feel “less controversial” but it’s not going to get us anywhere.
When men are quoted in the media five times more often than women on the topics of abortion and birth control, we are simply not ready to move abortion into a post-gender framework that declares abortion is “not a women’s issue.” In particular, it seems that society has a great deal of resistance to putting younger women and women of color, not mutually exclusive categories, at the center of reproductive rights conversations.
While we need more men, more LGBTQ people, and more of everyone taking leadership in the reproductive rights movement, those most directly affected by abortion restrictions—younger women and women of color—need more focus, not less. Turn on the television, and it’s not uncommon to see a white man opposing abortion rights and, if a pro-choice woman is included at all, she is often white and past reproductive age.
Within the abortion rights movement, there is some resistance to having the most directly affected lead the message in a way that doesn’t seem to be paralleled in other human rights movements, including LGBTQ movements and civil rights movements. Some take offense when it is suggested that more younger women and women of color should help lead. This is something that I hope men will keep in mind when taking on leadership roles in the movement. It is possible to be a loud ally and also be an ally who works to ensure more young women and women of color are included, and your sisters need the help.
Do we need more men to fight for reproductive and sexual rights on their own terms? Do we welcome more men to fight for abortion as human rights issues, public health issues, and women’s issues? Is it cool if those men want to call themselves “bro-choice”? The answer is an enthusiastic yes.
Feminism? In MY Nashville? It’s more likely than you think.
Sarah Seltzer: Hi Lauren! Despite its fluffy pop star exterior, this is a show that’s created by someone with genuine feminist bona fides, Callie Khouri of Thelma and Louise fame, and starring another recent heroine of reproductive rights on television, Connie Britton, aka Tami Taylor from Friday Night Lights. I think you can see the feminism creeping in at the edges of this show, or at the very least a certain woman-centric point of view. Do you detect any traces of real ideological edge in this primetime soap, or is any impulse in that direction tempered by the need for big ratings?
LK: Ah yes, our Lord and Savior Connie Britton. There are many reasons to love her and the characters she plays. On Friday Night Lights, Britton, playing Tami, has that great series of scenes where she’s persecuted by anti-choicers for discussing abortion with a teenage student. Britton plays those scenes with so much compassion—not to mention frustration at the anti-choice activists (“Come on, y’all”).
As for Nashville, I think you’re absolutely right about feminism “creeping in at the edges.” The show very much passes the Bechdel Test. It’s about strong-willed women, Rayna James and Juliette Barnes, who are super career-focused. They’re vocal about what they want out of their careers, they negotiate hard, and they’re ambitious. There are plenty (plenty) of sub-plots about the men in their lives, but the show is first and foremost about two women who are successful music stars, trying to navigate the industry.
TODAY, Tuesday, April 16th, 11:00 a.m. ET
It has recently been suggested that an alleged mainstream media “pro-choice bias” led to a failure to cover the murder trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell. But who has covered what, and when? Further, what issues are at stake in this trial? Join RH Reality Check for a fact-based call to help journalists and bloggers get a full picture. We will be joined by experts from the reproductive health community who will share their perspectives.
RSVP now to receive call information.
What: Media Call: Facts about the Kermit Gosnell Trial When: Today, Tuesday, April 16th, 2013, 11:00 a.m. ET Who: Hosted by Jodi Jacobson, Editor in Chief, RH Reality Check and featuring:
- Jessica González-Rojas - Executive Director at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
- Carole Joffe - Professor at the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco
- Deborah A. Reid - Staff attorney at the National Health Law Program and a board member of the Black Women’s Health Imperative
- Tara Murtha - Senior writer at Philadelphia Weekly
On this episode of Reality Cast, Amanda Marcotte discusses how Rush Limbaugh wildly (and hilariously) misinterpreted a Beyonce song, not that he’ll admit it.
Rick Santorum makes an ignorant claim: that we can trace the fight for gay marriage back to TV’s “Will and Grace.”
I support pro-choice SVU.
(via womenorgnow)
Chris Hayes tells Terry Gross about having people pay attention to his appearance once he started appearing on television
You start noticing that people are noticing how you look and it is a profoundly alienating experience when it first happens, where you go on TV and you say something about some topic of the day and on the Internet people are like, ‘What was up with that shirt?’ ‘What was up with your hair?’ and you think, ‘Oh, that’s kind of a bummer.’ I think, actually, as a man it was a really useful, tiny sliver — a tiny, empathetic window — into what navigating the world as a woman often is, in which looks are so fore-grounded and so scrutinized and so discussed.
Chris Hayes is a man after my own heart:
1) Bulls and Cubs fan.
2) “I can’t control my gender, race or sexual orientation, I can control who we have on and what voices we introduce to viewers.”
3) Talks as fast as I do.
4) Policy over pandering
5)6) His book was really good
“It looks like you’re six weeks and one minute pregnant!
Have some diapers.”
