Friday, October 17, 2008
Anti-Abortion Feminists?
There is a pretty interesting discussion going on over at the Feminist Anti-Oppression Forum on LiveJournal. Jennifer Baumgardner, who co-authored Manifesta, has just written a book exploring being feminist and anti-abortion. I think she does make some good points, but I really don't think you can make enforcements on women's bodies and still be called a feminist. But then again, feminism means a lot of different things to different people. I really like what one person, ciaraxyerra, had to say. What do you y'all think?
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3 comments:
somewhat related, i just listened to a pro-life woman in my building say that even a woman who has been raped should not be allowed to have an abortion because "she didn't know the man who did it, so how can she see the qualities of this man in her child?".
call me old fashioned, but i just don't think that a viable definition of feminism involves restricting another woman's choice to do or not do anything. you can have your own views, but enforcing them on other women smacks of, oh say, the patriarchy, to me. i have free will. i don't need someone else to make decisions for me about my body or my babies. i've never been a big j. baumgardner fan, anyway...though i support her right to access her voice as a woman and as a self-defined feminist (uh, wink).
Yeah, I don't wanna say "your not a feminist if you believe ______", but when it comes to telling women what to do with their bodies, I feel like that just goes against what feminism (to me) is all about. I mean, if someone was pro-choice and pro-"women's rights" and mostly an all-around ruler, but then they went and said that colonization isn't really a bad idea, would we still say "yeah, feminism comes in all shades"? I think when we say we are working towards women's rights and keeping women safe, we have to mean all women in all situations. You can have your personal beliefs, but that doesn't give you any right to impose those morals on anyone else...
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