Sallyacious

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January 22, 2007

Blogging For Choice

Why am I blogging for Choice today, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade?

Because it's my body. Period. Nobody gets to say what goes on here except me. I believe that's a--no, the fundamental right of my personhood, and I believe everyone deserves that right.

It sounds militant, I know, but I can't think of any other way to express my feelings.--Why am I apologizing? Why do I have to be nice about this? Angry women are scary, I know. Many of my students think I'm scary as it is, and they've not seen me mad. Right now, I think I have the right to be mad, I'll even go so far as to say I have a duty to be angry. So I'm not going to apologize for standing up for what I believe is a basic right all human beings deserve, for demanding the right to be whole and complete in myself, choosing for myself what I want and what I don't want in my life.

All this talk of the sanctity of life and the pressures to reverse Roe go right back, in my mind at least, to the core belief that kept women out of the workplace for so long, that forced talented, intelligent women to deny and ignore their gifts in the name of "motherhood" and "family;" the belief that men are superior and that women aren't really smart enough to know what's best for themselves.

Well kiss my ass.

I'm more self-aware than many people I know, male and female, and I'm definitely smart enough to figure out what's best for me. To know that at the heart of the pro-life movement is an assumption that I'm not capable of knowing what I want, of determining what will make me happy (not the light, fluffy happy of birthday parties and greeting cards, but the deep abiding happy of living my dreams, of making my art) and pursuing that happiness, and that they've managed to convince so many good people into believing it's all about killing babies sickens me.

If life is so holy, why are we supporting a war where thousands of people are dying?

If life is so sacred, why do we practice the death penalty?

If life is such a blessing, why are we not doing all we can to support the living around the world (and in America) who struggle every day to get enough food and water to survive?

Because it's not about life in the end. It's about power. It's about taking control at the most basic and fundamental level. It's about taking control of my body to assure my compliance.

I remember a cartoon that hung on a professor's office door at my undergraduate university (the first one). It showed two women. One was extremely pregnant, and across her belly were written the words, "Property of the State." The other was exhausted and had a snotty-nosed, dirty child in tow. The child was labeled, "Property of the Private Sector."

If we really believe that life is so sacred, so beautiful, such a blessing and a wonder, we need to assure that we follow through on that. We can't insist on controlling reproductive rights (including access to birth control) and then wash our hands of it all once the children are born. We have to take the responsibility we assumed when we insisted they be brought to life.

It's that behavior right there, the slashing of funds for family programs, the hacking away of money for education, the poor treatment of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, the various assaults on environmental protections, the bloating of the military as we fight campaigns on two separate fronts and make noises about a third, all of those tell me that the people in power, the people who make noises about the sanctity of life really don't give two fucks for it. If they did, their priorities would be entirely different.

I spend my days helping my students find their voices. Helping them discover their own truths and teaching them the skills they need to speak those truths clearly and logically and without fear. Today, I am practicing what I preach. I am using my voice in this forum, this electronic soapbox, to speak my truth.

I am pro-choice because I am a great believer in life. The sanctity of my own and of all other living beings. And I have no right at all to deny others those things that will lead to their own happiness, whether those things be resources or less tangible things like freedom of speech. I give my fellow humans credit for being smart enough to know what they want. I support their right to decide their own destinies. Their right to choose.

Posted by sally at January 22, 2007 09:49 AM

Comments

Posted by: Dad at January 23, 2007 04:17 PM

Posted by: Sallyacious at January 23, 2007 05:20 PM

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