Barefoot and Pregnant
The far right of the conservative movement is working very hard to turn back the clock. Those good ole boys want to keep their women barefoot and pregnant, with their foot firmly planted on the necks of all women. White men are feeling the pain, their confidence eroded and their manhood in question. Can you believe a black man actually became president of these here United States? Thank God, the Russians put a stop to putting that bitch in the White House. For too long, white men whether privileged or not have been getting by, by the skin of their teeth. Let's be clear, women and people of color have had to perform at a much higher level than a white man. Women have been trying to prove their worth for centuries. Because of this imbalance, white men became sloppy, self-indulgent and relied on their feeling of entitlement to get by. But then they found a hero who could make it all better, change the landscape, take rights away from women, scapegoat all the minorities and throw us back into the fifties.
Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of women who voted for the "tweeter in chief" for reasons that I simply cannot comprehend. Some women have said they want to go back to a simpler time where father knew best and life was full of happiness, bigotry, sexism, prejudice, segregation and misogyny; where jokes about ethnic groups were made and people laughed without fear that it was politically incorrect albeit immensely offensive; where only the newest group of immigrants were labeled, slandered and told to "go back to where you came from." If you grew up in the fifties and sixties, you heard all the derogatory names that the Italians, Jews, Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Irish, Polish, etc. were called. It was a time where a Catholic ran for the presidency and all the protestant churches were having prayer meetings to pray that this Catholic would not win because if he did, he would be running the country at the behest of the Pope. What a wonderful world that was where this Catholic, John F. Kennedy did become president, only to be assassinated by a man, Lee Harvey Oswald who was enamored with the Soviet Union/Russia. Men were men and women were women and God help anyone who didn't fall into their respective gender patterns. Women's prospects were so limited that it seems redundant to even mention them here. Equal pay for equal work was not even on the horizon so obviously a woman's right to make her own health decisions seemed even more remote.
After years of fighting for a more progressive government and a supreme court decision on Roe v. Wade, that made abortion legal, let's fast forward to the 2016 presidential election. Men and women evangelicals were willing to put aside their Christian common sense and vote for a man who had few if any redeeming values or virtues; was completely unqualified but who said with a "wink wink" that he was pro-life. As Michael Moore said, "if you don't believe in abortion, don't have one." And if you feel that strongly about abortion, why not volunteer to mentor women through their pregnancy as a pro-life advocate or foster an abused or unwanted child; donate money or time to programs for at-risk children.
It was July 1959 when I saw the movie, Blue Denim starring Carol Lynley and Brandon deWilde. Back in those days, I practically lived in the only movie theater in my hometown.
The movie dealt with issues of teenage pregnancy and at the time, illegal abortion. About a year before I saw this movie, the daughter of a local minister had told me the "facts of life" while walking to school... No adult ever discussed sex education with me and in those days, it was not part of any school curriculum. What I learned about sex was from other kids, books or movies. Before my friend gave me the real details, I had determined based on the movies of the times that kissing and then lying down with a boy would almost certainly lead to pregnancy.
If you lived in a small town which I did, everyone knew if a "girl got in trouble." Some girls disappeared for six months or so visiting relatives; a few dropped out of school and found themselves married at 16 or 17. No one talked about abortion as an option. Abortions were being done, but it was what we called a "back alley" procedure done by disreputable "doctors"/people. Some girls tried to abort by their own hand in desperation that was fueled by the fear of social stigma. It was widely known that wire hangers were used for this purpose. It makes me shudder to think of the many teen girls who were irreparably harmed or killed by either a "back alley" or a wire hanger abortion. I am reminded of another movie/song from 1961, A Town Without Pity. Small towns were indeed, towns without pity back in the fifties and sixties. I think I will pass on those good ole days.
Think about this:
Do we really want to go back in time? Do we really want our daughters, granddaughters, and nieces to live in a barefoot and pregnant world; where decisions regarding their bodies, education and future must be made only with permission from a male dominated society. We have come too far to allow this backward administration to sideline and destroy the work of the women rights movement.
Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of women who voted for the "tweeter in chief" for reasons that I simply cannot comprehend. Some women have said they want to go back to a simpler time where father knew best and life was full of happiness, bigotry, sexism, prejudice, segregation and misogyny; where jokes about ethnic groups were made and people laughed without fear that it was politically incorrect albeit immensely offensive; where only the newest group of immigrants were labeled, slandered and told to "go back to where you came from." If you grew up in the fifties and sixties, you heard all the derogatory names that the Italians, Jews, Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Irish, Polish, etc. were called. It was a time where a Catholic ran for the presidency and all the protestant churches were having prayer meetings to pray that this Catholic would not win because if he did, he would be running the country at the behest of the Pope. What a wonderful world that was where this Catholic, John F. Kennedy did become president, only to be assassinated by a man, Lee Harvey Oswald who was enamored with the Soviet Union/Russia. Men were men and women were women and God help anyone who didn't fall into their respective gender patterns. Women's prospects were so limited that it seems redundant to even mention them here. Equal pay for equal work was not even on the horizon so obviously a woman's right to make her own health decisions seemed even more remote.
After years of fighting for a more progressive government and a supreme court decision on Roe v. Wade, that made abortion legal, let's fast forward to the 2016 presidential election. Men and women evangelicals were willing to put aside their Christian common sense and vote for a man who had few if any redeeming values or virtues; was completely unqualified but who said with a "wink wink" that he was pro-life. As Michael Moore said, "if you don't believe in abortion, don't have one." And if you feel that strongly about abortion, why not volunteer to mentor women through their pregnancy as a pro-life advocate or foster an abused or unwanted child; donate money or time to programs for at-risk children.
It was July 1959 when I saw the movie, Blue Denim starring Carol Lynley and Brandon deWilde. Back in those days, I practically lived in the only movie theater in my hometown.
The movie dealt with issues of teenage pregnancy and at the time, illegal abortion. About a year before I saw this movie, the daughter of a local minister had told me the "facts of life" while walking to school... No adult ever discussed sex education with me and in those days, it was not part of any school curriculum. What I learned about sex was from other kids, books or movies. Before my friend gave me the real details, I had determined based on the movies of the times that kissing and then lying down with a boy would almost certainly lead to pregnancy.
If you lived in a small town which I did, everyone knew if a "girl got in trouble." Some girls disappeared for six months or so visiting relatives; a few dropped out of school and found themselves married at 16 or 17. No one talked about abortion as an option. Abortions were being done, but it was what we called a "back alley" procedure done by disreputable "doctors"/people. Some girls tried to abort by their own hand in desperation that was fueled by the fear of social stigma. It was widely known that wire hangers were used for this purpose. It makes me shudder to think of the many teen girls who were irreparably harmed or killed by either a "back alley" or a wire hanger abortion. I am reminded of another movie/song from 1961, A Town Without Pity. Small towns were indeed, towns without pity back in the fifties and sixties. I think I will pass on those good ole days.
Think about this:
- Recently I read that a state was considering a bill that would allow rapists to stop their victim from aborting a baby that had been conceived through the rape.
- Does a husband still have to give permission if a woman wants a tubal ligation?
- In January Trump signed an executive order blocking foreign aid or federal funding for international nongovernmental organizations that provide or "promote" abortions. The so-called Mexico City policy, established by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1984, blocks federal funding for international family planning charities that provide abortions or actively promote the procedure.
- Planned Parenthood* -- Abortions accounted for 3 percent of the nearly 10.6 million total services provided by Planned Parenthood clinics in 2013, according to its annual report.
- 4.5 million tests and treatment for sexually transmitted infections
- 3.6 million contraception related services
- 935,573 cancer screenings including breast exams and Pap tests
Do we really want to go back in time? Do we really want our daughters, granddaughters, and nieces to live in a barefoot and pregnant world; where decisions regarding their bodies, education and future must be made only with permission from a male dominated society. We have come too far to allow this backward administration to sideline and destroy the work of the women rights movement.
RESIST!
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