There’s a certain level of stupidity reserved for feminist activist/scholars. This is that level.
A liberal site called TruthOut published this insanely awesomely dumb piece by Lauren Rankin, a self described “feminist writer, scholar, and activist.” The piece’s position is that the pro-aborts aren’t inclusive enough because they’ve made it into a wyminz issue.
Her thesis is that pro-aborts are guilty of implicit cissexism (I don’t even know what that word means) because not everyone who has an abortion is a woman.
I warn you. You will lose IQ points upon reading this. Some of your brain cells may choose to immolate themselves rather than transport the data from this story to the rest of your brain.
This is something that only someone who describes themselves as a “feminist writer, scholar, and activist” could write:
The last month has been particularly brutal for abortion rights activists and women’s health advocates, as state after state has proposed and/or passed various bills that restrict abortion access and undermine abortion care. In response, there has been a re-energized reproductive rights movement, with many across the nation stating that they “Stand With Texas Women” or “Stand With North Carolina Women.” But in this response, abortion rights activists have overlooked and dismissed a very important reality: Not everyone who has an abortion is a woman.
Abortion is so often framed as a women’s issue by both those who advocate for abortion rights and those who seek to dismiss abortion as frivolous. And for abortion rights, a movement that took root in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this makes sense. Prior to a deeper understanding and problematizing of gender and the way that it works, in our social construction, only women had abortions because only women could get pregnant. But in 2013, we should know better, and we need to do better.
At this crucial moment for reproductive freedom and abortion access, the abortion rights movement stands at yet another crossroads: How do we adequately address and include those who have abortions but are not women?
We must acknowledge and come to terms with the implicit cissexism in assuming that only women have abortions. Trans men have abortions. People who do not identify as women have abortions. They deserve to be represented in our advocacy and activist framework. Honestly, I am guilty of perpetuating that harmful myth, both in my rhetoric and framing. I often frame abortion restrictions as misogynistic attacks meant to control women’s reproductive lives, and that is true. But abortion restrictions also affect the lives of people who aren’t women, and they hinder trans men and gender-non-conforming people and others who were Designated Female at Birth (DFAB) from accessing abortion care, as well.
“Stand with Ohio Women” and the “War on Women” may be great rallying cries, but they also very clearly reiterate the notion that abortion is both solely a women’s issue and that only women have abortions. This can make those in the trans community feel excluded, and it can deter them from both seeking the abortion care they may need or becoming actively involved in abortion rights advocacy.
How awesome was that? You have to be chasing down a PhD or have one already to write something that stupid, right? This almost feels like a drunken text that you cringe about when someone reads it back to you the next afternoon.
If the pro-aborts want to get more inclusive, try including the unborn under the umbrella of humanity. Now that’s inclusive.
August 6, 2013 at 2:12 am
I guess I was warned before reading that….
August 6, 2013 at 2:22 am
This woman is so open-minded it appears her brains have fallen out.
August 6, 2013 at 4:00 am
Thats so funny james
August 6, 2013 at 4:01 am
Thats so funny james
August 6, 2013 at 3:59 am
A college here hosted an art exhibit of sorts this year — young women had enlargements of photos their private parts displayed along a campus walkway. Really. Because "violence." Or something. Anyway, one of the women whose parts were featured got very upset because she said the exhibit had been turned into a women's rights thing and it wasn't about women it was about female bodies and many people like her were actually male but had female body parts. These poor people are considered brave scholars and not sad and deluded. I used to think it was a fringe viewpoint but apparently that's what "gender studies" is all about… It was a public university, so the gender studies dept and the venue were paid for by my taxes.
August 6, 2013 at 10:29 am
I had to find out the meaning of the words "cissexism" and "cisgender"……the people on the Left are from a different planet.
August 6, 2013 at 12:34 pm
August 6, 2013 at 12:40 pm
I am beginning to better understand the feelings of anxiety and confusion that I have been feeling for the last few years. There are too many people focused on issues that are so "out of this world" specific that it is difficult to keep up with them. Their whole life is centered on one issue and it rules them. It is fracturing any hope of solidarity among the people. It is the plan of the evil one and it is working to a T. If only folks would direct their energies to God and not on some man-made issue that has little concern for most people. There is suffering in life, a fact that people want to forget. Our suffering helps us in the end. I pray for our human family. Peace and God bless.
August 8, 2013 at 3:33 am
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August 6, 2013 at 1:24 pm
Robert, Re: meaning of "cis-". Another bonus for having a classic education which included Latin (dare I have the thought "Thank you Jesuites!). CIS- means "on the same side of"; Cisalpline Gaul (northern italy) compared to Transalpine Gaul (southern france).
August 6, 2013 at 2:32 pm
More whining about PhDs. As one of tens of thousands of Catholics holding a doctorate with multiple patents, publications and lovingly devoted to the Church, we certainly don't appreciate you joining up with atheists to drive a wedge between faith and intellectualism. Using this silly bloggers 'logic' and ignoring the rich intellectual traditions of Catholicism, lets apply his hatred of doctors to other areas. So all physicians are evil because a few are abortionists. All bishops are traitors worthy of excommunication because of the nut job "ordaining" women. All cops are corrupt because a few take bribes. Same for politicians. Al bloggers are morons because a few spew out the most meaningless garbage you will ever read. Hmmm. What else…
Hint. Doctorate degrees come in different favors. Maybe whine about the fact the fool in the article is a sociologist or something. That way you can start denigrating all sociologists.
August 6, 2013 at 6:16 pm
She is right in one regard: abortion is not just a women's issue. Countless men, boys, and girls have been impacted in very damaging ways by this diabolical institution.
August 6, 2013 at 6:17 pm
There is a world of difference between a PhD in the hard sciences, and one in the humanities or pseudo-sciences.
That said, her monologue is the logical consequence of having been raised and "educated" to believe that truth is in the eye of the beholder.
August 6, 2013 at 6:27 pm
The acceptance of sin makes one stupid
August 6, 2013 at 10:09 pm
Someone please find me a culture that doesn't think only women have vaginas/can have babies. See, if a thing is "culturally conditioned", there should be a culture where it doesn't happen. And there aren't any that don't define women vis-à-vis the reproductive organs.
And yes, I am familiar with all those Native American cultures where there are men who fulfill one or several feminine roles. They still count as men in absolute terms.
August 7, 2013 at 4:43 pm
Gracie Allen did it better and it was funnier.