i'm inspiring!
My previous work on crocheted vulvas has inspired someone at Craftster to crochet some male anatomy. I think my life's work is done. ;)
Next semester, when the move is done and I'm in different courses and settled down a bit, I think I'm going to work some more on the vulvas. I want to make the pattern a bit nicer, and I'm going to crochet a bunch of them up to sell. I already have a buyer, actually. Maybe I'll finish Linguistics and become a Female Anatomy Crocheter. The Vagina Monologues/V-Day crowd will be my key market, but my secret desire will be to introduce them to public schools for use in sex education. Diagrams just aren't cutting it, and they don't emphasize the important bits.
Why is our culture such that something like 40% (or more) of sexually-active women don't have orgasms? In India, there's a saying that the gods gave out 10 portions of sexual pleasure – one to men, and nine to women. Over here, we think that men are the ones who are digging for sex all the time and that "good girls don't." Maybe if more women knew what they looked like and weren't afraid to touch, they would get in on those nine parts of desire. Maybe if it was common knowledge that orgasms help to ease menstrual cramps... (Now, that's the way to market vibrators. Get WalMart on the phone! "Feminine needs" indeed!)
Of course, if we teach high school students about sex, then *gasp* they're going to have it. Newsflash: they're having it anyways, but not getting good information about STIs, STDs, birth control, etc. Or they're having this huge guilt trip and the vague abstinence message, and then you have people who are having oral/anal sex because it's not "real" sex and have no clear idea that it's just as easy to get STIs this way. Or they're having sex but not buying condoms because it's embarrassing and maybe they live in a small town and know all the clerks.
And Ed, if you're reading this, these are the things that pro-choice people want to solve. No, they don't want the abortion rate to increase. They want abortion to be legal and safe, and they want unwanted pregnancies to decrease. This isn't accomplished by condemning the people who have abortions, but by increasing sex education, access to birth control, and improving the lives of people who are at most risk (i.e. poverty, etc.).
I'm pro-choice, not because I like abortion, but because it's horrifying that before it was legal, Chicago's hospitals had entire wings devoted to women dying of botched abortions. I'm pro-choice, but I'm going to be as responsible as possible with birth control, because I don't want an abortion myself. I'm pro-choice and I want the abortion rate to go down. I'm pro-choice and I think that there should be limits on abortion. I'm pro-choice because I recognise that abortion is something that is going to happen whether it's legal or not, and it should happen in a safe environment so the woman doesn't end up dead or infertile or otherwise damaged. I'm pro-choice because I recognise that adoption is also a brutal choice and is not the cut-and-dried happy ending that was always presented to me.
It's just not as simple as "abortion is bad." Being in a situation where abortion is an appealing option is bad. People have complex reasons for wanting them, because life isn't simple, and sometimes all of the available options are bad in some way. Cutting off options isn't helping. Working to prevent the situation in the first place is helping.
posted by Heather Ann @ 11:09 AM
7 Comments:
Hi Heather Ann.
Very funny post.
Just wanted to mention something I've been researching lately -- the relationship between Uganda, the AIDS virus, and God.
We recently heard Jackson Senyonga speak about the incredible rates of conversion happening in Uguanda -- people by the thousands meeting Jesus. At the same time, the rates of the AIDS virus have gone WAY down. Interesting connection? That's what I am investigating.
These articles/comments,
God and Aids and God and the Fight Against Aids, seem to suggest that EVERYWHERE the rate of AIDS has gone down, the "partner reduction" programs are to thank. "Partner reduction" is something that seems to come natural when men and women give their lives to Jesus Christ.
I NEVER had to worry about AIDS, because my husband and I waited for each other. And he's a hunk of burning love that I can't get enough of :) Who needs a key chain when you have the real thing :)
If only everyone could know that most of these "fundamentalists" aren't suggesting abstinence to be uptight -- they are suggesting it for the well-being (and future preservation) of society and to ensure joyful, happy, sex-full, fulfilled marriages. Marriages where there are no "sad situations" that warrant the choice of taking an unborn child's life, but where children are desired and welcomed.
An ideal? Certainly. Is the current Church practicing this ideal? Hardly.
But I've seen the transformations take place in people that I love dearly, and it rocks! I also think back to the Roman Empire days when conversions to Christianity became increasingly popular because society was so enamored by the one-woman Christian men who loved and honored their wives, and the one-man Christian women who respected and honored their husbands. I pray that Christians will again begin to live out what the Bible suggests -- maybe Christianity will become more attractive.
Uhh... okay.
a) It is not an either-or choice between "waiting for marriage" and "having a key chain." I'm doing neither. I haven't had to worry about AIDS, not because anybody waited for anybody, but because I've had discussions about "let's go and get tested" and used condoms and haven't cheated/been cheated on. Abstinence-only education doesn't teach me how to do either of those things, let alone to be comfortable doing that.
I'm not saying that limiting your number of partners doesn't reduce risk. I'm saying that people should be taught how to have multiple partners in a safe way, because not everyone is going to subscribe to marriage-only, and there are perfectly safe ways not to.
b) Your Roman Empire Days Idyll sounds like a fairy tale, and likely is. You realise that was a pagan society where most religions had temple prostitutes, since orgasm was (and is) seen as a really good way to connect with God? And hey, monogamy isn't anywhere in the Bible. The BISHOP should have one wife. Everyone else can have at it. This is what the Bible suggests. Notice that there are dire penalties for women who cheat on their husbands, because it's property damage. No penalty for men who cheat, because their wives have no rights -- they are property. The women get stoned to death for cheating/being raped, but a man who rapes a woman has to marry her because he's damaged her father's property. Penalties for engaging with temple prostitutes are based on idolatry. Not exactly attractive, no.
And if you're going to object that Christians don't follow Jewish laws, then they come from pagan backgrounds, where the ideas on sex are even farther from yours. That culture wasn't into monogamy, and the Bible doesn't indicate that early Christianity was either, except in the clergy. "Flee sexual immorality" means very different things depending on what century/culture you're reading it in.
After reading the first comment I tittered in anticipation of Heather Ann's response. Heather Ann did not disappoint.
Hey I got mentioned. Ya, I usually pass by here once a month or so.
Why are you always so damn pumped up about this stuff?
It would be weird if people actually wanted more abortions to happen. But who would ever think that?
Some people, so caught up in the debate, act as if abortions are a postive good, or at least a neutral act. That is pretty standard faire out there in typical abortion discourse.
I recently pointed out that many in the "pro-choice" camp are beginning to soften the rhetoric a bit, and talk about how abortion is a tragedy and 'real tough decision' and such.
I brought this up because I was trying to set an agenda for folks who are against abortion. I say they should be incrementalists and try to implement policy that will see less and less abortions happen.
I see this as the only way forward. Abortion will never become illegal again in the visable future. It is just too damn convenient. You can't have the sexual revolution in its fullness without abortion. That's why some people say abortion is a positive good, rather than an evil act done to deal with other evil acts/mistakes/indescretions(sp?) or whatever.
The sexual revolution (in its fullness) does not work well... it produces too many fatherless children. Abortion deals with that. But that's just evil compounded upon evil. I say abortion allows men to be assholes and not grow up to manhood.
Although, if you think about it. The anti-abortion crowd will necessarily win in the long term. Even America is no longer producing enough children to break even. The anti-abortion crowd will likely produce more children and out breed the pro-choicers. Weird.
It's funny, because sometimes I reallllllllly agree with what you're saying. Somehow, you got into my brain Heather Ann, because those are the reasons why I think abortion should be legal as well.
If you haven't read it, read The Cider House Rules (John Irving), it makes some really interesting points about this topic.
Later,
Steph
ps. HAPPY HOLIDAYS! and yay no more finals!!
I am not for abortions at all I think that they are wrong, I think it is murder and I think it is a terrible choice to make. BUT I also don't think making it illegal is the answer either because you are exactly right it will happen anyway and then lots and lots of people will die. I think people need to be better educated. Parents need to stop being afraid to talk to their kids about sex. Yeah it is a scary thing and i am not looking forward to talking to my kids about it but they are going to find out. And I want them to be able to make responsible choices and just telling them to wait until marriage is not realistic. Anyway People need to wake up and realize that it is a problem and teaching abstinence is not working!
I went on a speaking tour one time about the benifits of practicing Chastity. I needed something to do, and it's something that I belive in, and it was a chance for an adventure of travelling out to BC again.
It was a lot of fun, and I think our pressentation was probably helpful. People found it interesting everywhere that we went.
I feel like respect for sexuality in the form of refraining from sex outside of a lifelong commited relationship is the ideal/best choice.
but, also, just because some people find something to be ideal doesn't mean that everyone is going to live up to that ideal or even have the same ideal.
We see this in the legalize marijuana discussion, where for some people it is ideal that no one would get high but other people don't see that as an ideal and say that we could reduce crime and health risks by making it legal.
I donno...
I think it's important to teach the benefits of chastity without in anyway limiting access to information about safer-sex.
I prefer the word chastity to abstinance because they are similar but different things. Chastity is more of a practice; a way of respecting sexuality...
The organization that I went on the tour with ended up stopping partially because they were refused charitable status.
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