Editor,
“What do women want?” Freud famously asked. There is now a vast literature suggesting an answer, often situated in female desire. While the “answers” debate the question, the question is important and not just trivially located in men’s interests, and the answer is quite simple, regrettably avoided at best, denied at worst. What women want, first and foremost is individual, personal sovereignty. The U.S. history of “Women’s Rights” tracks the determined struggle of American women in fits and starts to have such sovereignty over their thoughts, actions and bodies. This includes not only unequivocal personal dominion, but also the liberty to void those rights as they voluntarily decide. One cannot cede a particular right if one does not have it in the first place. Corollary to attaining sovereignty is being individually respected as a unique holder of those rights. Past and current issues regarding women’s equality in marriage, to have property, to vote, to be touched willingly, to engage in sexual activity, to have free and easy access to contraception, to bear children or not, are all subsumed within that personal sovereignty. — Originally drafted the day of the “Women’s March,” Jan. 21, 2017.
(4) comments
Good morning, Léo
A lot has changed since the Women's March in 2017... positive and not positive. Alice Paul and other organizers were protesting largely against women being denied the right to vote and the inauguration of a "progressive" president who was not an avid supporter of the women's suffrage movement.
The success of the women's right to vote movement was achieved before that progressive president left office but only after decades of effort. It was not easy. Neither court challenges nor lobbying for legislative changes worked, however, a Constitutional amendment did bring about the desired change. Could that strategy work today for abortion?
Maybe... but what would such a fundamental change look like?
If you have been following the discussion in these pages, you would see that no one has proposed an outright ban on abortion. No one. While there are some ultra-conservatives out there who would ban all abortions... they are wrong and will not get their wish. Most Americans agree that a woman should be allowed to make the choice to have an abortion early in a pregnancy. That position shifts dramatically re: abortions performed when an unborn child reaches the point of viability outside the womb.
So, it looks like a proposal to alter the Constitution and ratify an amendment that would permit abortions would be supported by most Americans. Such an amendment could provide for exceptions including a guarantee that abortions would be allowed past the point of viability to preserve the life of the mother.
Should a proposed amendment include abortion upon demand at any time during a pregnancy? 80% of Americans say "No." The ultra-conservatives with their minority point of view should not get their wish... should ultra-liberals with their minority point of view get their wish? Coming full circle to the "Women's March" in 2017, do you feel Alice Paul and other activists of that era would support an amendment that would permit partial birth abortions?
Yikes! Change first line to read, "A lot has changed since the Women's March in 1917... positive and not positive." Sorry. My error.
Thank you Léo! Today women across the country, and men who are allies, will stand up and march and rally for women's rights, human rights. As a gay man I know that the pendulum of freedom and liberty swings back and forth, and sometimes after we've made significant progress the backlash can seem staggering. But we have to remember MLK's famous words "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." We need to tug on that arc right now.
How about men's rights? If the decision to give birth is the woman's why do men have to pay child support? When will the national debate include selective service which is selective servitude? Until then you can kiss my arc.
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