Philly.com | Columnists | Jill Porter | Be wary of anti-abortionist cloaked as feminist:
Instead, in the nomination of Harriet Miers, President Bush has reminded us that gender is unreliable in predicting world view.It's not safe to assume anything about Miers.
Because although she was a pioneer in her career, overcoming sexism and discrimination to rise to the top of her field, she's also deeply conservative and fervently opposed to abortion, mounting evidence shows.
In other words, Harriet Miers is Clarence Thomas in a skirt.
Both contradict the expectation that race or gender guarantees a given worldview.
Both are a reminder that diversifying the court by sex and race doesn't guarantee a diversity of views. And both have turned their backs on the very liberation movements that enabled them to get where they are.
NEWSFLASH: All women don't think alike! New studies also show that not all black people think alike! Progressives everywhere are baffled by this shocking turn of events.
People are individuals, uniquely created in the image of God. If it is sexist to assume that all women are like June Cleaver, then it is equally sexist to assume that all women are like Gloria Steinem. Why don't so-called feminists understand that simple point?
It would be better for women if this "woman's seat" on the court was filled by a true - pro-choice - feminist, man or woman.When it comes to women in power, I'll take mine with the beliefs of the movement that got them there.
Excuse me? Does someone need a quick course in feminist history? Quick, call Feminists For Life (FFL)!
We'll start with the founding mothers of feminism. These are the women who fought, suffered, and sacrificed for women's equality when the very notion was still considered laughable by most people:
- Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797): the author who wrote Vindication of the Rights of Women, generally considered to be the first feminist manifesto — PRO-LIFE
- Frances Willard (1839-1898): leading political activist, back before women even had the right to vote — PRO-LIFE
- Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906): legendary feminist, radical thinker, tireless champion of women's rights — PRO-LIFE
- Alice Paul (1885-1977): advocate for women's suffrage, author of the failed ERA, another pillar of feminism — PRO-LIFE
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902): co-published The Revolution with Susan B. Anthony, fought for women's suffrage as a way to clean up a corrupt society — PRO-LIFE
- Jane Addams (1860-1935): founder of Hull House — PRO-LIFE
(NOTE: All links to The American Feminist require free registration at FFL's website. Those links will open in a new browser window/tab.)
FFL has even more quotes, all along the same lines as what I cited above. The foremothers of the feminist movement were pro-life. Ironic, huh? It seems that many modern "feminists" lack are either shockingly ignorant of their own history or willfully ignoring the voices of their predecessors.
At least one Philly resident knows her history:
JILL PORTER, in her column "Be wary of anti-abortionist cloaked as feminist," calls abortion rights "the foundation of the feminist movement."Those who disagree, including me, would say that the foundation is women's suffrage - its natural outgrowth is the demand for equal rights for women.
Porter's statement also implies that someone who is against abortion cannot be a feminist. She is assuming a set definition for feminism and includes the abortion debate not only within its parameters but as the main focus.
I totally disagree. Abortion, for many, has to do with life and when it begins, not women's rights. It is a moral issue for me and for many feminists. Feminism was alive and well long before abortion was the hot topic it has become, so it cannot logically be the basis for feminist theory.
Emily Kennedy, Philadelphia
Preach it, sister.
(cross-posted at Naaman the Ex-Leper)
We should all remember the importance of life!
Thanks for the reality check, Naaman. The feminist movement has morphed into something its founders never meant it to be.
You People make me sick. If you dont like the choice, them don't make it. Mind your own business, and leave the rest of the world alone. Is your life so perfect, so free of sin? Let the first pure sinless person throw the first picket sign.
By the way, do you only post comments that please YOU?
For Choice,
When you posted your comment, you might have noticed that the site told you that your comment was being held for approval. We use this mechanism to cut down on comment spam. As a moderately-high-traffic blog, ProLifeBlogs does get the occasional burst of comment spam. Just a day or two ago, I had to feed a whole heap of online pharmacy spam to the MT-Blacklist anti-spam plugin....
If you want to avoid the comment approval process, register with Typekey. It's free, and many blogs use it.
As for the rest of your comments, it's all stuff that we've heard before. I'll address each point briefly, which is more than you really deserve:
You People make me sick.
Feel free not to read our blog, then. Nobody is forcing you to visit us. Perhaps the ImNotSorry weblog would be more your style....
If you dont like the choice, them don't make it.
How about this argument:
"If you don't like slavery, don't own a slave."
Does that make sense? No? Well, your argument doesn't make much sense either. Your "choice" has a body count. We are speaking in defense of innocent children, more than 40 million of whom have already been killed by your "choice".
Also, as my post referenced, the early feminists realized that abortion was not just bad for children, it was bad for women. A true feminist approach to the problem would be to create a society in which childbearing was fully supported, even admired, and no woman would ever feel pressure to abort. Abortion doesn't deal with any real woman's problems; it just buries the problem along with the child.
Mind your own business, and leave the rest of the world alone.
Abolitionists didn't mind their own business, and neither will we.
Is your life so perfect, so free of sin? Let the first pure sinless person throw the first picket sign.
Did I ever say that my life was perfect? It certainly is not. Nobody's life is perfect, except for one Man who we killed nearly 2000 years ago.
Fortunately, I don't have to be perfect to protest the most appalling slaughter in human history. Were the people who opposed the Holocaust perfect? The Nazis "only" killed 10 million people. We've quadrupled their body count, and we're adding nearly 3000 more victims every day.
I am 100% liberal (not as dictated,however, by the Democratic party...they play games as much as Republicans do in the current political climate); I am 100% pro-choice; and I am 100% in support of your freedom to present your opinions and ideas in an online forum: the day that any of us lose THOSE rights of communication are taken away from people, both "pro-choicers" like me and "anti-abortionists" like you will both be screwed.
So, in just passing by here, I wanted to make a remark that I like your site...from the aspect that you have made a blog which, with its modest design and ease of navigation is ideal for whatever you're wishing to accomplish. Violence is sheer crap, and I wish activists on either side would realize that fact more and set up sites to spread their thoughts by communication. You have succeeded in this, but I understand from my own blog (it's not a pro-choice aimed blog, I'm just bringing up a technical matter now) that spam can bring everything down, keeping you too busy sorting through it. About the only things that have worked out well for me are "word verification" and placing a link to Spam Poison on your site. You can find them at http://english-33930657689.spampoison.com/ (and no, I don't work for them or anything...just offering a useful tool).
As one blogger to another, I just thought I'd say "hey" and express my thoughts. :-)
ariK