from Ejaculate Responsibly: A whole new way to think about abortion, Gabrielle Blair
[P]regnancy and abortion are not ‘a woman’s issue.’ men don’t play a minor or supporting role in pregnancy. Men’s lifelong continual fertility is the central driving force behind all unwanted pregnancies. [All.] p8
We treat ejaculation as something that happens at random, that is unintentional, that is impossible to anticipate or predict. p17
Women— [Actually, just read the whole of chapter 4: Ovulation is Involuntary, Ejaculation is not.] p19
We don’t mind if women suffer, as long as it makes things easier for men. [the title of chapter 10.] p48
When men choose to have condom-less sex, they are putting a woman’s body, health, social status, job, economic status, relationships, and even her life, at risk in order to experience a few minutes of slightly more pleasure. … Would men really choose a few moments of slightly more pleasure over risking a woman’s whole life? [italics mine] [Yes. Apparently.] p57
If Person One knows they have an STI and transmits it to their partner, Person Two, in many states that’s a crime, and Person One can be prosecuted by the state. Additionally, Person Two can bring a civil suit against Person One. If your bodily fluids have the potential to harm your partner [and she’s made an incontestable case that pregnancy has that potential] [actually, she establishes that harm is a certainty], it’s your responsibility to ensure they don’t. p70
If you have a son, his sperm can “infect” any woman he has sex with. … Pregnancy and childbirth are known to kill women. Pregnancy and childbirth are highly likely to leave permanent scars and cause future health problems … Unplanned pregnancy and childbirth can have a significant negative impact on the quality of life for the future child and their parents. A man’s sperm can cause a huge amount of damage. p71
Don’t ask: Why don’t women pick better men? Instead, ask: Why are there so many abusive men? And: Why don’t we teach men not to abuse? p87 [Though I’d also ask: Why do they have to be taught not to abuse?]
“Patriarchy teaches us that sex, for women is a giveaway, while for men it is a takeaway. She saves herself, gives herself to the right one, and then her virginity is lost. In this equation, there is nothing in sex that’s for her to take. Whereas he takes and scores and there is nothing in sex for him to give. When her mind is programmed to give, she struggles to say ‘no’. When his mind is programmed to take, he struggles to accept ‘no’.” (from The 8th List of Shit That Made Me a Feminist, Farida D.) p87
I’m trying to imagine how our culture would react if men with children peed themselves every time they jumped or sneezed [a common ‘side-effect’ of pregnancy and childbirth]. I don’t think the medical community would be okay with that. I think the issue would be solved by now. p93
I think it’s safe to say that if sex were as risky for men as it is for women—with an unwanted pregnancy potentially leading to loss of social status, loss of career, a disruption of their education, physical disability, death, and the permanent responsibility for another human—that men would insist on having a choice in the matter. [Yeah. Why I wrote What Happened to Tom.] p96
If a man ejaculates irresponsibly and causes an unwanted pregnancy, he faces zero consequences. He can walk away at any time, and our current culture doesn’t really do much (or anything?) to discourage it. [Yeah. Given p91-95, impregnating should be consider premeditated aggravated assault, the full damages of which to be determined after childbirth, and putting male DNA on record at birth would enable charges to be confirmed.] p107
Our society is set up to protect men from the consequences of their own actions [like we do for children]. Our laws and policies could not be better designed to protect men who abandon the pregnancies they cause. p109 [see the full list of evidence on p109-110]
Sperm should be considered a dangerous bodily fluid that can cause pain, a lifetime of disruption and even death for some. Sperm can create a person. Sperm can kill a person. Sperm cause pregnancy, and pregnancy and childbirth can result in physical and mental health issues for women, as well as negative impacts to her social status, job status, and financial status. p112
“… highest population density” (p57, Climate Wars, Harald Welzer) should read “… highest frequency of men fucking women”.
“a dramatic rise in population figures” (p63, ditto) should read “a dramatic rise in men fucking women”.
I see this again and again and again … This stork/cabbage patch theory of the origin of life. It’s like men have a complete disconnect between putting their sperm into women’s vaginas and creating human beings.
Is it because they don’t personally experience, physically or emotionally or (to the same extent) financially, pregnancy and childbirth? But what about raising children? Ditto (to the same extent)? But there’s a lot of other stuff they don’t personally experience but can imagine, anticipate, quite well.
“If one were to imagine the ‘go on as usual’ strategy at the level of individuals, one would immediately think of a sociopath who has no problem consuming seventy times more than anyone else while largely relying on their raw materials — or someone who uses fifteen times more energy, water and food than the less well-off and discharges nine times more pollutants into the atmosphere. Such a personality would also be totally unconcerned about the lives of his children and grandchildren, accepting that, because of him and his kind, 852 million people worldwide go hungry and more than 20 million are refugees.” from Climate Wars: Why people will be killed in the twenty-first century, Harald Welzer (p165)
“Now every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits.” Tina Fey
“The all-male club members of Pi Eta, whose members are Harvard undergraduates and graduates, received a letter in the 1980s that promised ‘a bevy of slobbering bovines fresh for the slaughter’ at their parties. As Peggy Sanday explains, the logic of such parties (at which women are frequently raped, including at this fraternity) is ‘Its male participants brag about their masculinity and its female participants are degraded to the status of what the boys call “red meat” or “fish”.'” p119
I used to be surprised that Harvard, the university of so many of our future government and business leaders, is so misogynistic. Now, looking at our world, I’m not surprised at all.
“It takes 25 minutes to turn a live steer into steak at the modern slaughterhouse where Roman Moreno works. For 20 years, his post was ‘second-legger’, a job that entails cutting hocks off carcasses as they whirl past at a rate of 309 an hour.
“The cattle were supposed to be dead before they got to Moreno. But too often they weren’t.
“‘They blink. They make noises,’ he said softly. ‘The head moves, the eyes are wide and looking around.’
“Still Moreno would cut. On bad days, he says, dozens of animals reached his station clearly alive and conscious. Some would survive as far as the tail cutter, the belly ripper, the hide puller. ‘They die,’ said Moreno, ‘piece by piece.'” (p75)
So I’ve received a 1/5 review of Gender Fraud: a fiction at Goodreads by someone claiming, basically, TERF!!! Expected. Sigh.
But the reviewer did ask a question that I should have been able to answer, which was ‘What harm does it do if a transwoman wants to call herself a woman?’
Well, here’s the answer:
Snowflake (Arthur Jeon) should have been published by a major publisher and promoted with a huge budget, and it should be on every bestseller list by now. That it wasn’t and it’s not proves Ben’s point.
Some excerpts below …
[Author’s note: “The media headlines, tweets, and quotes are authentic. And, as of 2020, the facts [Ben] lists about our accelerating climate emergency are accurate.”
“[Forest] fires … produced nine times more emissions than got reduced here [in California] last year.” p3
“The US is the Biggest Carbon Polluter in History” (NYTimes) “Only 4.4% of the planet’s population, America has put 33% of the total CO2 in the atmosphere.” p23
“Ocean Fish Numbers Cut in Half Since 1970” (ScientificAmerica.com) p45
“[O]ur oceans capture 93% of the CO2 but are reaching saturation and warming 40% faster than forecast.” p53
“The International Panel on Climate Change finally admitted our ‘threshold for irreversibility’ is a rise of 1.5 Celsius and it requires ‘rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.’ We need to cut global emissions in half by 2030. Does anybody see that happening?” p53
” … the CO2 we’ve dumped in the past 30 years hasn’t even hit the atmosphere yet. … Scientists predict a 4C temperature rise just from what’s already baked into the system.” p54
“And America’s not changing. SUV sales are surging, wiping out all the oil and CO2 our electric cars save.” p58
” … 21 of the world’s 37 aquifers [underground bodies of water] are on the verge of collapse. They take 20,000 years to form, but BigAg drains them to grow corn—cow feed—in deserts.” p59
” … no country is close to hitting its five-year Paris goals, but even if they did, we’d still go to 3.5 Celsius …” p59
” … it was 70 degrees there [Antarctica] last week …” p59
“Sea level rise has doubled 2013 forecasts. The IPCC undershot the Arctic ice melt, which tripled predictions. Science has underestimated every climate prediction they’ve ever made.” p64-65
“So, all the Arctic sea ice will permanently disappear in four years. … this alone will increase warming by 50%. Boom. Just from one ‘Hothouse Earth’ feedback loop.” p65
” … methane, which creates a feedback loop on steroids, [is] a hundred times worse than CO2. … 25% of the Northern Hemisphere is permafrost … frozen dirt where 1.8 trillion tons of methane lives. … It’s already melting … along with the Arctic lakes bubbling it.” p65
“By 2030, in India, scientists predict heat waves so lethal they’ll kill people sitting outside in only four hours, even in shade.” p66
“[Trump in the U.S.] repealed emissions standards on cars … ended regulation on coal ash pool … handed millions of acres of our public lands to the mining industry … ‘ p74
“… the Aussie government [is] subsidizing 53 new coal mines as their own scientists wonder if the entire continent could be uninhabitable.” p77
“Greenland’s Ice Sheet is Melting Faster than Scientists Previously Thought” (TheGuradian.com) p97
“… the Japanese, now building 22 new coal-burning plants. This, after a thousand Japanese died last year from heatstroke during record heat waves.” p104
“Humankind Has Wiped Out 60% of Animals Since 1970” (TheGuardian.com) p105
“Cattle Ranching Remains Top Threat to the Amazon” (LATimes.com) “… if the Amazon loses 3% more jungle, it won’t produce enough rain to exist.” p149
“There are Diseases Hidden Ice and They are Waking UP” (BBC.com) “Bubonic Plague and who knows what else is thawing out of the permafrost.” p159
“Administration Sells Off Drilling and Mining Rights in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge” (NYTimes.com) p169
“‘Administration Dooms Future by Gutting National Environmental Policy Act” (Missoulian.com) p184
“… 70 million refugees already wander the planet, 22 million from extreme climate events.” p196
“World’s Richest 10% Produce Half of Global Carbon Emissions” (TheGuardian.com) p206
“If Americans cut one burger a week out of our diet, it would be like taking 10 million cars off the road. Christ, how many are we eating? No wonder animal farming takes up 30% of Earth’s land.” (ScienceTimes.com) p229
“Every Seat on a Cross-Country Flight Equals 3 Square Meters of Arctic Ice Melted” (TheAtlantic.com) p250
“Another day, another 110 million TONS of carbon dumped into the atmosphere. Another day, another 34,520 people dead in the world just from air and water pollution. Thirteen million people a year. … Another day, another 14 million acres of wild public lands sold to oil and gas prospectors. …” p276
insights about women and networking (why we find it hard) from “Living the Life of the Mind” Charlotte Knowles (The Philosophers’ Magazine 90)
“Reticence to put yourself out there or an uncomfortableness about marching up to a veritable stranger and introducing yourself, is something that I think is particularly common for those belonging to underrepresented groups in philosophy, whether on the basis of gender, race, (dis)ability, or class. It is common, I think, to feel that you’re not really entitled to be there (even if only on an unconscious level) and so any connections you try to make might feel like you’re trying to grasp something that’s not really yours. Talking about your work earnestly or even at all might feel like you’re taking up space, so instead you sit back, you listen, perhaps you make small talk. …”
Exactly!
” … If you’ve been told your whole life you are special, that your views are important, your work is great … Maybe it doesn’t even feel like ‘networking’ when you go up and talk to the most well-known philosopher at the conference. Why wouldn’t they want to talk to you? You’re great. Maybe they’ll even learn something from you, or have a project they might like your help with. …”
Yes!
“Does it really matter if you don’t put yourself out there … Well yes, I think it does. What it means is that a certain set of people end up making all the connections, getting themselves known, getting remembered in job searches or in recruiting people for special issues or edited collections, and for those who are not so good at self-promotion, whether face to face or, as is becoming increasingly important, on social media, they get left behind, and not because eof a lack of talent, but because of a lack of confidence and a lack of entitlement. …
But that happens even when we do put ourselves out there. Read This is what happens (Chris Wind). (I know, I know, I’ve mentioned this novel several times, but it’s really a good, close look at how women become and remain so invisible despite working hard to be otherwise…)
"We License Plumbers and Pilots - Why Not Parents?"At Issue: Is Parenthood a Right or a Privilege? ed. Stefan Kiesbye (Greenhaven, 2009); Current Controversies: Child Abuse, ed. Lucinda Almond (Thomson/Gale, 2006); Seattle Post-Intelligencer (October 2004)
"A Humanist View of Animal Rights"New Humanist September 99; The New Zealand Rationalist and Humanist Winter 98; Humanist in Canada Winter 97
have been previously published in Canadian Woman Studies, Herizons, Humanist in Canada, The Humanist, and The Philosopher's Magazine - contact Peg for acknowledgement details.
ImpactAn extended confrontation between a sexual assault victim and her assailants, as part of an imagined slightly revised court process, in order to understand why they did what they did and, on that basis, to make a recommendation to the court regarding sentence does not go … as expected.
What Happened to TomTom, like many men, assumes that since pregnancy is a natural part of being a woman, it’s no big deal: a woman finds herself pregnant, she does or does not go through with it, end of story. But then …
Aiding the EnemyWhen Private Ann Jones faces execution for “aiding the enemy,” she points to American weapons manufacturers who sell to whatever country is in the market.
Bang BangWhen a young boy playing “Cops and Robbers” jumps out at a man passing by, the man shoots him, thinking the boy’s toy gun is real. Who’s to blame?
ForeseeableAn awful choice in a time of war. Whose choice was it really?
Exile (full-length drama) Finalist, WriteMovies; Quarterfinalist, Fade-In.
LJ lives in a U . S. of A., with a new Three Strikes Law: first crime, rehab; second crime, prison; third crime, you’re simply kicked out – permanently exiled to a designated remote area, to fend for yourself without the benefits of society. At least he used to live in that new U. S. of A. He’s just committed his third crime.
What Happened to Tom (full-length drama) Semifinalist, Moondance.
This guy wakes up to find his body’s been hijacked and turned into a human kidney dialysis machine – for nine months.
Aiding the Enemy (full-length drama and short drama)
When Private Ann Jones faces execution for “aiding the enemy,” she points to American weapons manufacturers who sell to whatever country is in the market.
Bang Bang (short drama 30min) Finalist, Gimme Credit; Quarter-finalist, American Gem.
When a young boy playing “Cops and Robbers” jumps out at a man passing by, the man shoots him, thinking the boy’s toy gun is real. Who’s to blame?
Foreseeable (short drama 30min)
An awful choice in a time of war. Whose choice was it really?
What is Wrong with this Picture?
Nothing. There’s no reason women can’t be the superordinates and men the subordinates. But life’s not like that (yet).
Minding Our Own Business A collection of skits (including “The Price is Not Quite Right,” “Singin’ in the (Acid) Rain,” “Adverse Reactions,” “The Band-Aid Solution,” and “See Jane. See Dick.”) with a not-so-subtle environmental message
Rot in Hell A soapbox zealot and an atheist face off…
