I am closer than I ever have been to disassociating with anyone supporting or endorsing Conservative Christians... and that's significant because most of my family is exactly that. I am disgusted and horrified by these anti-woman bills that are being passed, and the asinine arguments being made to strip of us of our medical privacy and bodily autonomy. I am terrified that these unethical laws will affect me someday... it makes me want to have all my "lady parts" surgically removed just so I don't ever have to be violated in these unimaginable ways. I keep hoping that Americans are not this fucking brain-dead... surely they are not going to line themselves up on the wall to be executed willingly.

I try not to think about how bad it could get; I try to keep faith (because that's all there is... blind hope) that we can't backslide so far that we would find ourselves living in a theocracy. How could all the agonizing work that's been done to bring our species out of the dark ages, past human oppression and subjugation, past discrimination... how could it all be undone so quickly and so mindlessly? How can anyone go along with it?

I see gay marriage being approved in states across the country and feel hopeful. But then I see other states giving fertilized eggs personhood rights... Texas, Iowa, and Virginia. Virginia is right next door! This just hits too close to home... literally. My own senator assured me (via mass-produced email) that birth control and preventative care would be covered for everyone, including women employed by religious institutions. It's a thin, invisible line that separates my state from Virginia, however. I've considered moving back to Texas to be near my family, but no... no, that's just not an option. I will never, ever allow myself to be treated like a second-class citizen... as inferior... as not in charge of my own life and body. Who the hell do they think they are?! I do not acknowledge their authority. I do not acknowledge their right to make laws of these kinds. They HAVE NO RIGHT.

What's worse is I know these very same men who are seeking to deny women access to birth control (even married women) are the same men who preach that it is a woman's duty to have sex with her husband whenever he wants to. I'd like to say that that's something lawmakers would leave alone, but I'm not so sure anymore... not when they're even trying to make masturbation illegal. And porn. There's a story in the Bible about a man that God killed because he "spilled his semen on the ground." So, if ya have sex, you can't even pull out... ya can't do it by yourself... ya can't turn your husband down... it's either repress the hell out of your biological urges, or fuck knowing a baby is inevitably going to be conceived to add to your stress... babies upon babies upon more babies.

Am I exaggerating? I wish I were. Oh, and let's not forget the sects (Presbyterian) that believe it's a woman's duty to endure childbirth without pain killers or epidurals. You know, because of "the curse"... nevermind that the man's curse of laboring in the field is pretty much obsolete (unless he's an immigrant). His discomfort has been reduced, as well as his accountability. It is so damn convenient to be a male in Christianity... so easy to conform to The Law. Well, it's not HIS fault he's been appointed Head of Household... he can't help it that God said he was in charge. All he can do is live up to the responsibility and make sure women are kept in their place!

I was a super-Christian in my day, but I never bought into the gender roles. I was so bitter and resentful for so long because I knew it was complete bullshit that I had to submit to someone simply because they were male. I knew I was smart. I knew I was capable. I knew I had worthwhile things to say and do in my life, and I was not going to be silenced in church or anywhere else. Perhaps that means I was not such a good Christian woman after all. In either case, this was the main point of contention between me and my religion. Needless to say, it is an even bigger point of contention now that I believe it's all a load of horse shit meant to control the masses. Now I don't just feel that I'm as good as a man, I know I am... in fact, I know all humans are default-female to begin with, and gender is almost an illusion... or at least it's not what we've been taught it is.

There isn't really any such thing as race, either... or even sexuality. I read somewhere that it has never been proven that people are "straight"... like, there's no basis of comparison when scientists are searching for a "gay" gene. It seems clear that gender and sexuality are all on a scale, and most of us fall somewhere in the middle. People have made all these classifications, but they're all superficial.

And so... the fact that one group of people has declared their superiority over the rest of us is absurd. And I hate them. I do. I am stunned that anyone could be so evil. Yes, evil. I have had a hard time wrapping my brain around the lengths they go to... and the fact that anyone is stupid enough to go along with them. And then they have the audacity to cry "persecution" when people resist them?!

Please... let this be a nightmare we all wake up from.

Views: 1374

Comment by CJoe on February 17, 2012 at 9:46am

@Stephen it may well be a myth that humans start out genetically female, but I learned that "fact" in my college Biology class. I would hope that a college textbook would be a reliable source, but one never knows these days.

The way it was explained made sense. The ovaries distend into the testicles, and the clitoris extends outward to become the shaft, and so on. This accounts for size and shape variation, and explains those who are hermaphrodites. This fact should only validate that those with both male and female parts are not "abnormal" but only that they more clearly display the continuum that we're all on. If you take a statistics class, you'll see that numbers simply work out that there are extremes on either end, and that the larger numbers tend to be towards the center. That's what I mean when I say most of us fall somewhere in the middle, because most of us do... otherwise where would we get our biases of what is "normal"? This can be applied to height as well. Most people are not 7, 8, or 9 feet tall... they are statistically unusual. That is not an insult to them, nor does it undermine their humanity.

Further, I would never suggest being a homosexual is a choice. Ever. Also, you may have missed it, but the first comment in the thread is me admitting I didn't have a great source for what I said about the "gay gene." Still, I don't think that suggesting there may not be specific hetero- or homosexual genes undermines the plight of those who are homosexual. Acknowledging that sexuality is on a sliding scale does not suggest that it's a choice. When you're born, you are who you are... this includes your personality traits, your mannerisms, your sexuality, etc. The point of making the comment above is to say that there is no reason to believe that heterosexuality is the "norm".

Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation
The Birth Order variable is pretty fascinating, so read that one for sure. It's "one of the most reliable epidemiological variables ever identified in the study of sexual orientation."

Then there's this: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080526171408.htm
That article says there is a "gay gene" in fruit flies.

Whatever the fact happens to be, and I'm by no means an expert, I only want everyone to feel validated. We're all just organisms in varying stages of development. The fact is, it is mutations in our genes that caused the evolution from what we were to what we are. We all came from the same one-celled organisms billions of years ago. The fallacy is to assume any stage is the "right" stage.

Comment by Cave Nuggie on February 17, 2012 at 9:59am

LOL!!!!!!  The cartoon above!  That made my day!  LOL!

Cara, wow...  Are you available?  I LOVE ladies who can think for themselves!

As for the christians - please remember that they are christian extremists or "christian insurgents."  They're just as bad as any other insurgent out there.

I wrote this some time ago - The Modern Inquisition began when it was no longer permissible to execute heretics.  This is the essence of the Modern Inquisition.  On one edge of the sword, the kids have to be trained (sometimes roughly, frighteningly) in these beliefs, and the result is that it's hard to see the world any other way, honestly, from within.  Then if they wise up and want to free themselves to other things, the other edge of the sword is just that: the loss of family, friends, etc. if you try to free yourselves of these beliefs.  The object of the game is to trap people mentally so that you can carry out whatever your objectives are through those people.  The indoctrination process plus the negative consequences of leaving makes it that much more difficult.  This is the next best thing available for the Religious Insurgents (or other kinds of Insurgents), since killing on the basis of refusal to convert was been outlawed in many places, which began the Modern Inquisition.  The next best thing became going after the children, before they are old enough to form their own opinions and develop their own worldview.

This IS hell on earth, your worst nightmares manifest.

Comment by Rocky Oliver (LotusGeek) on February 17, 2012 at 10:15am

Cara, you're not the only one who is scared to death of where this country is heading - for pretty much the same reasons you've mentioned (plus a few more). I have a wife of 27 years who is as strong and independent as you are, and I have 3 daughters that we've raised to be strong, intelligent, independent women.

And I fear the country they will inherit.

There is an undeniable fact: no government, no empire, no ruling faction has lasted forever. They ALL fall, they all go away - eventually - and almost always through their own actions (directly or indirectly). I fear that the idiots who are rising to power, and the sheep blindly following them, are going to be the end of this country as we know it.

It scares the hell out of me.

I have told my family that, if any of these idiots who are running for office right now get into power, we're moving. And I'm serious. I won't stay here if it means endangering my family - they are too precious to me to do so.

Comment by Dustin WIdmann on February 17, 2012 at 10:36am

What year are we living in again!? This crap is crazy! 

Comment by CJoe on February 17, 2012 at 10:46am

Lotus... you're a brave man for having children. A large part of the reason I don't want to be forced to be a mother is because I fear for what my children would have to go through. I just don't want to bring someone into this country as it stands. I mean, the school systems alone are bad enough without these anti-female laws.

Comment by Rocky Oliver (LotusGeek) on February 17, 2012 at 11:32am

@Lauren - worst case, condoms are given out all over the place for free. As a side note, if you're in the military all contraception is free - and when I was in the USAF in the mid 1980s (pre-widespread AIDS), I was very glad it was free :O ;)

Comment by Emperor Milos on February 17, 2012 at 11:56am

It's really sad that in the 21st century, after everything that has happened in human history, to women, blacks, jews, etc, we still want to make the same mistakes over and over again.

And it is even more sad that these things are being spearheaded by one of the most influential countries in the world, if not THE most influential country.

It is sad that in a country that prides itself on freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, they try to take those very things away in the next breath.

I really hope that the laws you mentioned never come into effect, and that people who hold these archaic and barbaric beliefs as absolute truth never succeed in enforcing them. But considering the beliefs of many of the people in America, and considering many turn to an imaginary, bloodthirsty, misogynistic, racist, hateful, jealous, petty god and his "good book" for advice during tough decisions,  it is a very real, and terrifying possibility.

And like Lotus, my wife and I are both strongly considering moving out of North America. Even living in Canada is too close to this madness.

Comment by Misty: Baytheist Living! on February 17, 2012 at 12:45pm

At what point do we ask other nations to put sanctions against America? I'd support it. 

If a Republican is elected and any one of the two most-likely to retire S.C Judges actually does...Roe Vs. Wade will be overturned. When that happens, I would hope that other nations would step up and speak for our freedoms, since our government no longer will. 

Speaking of which, I want to pose the same question to "Moderate Christians" as I would to "Moderate Muslims"

Where are you? Why are you allowing yourselves to be associated with this? Why aren't you speaking up and distancing yourself from these horrors?

Please don't call these people 'fanatics' or 'fundamentalists' or 'fringe' when they are actually running the country and imposing their horrible laws on others. 

If you are Christian and NOT speaking up against this, then you are supporting it. 

Comment by Kathleen on February 17, 2012 at 1:11pm

Agreed 100%. It seems as though each state is in an arms race to see who can go back to the bronze age the quickest. I can't believe that in the 21st century that a small handful of men have the power to abolish reproductive rights for women. The bashlash against women's rights and LGBT rights has gone into overdrive. Each time I think that people can't stoop to a new low I read the news to find that people are infinitely creative when it comes to that.
I can't tell whether the USA thinks that civil rights are passe and an embarrassing phase from the 20th century it would rather forget about or if this is the dying gasp from the ruling class, thrashing wildly, panicked at the idea that it will soon be nothing more than a footnote in history books.
Either way, with the current social climate and the direction that it seems to be heading in, the last thing I want to do is bring new life into this world so they can grow up and spend most of their lives neck deep in this bullshit.

Comment by Stephen Walski on February 17, 2012 at 1:34pm

@cara Thank you for clarifying your view a bit. I still feel however your missing my overall point that your opinion on anti female political movements is a bad thing stood just fine on its own without the need to homogenize human sexuality into an assumed androgynous bent in humanity.  It came off to me, and admittedly i am biased being a heterosexual man, to be a whitewashing over of sexuality. Your right there are extremes to both ends but your point was made without suggestion that gender is mutable and an illusion, that men are really women with long clitorises, and that sexuality is a transient thing. 

Classification is not superficial and is a necessary model of reproductive attraction and distinction. Why else would so many things such as coloring, shape, and sexual displays in most species be so widespread. To try and make a grand leap that these things are not needed or desired in mankind is silly and doesn't help your point at all.

Trying to convince me that my penis is the same as your clit is not going to gain me some sisterly feeling for your cause and it shouldn't be needed.

Like it or not the majority of people are indeed heterosexual. It is the defacto norm just by numbers.You voice would have been better served sticking to the reasons for your feelings instead of trying to push an idea that we are all one sexually grey group of females in penis masks.



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