Half Changed World: Is parenting a right?
No counterarguments here, just a thank-you for yet another thought-provoking post. As usual, you've left me with much to mull over.
I am of the opinion that there are certain aspects of being human that transcend the idea of "rights" and that do not fall under the influence or purview of social doctrine or politic; being gay is one and so is the ability to reproduce.
Posted by: cul | October 25, 2004 at 04:54 PM
The problem with using the ability to reproduce as a prerequisite for full personhood for women, I think, is not that it suggests "that those who are physically unable to reproduce, or who choose not to, are less than full persons." I think the problem is that it suggests that _women_ who don't reproduce are less than full persons, predicating women's value, once again, on childbearing. I don't hear any mention of the fellas in this line of thought, though to be fair, I'm going by your excerpts.
I don't think reproduction is a right, btw, any more than the ability to solve matrices is a right. As for the points about poor women being bad parents, I don't think we can even begin to talk about this until abortion is subsidized and made more accessible for them. Having been very poor for longer than I like to think about, I understand that even independent, self-esteeming, well-educated, gratification-delaying people get worn down and tormented by the way our society deals with poor people, and there are times you'll do awfully stupid things for a warm touch and a kind word. It's a shocking thing. So it's not surprising that poor women who spent their whole girlhoods being beaten down and told not to hope or plan get pregnant. I think more people who try to punish others out of poverty -- excuse me, "incent" -- should have to have a good long taste of it first.
Jungled up in here somewhere is what I perceive as a growing sentiment in this country that children "belong" to their parents, and that those parents should be responsible for all costs and burdens associated with children. The idea that we as a species depend upon further generations is totally lost. I swear you'd get more traction with lots of Americans these days by discussing children as R&D projects.
It just isn't society that makes women unable to have children feel like less of a woman, it's those who suffer from infertility. Then again, maybe it's society that shaped my feelings on this issue. I never had any choice in the matter of reproduction - my body made that choice for me.