On Roe’s 35th, looking to the next generation.
January 22nd, 2008 7:15 pm by Kelly Garbato
Get blogging, bitchez!
A few weeks ago, I was chatting with my little sis online while the (seemingly never ending) CNN campaign coverage droned on in the background. At 24, Michelle is only five years younger than this featherhead – but sometimes, the gap seems so much wider.
Though I took some women and gender studies courses while majoring in psychology in college, it was only in the years after graduation that I really discovered and embraced feminism. Not that was an anti-feminist in college, not at all; I just didn’t question, criticize, and examine the patriarchical culture in which I was – am – immersed. Like most women my age, I took hard-earned rights such as reproductive rights and the right to vote for granted, and casually threw around misogynistic terms such as “bitch” and “slut” – and not with the end goal of reclaiming them for the feminist side. Even though I was receptive to my feminist professor’s teachings, it took the internets to introduce me to patriarchy-blaming, I guess. Age and maturity most likely greased the old vagina, too.
Looking at Michelle, I see much of my teenage self in her; just, exaggerated. She’s also studying psych, but she’s veered towards more marketable psych skills – think occupational psychology. She’s never had the benefit of women or gender studies courses – not even a one! – and she’s not exactly politically active, either. In fact, she’s so indifferent to current events – particularly women’s issues – that it’s a little alarming, actually. Even as a little kiddo, I read the local newspaper.
Which brings me back to our conversation. At the time, the election issue de jour was the sexist attacks on Hillary and her subsequent “breakdown”. Half-listening to the coverage in the background, and suddenly a bit curious, I asked Michelle who she planned on voting for in the primaries. She was non-committal; “anyone but Hillary” was her reply. “Why not Hillary?” asked I, knowing full well what her answer would be. “Just don’t like her.” No reason, just a visceral reaction.
Assuming (ok, hoping!) that Michelle’s indecision only extended to the primaries, and that surely (please?) she’d vote Democrat in the national election no matter what, I asked her whether she’d vote for Hillary if she was the Democratic nominee…or if she’d rather vote Republican than support Hillary. “Eh…I’d probably vote for the Republican.”
My jaw dropped.
“You do realize that every Republican, with the exception of Guiliani, wants to take away your right to have an abortion, and most also want to strictly curtail the use of contraception as well, right?
Silence.
I grilled her, asking for a single policy decision of Hill’s that she objected to. “It’s fine not to like her – I don’t,” I replied. “Of course, you don’t need to have a reason – anyone can vote for or against a politician based for any stupid reason they want – but you should have a reason. ‘Just because’ is probably ‘just because’ of sheer sexism.”
“Besides…voting for a Republican is suicide. Better to vote for an independent than someone who openly hates you.”
We went back and forth for awhile – probably to the point of exasperation, on her end – until I felt as though I’d pounded some sense into her. She agreed that her reaction to Hillary was baseless, at best, and promised to do some homework before November.
But still.
My sis and I, we’re not exactly from a progressive household; but it’s not as though were were raised in a strict fundie home, either. My father is way right of center, while my mother veers slightly left. Mom’s never been concerned with politics, and even dad doesn’t pay much mind unless it’s wartime (then he gets all uber-patriotic and survivalist on us). Neither of my parents are especially religious, and my dad is even a practicing vegetarian of 30+ years. My sis came out an atheist vegan, like me. Not really solid creds for the Republican party, ya know? Michelle has always struck me as one of those “fun feminists”, which is why I was so shocked – not by her misogynistic dislike of Hillary, but that her feelings were so negative as to elicit a Republican vote in 2008. For a young woman, a vote for even a moderate Republican is a vote against your own self-interests.
Thinking about Roe’s 35th “birthday” the other day, it hit me that the ruling – which represents, at its core, a woman’s right to bodily autonomy – is just six years older than I. Just about the same age gap that exists between my sister and I, exists between myself and Roe v. Wade.
Just 35 years later, and young women – women my age, and Michelle’s age – cannot even conceive of a world in which we’re forced to bear children against our wills, in which we’re punished for seeking basic medical care, in which our wills are subjugated to a tiny clump of cells. A world in which blastocytes – potential humans – have greater rights than girls and women – actual humans. To me, it’s goddamn unconceivable – and fucking terrifying.
This year’s Blogging for Choice topic is “why it’s important to vote pro-choice.” Which, of course, is very important, and very timely, to boot. But one vote is not enough. We also need to educate our younger sisters and brothers, our nieces and nephews, our daughters and sons, and their daughters and sons, on the issues. We need to combat the complacency and indifference that growing up in a post-Roe world has brought. Only then will they have the knowledge and tools to counter the conservative propaganda; to recognize that “parental consent” and “spousal notification” aren’t reasonable limits placed on a harmful procedure, but an attempt to chip away at a woman’s privacy and rights – and ultimately, her humanity.
Last FSMas, knowing full well that my little sister’s feminist sensibilities could use some honing, I got her a copy of The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order. She likey, so a subscription to Bust for her birthday followed that summer. Even so, it obviously hasn’t had the effect I’d hoped. Maybe I should follow up with Bitch (“too academic?,” I worried) or Ms. (too old?)? Or perhaps I should hype the feminist blogs a bit more – Feministing, Feministe, Pandagon and Shakespeare’s Sister? (Though, if she’s anything like me, she’ll probably be alienated by the general lack of concern for animal welfare issues – and the lack of respect for animal rights advocates, even more so – on so-called “liberal/progressive” blogs, but that’s a whole ‘nother post.) Start forwarding her feminist commentary and news articles that highlight commonplace misogynies? Recommend feminist-minded movies?
Any advice from my fellow bloggers for choice? How do you work to instill the importance of feminism and women’s rights in general – and Roe in particular – in your younger sisters?
———————
Tagged: feminist feminism blogging for choice pro-choice 2008 elections holidays observances roe v. wade misogyny right to privacy abortion contraception blog for choice
