The following are the words of a woman who is a lesbian, supports same-sex "marriage" and understands the connection between the battle to legalize and make acceptable contraception and the acceptance of homosexuality. The full article is available at http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxfactor/archive/2009/01/29/for-wo...:
For Women, Good Jobs Depend on Good Contraception ... and Yet ...
Posted Thursday, January 29, 2009 11:20 AM | By E.J. Graff
Dayo, I agree with you on a number of things about contraception and economic prosperity for the country and for women—and disagree with Rachael's contention that contraception isn't related to jobs.
* * *
What's more, I agree with Ruth Rosen's more recent analytical post explaining the right wing's philosophical objection to family planning at all. Here's a snippet from her brilliant explanation of why Margaret Sanger was repeatedly arrested for opening her pioneering birth control clinics, why she and her fellows were attacked so ferociously by the forces of Comstock, and why contraception is still being attacked today:... the religious right's real agenda is not just to eliminate abortion, but to end the historic rupture between sex and reproduction that took place in the 20th century.... If reproduction ceased to be the goal, sexuality might become yoked to pleasure and that is quite unsettling to many Americans. That is the legacy the religious right has fought against, and it's that agenda that cut funding for family planning.
As I explained in my book What Is Marriage For?, when women won the battle over contraception, it blazed the trail for the acceptance of lesbians and gay men. Hurray contraception, both practically and philosophically!
* * *
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment