Happy 35th Anniversary Roe v. Wade!

Lots of great stuff going on today to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion.

Check out all the bloggers taking part in NARAL's Blog for Choice Day.

Also take a look at Planned Parenthood's Wall of Protest where you can "express your outrage over the Federal Abortion Ban." Beware it loads pretty slow. But I guess that means lots of people have contributed images, so slow is a good thing. The one thing I don't really understand is the images of people's pets up there. I mean I've never asked my cat if she's pro-choice, but maybe I should get on that!

I know there's a lot of talk about how Roe v. Wade is being eroded and reproductive choice is in jeopardy, but I've never felt like young people were really behind that. I mean we've grown up our whole lives with Roe v. Wade. I try not to pay too much attention to polls, but I was kind of freaked out to read that teens and young adults seem less pro-choice than older generations.

I read this today in the LA Times:

Looking specifically at teens, a Gallup survey in 2003 found that 72% called abortion morally wrong, and 32% believed it should be illegal in all circumstances. Among adults surveyed that year, only 17% backed a total ban.

The article talks about antiabortion clubs and summer camps for middle and high school students. Really? Antiabortion summer camp?! I had no idea.

Well we better keep fighting. Here's to many more choice filled years!

Feminism, Abortion, Stickers

Those topics have all just collided in my mailbox. I got an order and on the front of the envelope is a sticker that says, “Women Do Regret Abortion.” Then on the back there’s another sticker that says, “As a Former Fetus I Oppose Abortion.”

I’d be angry seeing these stickers anywhere. But I’m extra troubled because they’re on an order for “This Insults Women” and “A feminist was here” stickers. There are countless uses for “This Insults Women” stickers, but anti-choice messages like those are something I’d use mine on.

This has all gotten me thinking about who calls themselves feminists, who doesn’t, what feminism means, and how reproductive rights fit in.

At the NOW conference last year I went to a workshop called “I’m Not a Feminist but…” There was a great discussion on why young people with feminist ideals are hesitant or resistant to identify as "feminist." Some see feminism as a movement made up of white women with class privilege. Others prefer Alice Walker’s term “womanist.”

W O M A N I S T
“A black feminist or feminist of color. From the black folk expression of mothers to female children, 'You acting womanish,' i.e., like a woman. Usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous or willful behavior. Wanting to know more and in greater depth than is considered 'good' for one. Interested in grown-up doings. Acting grown up. Being grown up."

“Womanist is to feminist as purple to lavender."

-Alice Walker
In Search of our Mother’s Gardens: Womanist ProseAnd then there are still those images of feminists (man-hating, bra-burning, hairy, militant, lesbian, the list goes on and on) that some people don’t want to be associated with. It’s funny, but I’ve identified as a feminist for as long as I can remember and for a little while I secretly hoped I wouldn’t be queer because I didn’t want to satisfy people’s assumptions about feminists. I thought it would be so revolutionary to be a straight feminist. Um yeah, glad I didn’t spend too much time working on that campaign. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of straight feminists that I admire. But I don’t find anything revolutionary about it. And the bigger lesson for me was that I was letting these stereotypes control me by trying so hard to be the opposite of them. Better to be a happy queer feminist and try to destroy the whole system of stereotypes.

Okay, but back to the whole anti-abortion feminist thing. I’m not one for wanting to exclude people or say someone isn’t really a feminist. But I don’t get people who call themselves feminists and are anti-choice, or anti-gay, or conservative. I don’t get it-- wow that was eloquent. Well bell hooks explains the conflict between feminism and anti-choice better than I can: “If feminism is a movement to end sexist oppression, and depriving females of reproductive rights is a form of sexist oppression, then one cannot be anti-choice and a feminist. A woman can insist she would never choose to have an abortion while affirming her support of the right of women to choose and still be an advocate of feminist politics. She cannot be anti-abortion and an advocate of feminism.”

What do you think?