Wednesday 24 July 2013

No uterus, no opinion

I agree with this.  However, i agree with the spirit not the letter, because there are very occasionally abdominal pregnancies and these have even occurred without there being any uterus at all, and some people have, well, let's say, surprisingly turned out to have a uterus.  These people are not entitled to an opinion either because they and everyone else have assumed themselves not to be in possession of one, and that's part of the point, but not all of it.

The real point is a little bit harder to state in detail although the soundbite is good.  I think of it as follows, and this is itself sloppy:  if you are not female, you have no right to an opinion on reproductive rights.  Some people argue that this does not apply because we have all been born.  That's not actually so, come to think of it, but that's not something upon which i can dilate appropriately.  These people are of course wrong.

The problem, of course, is:  what does female mean? People who are sterile don't generally realise they are at first, and therefore are accustomed to putting themselves in the position of the potentiality for one of the alternatives for parenthood available to us as humans.  Most of them are not likely to take the third option seriously because they would be widely considered to be psychotic if they did, and of course i'm not going there myself either.

Focus, focus, focus!

A woman is an adult human who has been predominantly viewed as female through her formative years.  A man is an adult human who has been predominantly viewed as male through his formative years.  Although there are intersex states, most of these in fact fall into one or other of these categories beyond the control of the person who has them.  There are no other options in this culture although there are sometimes options in other cultures in this respect, e.g. berdache.  However, as Anglo-Saxons we are unable to avail ourselves of these options without being offensively racist and appropriating inappropriately, so don't do it!

Merely having endometrial tissue does not count as having a uterus, particularly if it's scattered over a wide area in little bits and has never actually proliferated.  That's true anatomically as well as politically.  However, i would also observe that perhaps some people do in fact have no uterus but both endometrial tissue and opinions on abortion, even if they choose to keep them quiet and have no right to them, and that such people might hint that that is in fact the case.  However, such people should probably leave stupid game-playing behind.

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