Pills without the Soap
May. 12th, 2006 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omorkaA timely link, from several people: The anti-abortion crowd finally comes out as anti-contraception, too. (Requires registration; sorry about that.)
The whole thing is pretty terrifying, as most such reports are. But this is the part that nearly made me puke:
In other words, we're completely back to the idea that a woman's sexuality is an object, and the ring is a link of chain that binds it, which is given by its original owner - the sire, the father - and then taken by its purchaser - the husband. Dear mother of all things, if that's what the ring means I will melt mine. (Fortunately, my father never had his hands on the things, the man who blessed them may believe weird things about contraception but not about the ownership of women, the man who carried them respects women, and the Spouse wears his just as I wear mine.)
Ugh. Anyway, now would be a good time for all women - currently sexually active or not - to get themselves a diaphragm. It's relatively cheap, reusable, and it and a tube of contraceptive gel are easily enough hidden. Even if the other options disappear, we'll still have that. (Although I suspect condoms, being male-focused, probably won't go away completely, even if the nutcases have their way with the Pill.)
The whole thing is pretty terrifying, as most such reports are. But this is the part that nearly made me puke:
Besides "Girls Gone Mild," she sponsors "Purity Balls," which fathers attend with their teenage daughters. "We think the relationship between fathers and their daughters is the key," she told me. At the purity ball, a father gives a "purity ring" to his daughter — a symbol of the promise she makes to maintain her virginity for her future husband. Then, during her marriage ceremony, the daughter gives the ring to her new husband. Abstinence Clearinghouse's Web site advertises the purity ball as an event "which celebrates your 'little girl' and her gift of sexual purity."
In other words, we're completely back to the idea that a woman's sexuality is an object, and the ring is a link of chain that binds it, which is given by its original owner - the sire, the father - and then taken by its purchaser - the husband. Dear mother of all things, if that's what the ring means I will melt mine. (Fortunately, my father never had his hands on the things, the man who blessed them may believe weird things about contraception but not about the ownership of women, the man who carried them respects women, and the Spouse wears his just as I wear mine.)
Ugh. Anyway, now would be a good time for all women - currently sexually active or not - to get themselves a diaphragm. It's relatively cheap, reusable, and it and a tube of contraceptive gel are easily enough hidden. Even if the other options disappear, we'll still have that. (Although I suspect condoms, being male-focused, probably won't go away completely, even if the nutcases have their way with the Pill.)
