Plum Crazy

The mantra of the second-wave feminists. A recent comment someone made has gotten me thinking about that. I can't speak for men, but for women I believe this is firmly true. Women's bodies are the subject of politics in ways that men's bodies are not. To some degree, everyone's bodies are the subject of politics. Drug laws, in large part, are about what people can do with their bodies. The same with seatbelt laws. However, these laws affect both sexes to the same degree. I'm having a hard time thinking of political issues and laws that are specific to men's bodies the way that there are issues and laws that are specific to women's bodies. Maybe the law requiring that insurance companies cover Viagra, although that is a law that is beneficial to men and non-controlling of men generally. Maybe I'm missing something, so if anyone can think of any, please post them in the comments.

I can think, however, of several political issues and laws that are specific to women's bodies.

Laws restricting abortion are about women's bodies. I know that many who are against legalized abortion will disagree with this, insisting that those laws are about saving feti. However, I must disagree. We do not require anyone to be subject to medical procedures against their will to save the life of another in any other circumstance. If we had laws that required, for example, biological fathers to provide bone marrow to save the life of the child they never wanted, then this argument might have some bearing. We simply do not. I am unaware of anyone who seriously supports passing such laws. Therefore, insisting that women be forced to go through pregnancies to save the life of the fetus on the grounds that it's solely about the fetus is specious.

Women's access to birth control. First, birth control is not covered by insurance, but Viagra is. Second, there are many people who would outlaw birth control pills and the morning-after pill. Third, there is definite support for allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control pills and the morning-after pill on moral grounds. Is there anyone who seriously supports outlawing condom sales or allowing cashiers to refuse to ring up condom sales on moral grounds? What if the cashier is Catholic? Why does the man's right to have easily available birth control outweigh the rights of a Catholic cashier to refuse to ring up the sale against his/her religion? It's not even a point of discussion.

The entire argument about what constitutes rape and the general tendency for people to disbelieve women who say they were raped.

Bill Napoli: A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child would very well threaten her life.

Joel Dykstra: “I think ‘rape and incest’ is a buzzword,” said Rep. Joel Dykstra about not including those conditions in the abortion bill. “It’s a bit of a throwaway line and not everybody who says that really understands what that means. How are you going to define that?

Prostitution. Sweden has a good policy. Rather than arrest prostitutes, they arrest the men who frequent them and the pimps. In this country, however, it's the prostitutes who suffer most of the legal punishment.

I could continue with multiple other examples. So since women's bodies, the most personal thing we have, are politicized, the only way I can think of to fight for the sides of these issues I favor is for women to tell their stories. Their personal stories. When I write about my own personal stories regarding ill treatment, such as the one in the post below, it is to make a point about politics. Not simply to tell a personal story. The day that our bodies cease being politicized is the day women can discuss politics more objectively. I look forward to that day.

UPDATE: Please restrict comments to the general point of the post. If you disagree with any of the illustrative points I raised and wish to comment on it here, it should only be in the context of trying to prove that women's bodies are not politicized after all. Alternately, illustrating to me that men's bodies are also specifically politicized is fine. If, however, you simply wish to disagree with me on a specific issue I raised as a point, feel free to do so on your own blog. If you don't have one, there are plenty of free blog spaces available out there, and I will even be happy to help you set it up. Well, maybe not happy exactly, but you get the gist.