Wintertime in the midwest has me thinking about (dwelling on, actually) unpleasant topics: cold temperatures, dark days, dry skin, conflict in the Middle East. I added that last one for depth, but the Syrian conflict reminds me to be thankful that I was born an American and with the freedoms of US Citizenship. I may never win the lottery, but I was handed a pretty nice go at life. That is, unless a group of powerful stuffy old men decide to take some of my rights away. Perhaps they are also affected by seasonal depression. (More like seasonal Oppression!) But from my rare glances at C-SPAN, I can never remember which channel is HGTV, the oppressive tendencies seem to continue year round.
When I first sat down to write my post, I had no intention of discussing the birth control debate; however, this is an election year, and women's rights are always a hot topic. I guess hunger, violence, and a bad economy are too complicated so let's just point fingers and stomp feet over a woman's right to choose when she will conceive a child. (Note: I am only talking about birth control, abortion is a complicated topic that I will not discuss on my blog. I mean, I don't even have my own URL.) The best method to preventing unwanted pregnancies is a combination of informed access to birth control and serious self esteem training for young girls, focusing mainly on those living below the poverty line. That should be easy...right? Americans are totally cool with being told what to do.
Obviously abstinence is the most effective way to keep the oven sans bun. Yet congressmen and clergymen alike take for granted that young Americans have enough strength in their faith to abstain from sex. Maybe they are able to ignore the facts because they spend more time praying than watching MTV. From the right, we hear: Sex is bad, if you want to partake then you are bad. The subject is taboo, so there is no reason is given, just guilt and shame.
In response, shows like Sex and the City show gratuitous sex only covering the consequences once it is too late. Perhaps the women would have been a little less emotionally damaged if they spent more time thinking about their actions instead of their shoes. How come Miranda contracted chlamydia, while Samantha bed-hopped her way through Manhattan unscathed?
Where is the middle ground? Where is the voice saying, "Oh, hey, you are going to want to have sex, and that makes you an average human. Oh, by they way, sex comes with emotions, hormones are a bi-atch. Sometimes there are even physical consequences. So wait until you are mature enough to handle them." (Scratch that, I don't want procreation to cease completely!) "So be aware that even though sex is natural, it isn't simple." Unfortunately, the voice of reason is often hoarse, so we have right-wingers thinking that all women are like Carrie & friends, even though they have only watched the sex scenes.
We are lucky to live in an age where medicine allows families to plan(ish) when children are brought into this world. Birth control should be affordable, since raising a child is not. (Unless you don't want your child to have a good education, nutritious food, or adequate health care.) Maybe if congress were debating how to provide the millions of American children with education, food, healthcare and a safe place to live, it wouldn't be so upsetting to hear them arguing over the cost of birth control. Needless to say, I think affordable, accessible birth control is important to succeed as a modern society, and if that's so wrong, I don't want to be right.
