Women, Men, and Contraception

I am not an easily impassioned person. I have very few strong opinions but today I've reached my breaking point and I have an opinion. I have an opinion and it's all I can do to keep my composure and even type this like a decent person. I am not a political person but even still, I feel qualified to have an opinion on this subject due to the fact that I am a human being and this is a humanity issue--not a political one.

I don't know if it should be a law or not that insurance companies cover birth control. I absolutely do not know what all goes into consideration when creating laws or insurance policies so I'm not going to pretend that I do. I do know that many, many insurance companies already cover birth control and no one's raised a fuss yet. A lot of insurance companies will cover the cost of an abortion as well. It's not because they're taking a political stance or are working to empower women or kill babies--it's because those things are cheaper than the cost of having a child. Insurance companies are businesses and they are looking to save money. Ergo--less people in the hospital = less money that they have to pay.  Due to that logic alone, it baffles me that this is a question at all. But I'm just a simpleton with a lady brain and I came up with that on my own so it could be way off.

So I'm already mildly annoyed that no one takes simple math into consideration. Add to that the fact that it's mostly privileged, white, testicle bearers (who can totally afford all that is involved in keeping an extramarital pregnancy completely hush hush) that are making the laws about my ovaries in the first place and I get a little bit more frustrated--but to a bearable degree because I know that this is just how the world works. But then you get absolute blowhards on the radio saying that women are sluts for requiring birth control in the first place and you have seriously lit a fire under me. No, no. If he'd just said it, I could probably be fine with it. A passing phrase and I'll let it slide. Like I said, I'm not easily impassioned. But he didn't just say it once. This was no accidental statement made in the heat of the moment. Rush Limbaugh raked her over the coals for three days! Clearly, he didn't even listen to her testimony because she never said, "I'm, like, horny all the times and I just like wanna do guys and stuff but I don't wanna have no babies so could you toss me a couple thou? K. Thx." I mean, that's Rush Limbaugh. He's an asshole and a blowhard and everyone knows it. But I'm hearing people around me agreeing with him?! I could not be more simultaneously unsurprised and baffled.

Sandra Fluke is not the only woman in America who requires and deserves birth control. She is not the only type of woman in America who requires birth control. There are women who are married or in committed relationships who know that a child is not the right thing for them at the present moment. There are women suffering from painful and even life-threatening reproductive conditions that can only be treated with The Pill. There are women who have suffered sexual abuse. I assure you--it's not a rare instance when a woman needs birth control for a reason other than the fact that she's working to emulate Carrie Bradshaw.

And here's what my real point is: who gives a damn if she's a "slut" or not. Does that make her less of a person? Because if she can't afford birth control, she sure as hell isn't going to be able to feed that kid and I would never wish to impose this world upon a child who is not sincerely wanted and accepted and loved.

I don't think there are sluts. I think there are women. And I think there are women and there are men and while it's a joint effort to make a baby, the contraceptive responsibility consistently falls on the woman. She has to take a pill every day or she has to get shots every three months or she has to have a device implanted into her uterus and she is the one where the implied and needless shame falls. Meanwhile, there's a panel of men asked to speak before congress because they are experts? Because they can relate to this at all? The woman who was able to speak was trashed on a personal level with out any consideration given to what it was that she actually said. She told stories of the women that she knew--she never mentioned her own sexual history or gave any indication that she has so much sex that "it's amazing that she can even walk."

Why don't we care about the sexual histories of any of the men that spoke? Is it because it's not relevant?

It's because it's not relevant.