NEWS: Newsflash: Women Are People

CULTURE: Newsflash: Women Are People

The news that Amnesty International has decided to support abortion access as a basic human right is, hopefully, not news to anyone reading this. But I'm linking to it now because there's a statement in this article, about their affirming that decision last month in Mexico, because there's a really, really awesome pull quote from Amnesty's senior director for international legal issues that I think should be made into samplers, throw pillows, tattoos, bumper stickers, buttons, and tshirts and spread far and wide.

Bin. Go.

And that, my friends, is the problem with the "I'm not a feminist, I'm a humanist" argument. There are some human rights issues that are specific to women (albeit with indirect effects on men, what with men often being in relationships with women and all). To try to duck that fact by appealing to some argument that "humanism" is inclusive while "feminism" is exclusive or exclusionary, well, what you're saying is that only things that affect men count, and that things that affect women, and specifically women, aren't inclusive enough.

In other words, if there's nothing in it for boys, it's not important.

To which all right-thinking people will say: go to hell.

Bitch_PhD figures that the Catholic Church made it obvious a long time ago that they don't consider women fully human.

I love the coathanger. I say we release a line of Bitch_PhD-endorsed coathanger clothing.

well, if you look at it in terms of genesis, women are really the only fully human creatures...they were made into a human from a human part right, whereas adam was made form dirt...there's all sort of intersting things to say right there!

I've always viewed the "Equal Rights" thing as really silly...sure, everyone deserves equal pay for equal work, but do people who are born with debilitating diseases deserve more or less than people who acquire them? To be fair to both parties in that situation you have to accord special rights to one party or the other, you have to consider NEW INFORMATION...that's what's great about abstract though is that you can consider parallel lines of thought without having to compromise, then you can incorporate EVERYTHING...

Simply speaking, Women have a uterus while men don't, therefore, women have a special right to make decisions regard their uterus...noone can tell them when they can or can't clip their toenails, right? The idea of equal rights is just pure laziness, it's an "Ideal" made up by people who don't want to actually make decisions.

Well Said! At last a respected organization such as Amnesty International has finally realized what they should have realized YEARS AGO... that they need to support human rights issues for women. Feminism is something every organization and every person should support. Too bad that all to many want to keep things patriarchal and oppressive. Maybe if more organizations like Amnesty International take the lead in supporting the rights of women then we might make real progress...

I'm glad Amnesty have decided to do this.

I agree that this is a good thing, but I'm a genuinely confused about some of the commentary.

Isn't that general enough to include issues that are specific to women? Or isn't that what happens in practice? Or does it only include things that affect humanity as a whole?

And what if someone said, "What you're saying is that only things that affect women count, and that things that affect men, and specifically men, aren't inclusive enough"? Can we start a philosophy of masculinism? Or would that be sexist? I have a right to not have my penis cut off!

We could even include both feminism and masculinism under the broad category of humanism, if they promised to play nicely.

(Ok, I just looked it up. It's actually "masculism," and it already exists as an ideology.)

It's quite a surprise this hasn't happened sooner but credit to Amnestry for taking up the charge.

But since humanity already includes both men and women I don't see why the abortion issue can't just be a human right.
Otherwise we'd just start saying... I don't know, that the right to not be called up into a child militia is a male right because by and large it's only boys who are called up.
Afterall, poverty effects only poor people, who also do not make up the sum total of humans, but this does not make the right to not be subjected to it anything other than a human right.
I think false dichotomies tend to cause more problems than they solve.
Amnesty's slogan is 'save the human'; that seems pretty inclusive of all humans to me, regardless of the fact that specific issues do not affect all humans equally.

As above I'm not quite clear on the clarification between feminism/humanism, seems to me that it would include both men and women specific issues. I'm not debating the value of feminism I'm just not getting the distinction thats being made. Can someone lay this out straight for me?

Source?

"[People] are controlled and separated by issues that strike at the core of [their] emotions... The 'pro-life'/abortion issue has been PURPOSELY ORCHESTRATED in the United States by different factions within the government to create a lack of harmony. Divide and conquer, and you own the people... Whenever people oppose people, THOSE IN CONTROL benefit, even down to the issue over abortion..."

- Barbara Marciniak, in "Bringers of the Dawn"

And on and on it goes. We'll be forever locked in polemical struggle with one another over abortion, immigrant rights, gay marriage and all the other issues of polarization and controversy, while the powers that be carry on with their rape of the planet to squeeze the last drop of resources from the biosphere and lord over all the peoples of the earth...

I hope that by relationships you meant beyond the usual amorous or just physical. I am surrounded by women in my career and my life. I have sisters, mother, aunts, mother-in-law, a btichin' wife, nieces, neighbors, bosses, editors, staffers and even a best friend that is female. As a guy I am not just interested in "women's issues" because I like to fuck a woman but because they shape my world and make it all worth it.

Amnesty International have decreed it.

Aaaargh blagul libruls Clinton.

+1 to Women Are People and +1 to abortion as a basic human right !

Get A Brain! Morans!

From the article:

In response to Tarcisio Bertone, I say that the Vatican's response means shit. I am absolutely tired of religious decree. It is sad that they believe they have a say over so much. It is sadder that a Catholic rape victim who is devout would likely listen to it, rather than do what is best for herself.

I'm glad there are men out there that see(in one way or another) that women get the short end of the stick when it comes to ... well basically everything. And, that they are trying to improve that fact.

pure. unadulterated. bullshit.

the doctrine of humanism makes no distinction between male or female. it does not require both parties, or a specific party, to be affected in order to attach significance to something. in humanist thought, human rights issues that are specific to women (irregardless of their effect on men) are just as important as human rights issues specific to men and human rights issues that affect both genders.

i'd really like to know how on earth you made the leap to "only things that affect men count" because no matter how i twist the ideas in humanist thought i can in no way find any logical link to the above quoted nonsense.

It's sad that anyone believes anything with no objective evidence purely based on anecdotal "proof" and personal experiences, but I digress.
The truly sad thing here is that people like Bitch_PhD try to compartmentalize issues into neat little packages and stick labels onto those packages. Instead of abortion being a matter of general legal interest to everyone for several reasons, one major one being that making abortion illegal is tantamount to the government telling the people that it can decide what you do to yourself which is the very epitome of bullshit(In the Penn & Teller style), it's a "women's issue." Women should be accorded no more respect than any man in the same manner that men should be accorded no more respect than women. This is the same kind of mindset that pushes for affirmative action which in reality has no positive effect on society and only furthers the gap between races (read as gender, in this case). The only solution to disparities between groups is NOT compartmentalizing issues and stressing the fact that we are all people and gender does not make the slightest bit of difference in any way.

HELL YEAH!!!

I tried to tease out some actual line of argument from this, but I couldn't. I really couldn't get what the point was you were trying to make.

Well ideally we are not different, but physically we are, somehow society shaped into an environment that is easier for men, harder for women because we tend to get pregnant. What men have that compares to that?

So because women have the equipment and ability to create life they deserve some kind of superior station to the other half of the race? That's asinine. If I said, "Men are responsible for the laws and rights you enjoy today," I would be called a sexist, but nevermind the fact it's true. You and I could both pull out things that differentiate the genders all day long, but the fact is that the reason people get pissed at feminists like the writer of this article is because there is an air of superiority to their arguments. As if somehow women just deserve a higher place in society simply because they carry a uterus. It's complete and utter bullshit. If feminists actually want equality, they should stop trying to push their agendas on "women's rights issues" and actually push for true equality, which is something I haven't seen from feminism since women were first pushing for the vote. As soon as feminists actually stand for that I'll stand right alongside them. Until then, all right minded people should say, go to hell. (to purposely steal the author's phrase)

But are women in Soylent Green?

Abortion should not be looked at as a yes/no question. If a woman finds herself "with child" due to rape, or if her life would be at risk carryimg a child to term, than by all means she should be able to have the abortion.

On the other hand, in a NON-rape, some would say that she exersized her "freedom of chose" when she entered into intercourse.

Also this is NOT a women's issue, it is an issue for all of society.