I Don't Have the Right to Something that is INSIDE OF ME?!

Dear Uterus,

I don’t know if you’ve been reading the news lately, but it seems as though everyone else seems to think that they know what is best for you and our reproductive system, namely conservative politicians and extremists. Okay, I give you a hard time, but we all know that, as the center of everything in the body, including creating sexual desire, sexual function and cognitive decision making, I am your biggest supporter.

I am going to pose some questions to you though:

What do you think about all of this? Do you feel as though your sexual freedom is in jeopardy due to right-winged crazies? Do you think it is your right to choose what you should and should not do with your reproductive talent, a talent that has threatened the opposite gender since sexual consciousness?

Think about that.

Sincerely,

The Brain

C.E.O. Of The Body

Manager Of Emotions

The American. By right, an American should be able to control their life, their body and exercise their free will. However, when you put the word “Woman” behind “American” and it becomes American Woman, then it is not just a Lenny Kravitz remake of The Guess Who’s 1970 hit. It is me. It is 50% of the American population; the 50% that becomes second class citizens who are known for being overly sexualized, objectified and repressed to the point that even the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1960s, as well as earlier movements, have been completely ignored. To top that off, it is normal and accepted within so many communities. To say that feminism is irrelevant is the same as saying that racism is over. It is not.

            Like, who told men (and oblivious, silly conservative women) that they could simply deprive the reproductive rights of other people? That doesn’t make me feel safe. That makes me feel like someone is saving up excuses to somehow completely strip my body of rights and rape my future away. To quote a poet I've met:

"Panels of men
deciding how to legislate the bodies of women
Because if you control the uterus… you control everything"

-Zack “Fit” Linly, Man Down

            It is a scary thought from that heartfelt poem; a thought that has been with me for years. It is a monumentally frightening reality that the uterus is so powerful that it has been dictating the oppression and decision making abilities of women throughout human history. We have had to dress as men to be taken seriously like Jeanne d’Arc, only to be burned at the stake later for political reasons. We have had to cover our ankles so that we could hide our “radiating sexuality” from men, because it is implied that men can’t control their own sexuality.  Which I believe to be bullshit…but what do I know, I’ve a uterus, not testes.

This newly dusted off abortion controversy has been getting my goat for months. I am admittedly surprised because this subject is tired and I tried to will myself into ignoring it to save myself from a storm of annoyance. Maybe I let myself believe that every American finally allowed their brain to evolve into something that empathized with women and our need for free choice. Okay, so maybe doctors have been murdered for performing abortions within the past four years . Fine, people, I was in denial. I was being lazy with my rage.

Oh, and by the way, I am pro-life. I am a closet pro-lifer who also believes that children should be raised at home equally by both parents, not by a day care. So I am also pro-family. Stay at home moms are great and needed. How utterly un-feminist of me, right? Wrong, actually. In fact, I am pro-life for myself and pro-choice for everyone else. Many people think that by not supporting conservative oppression automatically means that you want to kill babies, be a socialist and marry off the Gays. Okay, socialism is not bad and successfully works for many societies. LGBT individuals deserve to be able to share their love. The freedom to choose has nothing to do with haphazardly murdering fetuses (and choice is not specific to one gender). It is not a negative action that needs to be monitored by our government. My personal uterus is pro-life, but that does not mean that I am cool with the fact that these panels of men, these uterus coveters, are forever trying their best to dictate my body. My uterus does not need a Hitler in this concentration camp of politics.

I recently read this Huffington Post article. Apparently, a new Georgia Abortion Bill and Assisted Suicide Bill was passed this month. Basically, according to Planned Parenthood, it "calls into question every woman who makes a deeply personal, private medical decision." Of course it does. I don’t understand how it is five months into 2012 and this is still a major issue. These power struggles between two genders lead to right-winged, outdated decisions.

This isn’t really about babies, this is about power.

If it were about babies, shouldn’t we be trying to assist the babies who are already in the world? If all of the starving and sick children who are being ignored by our political systems were relieved, and all of the educators who are teaching our children and taking pay cuts were not ignored, and all of the money that is not going to any of this was redistributed into the right hands, who would benefit? Yes, that is an aggressively idealistic approach to a problem that seems impossible to even tackle. But could we tackle it? I couldn’t even begin to know how. I have no solution to that problem aside from our communities all of the sudden becoming less selfish and start thinking about what we can do today to change what is happening to the children of tomorrow who will not be floating around in amniotic fluids.

While we’re at it, could we leave my personal uterus out of it, please? Because it will eventually cut a bitch.

Dear Uterus:

What rights?

Love,

Your Government