Over here, someone spent some time going through a recording of Jason Kenney speaking at Alberta Pro Life's conference. Listening to that recording must have been a form of torture for whoever wrote the article on the Liberal Party website - I'm struggling with transcribing a few (< 1 minute) sound bytes from an All Candidates Forum with that weasel speaking.
Sayeth Mr. Kenney:
"Those of us who believe in the sanctity of human life are the true champions of democracy," Mr. Kenney told Alberta Pro-Life at its Life 2005 conference held April 29-30, 2005.
It's not merely the words, it is the context in which the words were said that we must consider. The statement itself is actually rather well crafted - Mr. Kenney might almost be able to weasel out and say that he was being "taken out of context" - of course, you'd have to be the village idiot to really believe that is the case.
Mr. Kenney has a long track record, and for him to be allied with the anti-abortion movement is no big surprise. (I've commented on it before)
But, consider this for a moment - indirectly, Mr. Kenney is saying that women - in particular - aren't able to make sound moral judgements. After all, if that were the case, the abortion issue would be an issue, would it?
Yes, he wraps it up in the sanctimonious language of "the sanctity of life", etc., but that's all basically code phrase for control. Part of me wants Mr. Kenney to have to carry an unwanted pregnancy to its endpoint - with all of the discomfort that goes with pregnancy - maybe, just maybe, he might get a small clue about what "a woman's right to choose" actually means.
I get quite irritated when boneheads like Kenney stand up on topics like abortion. Quite frankly, he has less than no idea what life is like for a woman, what their experiences are or anything else. Who is he to stand judgement over a woman's life decisions?
The random proscriptions in the Bible about sexuality - especially women's sexuality - are based primarily on a male viewpoint rooted in ignorance of a woman's lot in life. Actually, for the most part, the Bible ignores women's sexuality, save for viewing women as "temptresses" and "whores" - in other words - women are treated primarily as objects for male sexual gratification, not sentient, self aware people. (Hmmm - random aside - does the objectification of women in scripture influence the "beauty myth" that pervades society today?)
The days of men controlling women's lives, especially reproductively, are long past. For the sake of all of us, let's leave those days in the past. I really don't want to see The Handmaid's Tale come to reality.
5 comments:
Did Kenney get a uterus when I wasn't looking? Why is this any of his business?
Quixote
Well, then we could have him violently raped, preggers and tell him that his body is no longer his?
Puhleeze?
Sure, the Bible ignores women's sexuality. As the initiators of original sin, women obviously turned sex from something that can be beautiful (or at least nice) to something that can make you burn in hell for an eternity.
You would think that, since women's orgasms are not linked to reproduction (which is really what makes sex so important anyway in the eyes of those who feel this way), we'd be left alone.
And you're right about The Handmaid's Tale. Your first comment on my blog (if I remember correctly) was a response to something I had posted about that amazing novel. Unfortunately, the reality is making Margaret Atwood look more and more like a prophet rather than a novelist.
Somehow, that novel (along with aspects of Oryx and Crake) seems to run eerily close to plausible.
It's also one of those books that just sticks in my mind, it was so vivid (and disturbing). I still remember putting it down after reading a few of the chapters and mentally shuddering at the world that Atwood had described.
What's really unfortunate is the strident way in which some people would regulate the sexuality of those around them. (especially those that they do not understand - and for many men, even today, feminine sexuality is vastly misunderstood.) It takes the topic from one of human relationships, and makes it a matter of control.
Post a Comment