Tag Archives: abortion

What Is Up With The Pope Lately?

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If you’ve read anything about the pope recently, you have probably read about him talking about same-sex marriage. He talks about it a lot. And at weird times. The pope is using just about every major speaking opportunity to emphasize his opposition to same-sex marriage. And, while I know that that’s his position, it’s weirding me out.

What’s strange to me is not that the pope’s stance is exclusively for opposite-sex marriage. The Catholic church, which has survived for over 1,500 years, has historically been slow to change its views but it has changed them. It will change them again, over the next century or so, if it intends to survive as an institution (which will be interesting to watch, either way). In 2113, will we see a female pope, married priests, and same-sex marriages performed with the blessing of the Vatican? Possibly. I doubt that it will be that soon. But, since I intend to live forever and the science for it seems almost within reach, it should happen in my lifetime.

So, I get it. Right now, the Catholic Church is opposed to marriage equality, and they do not care for the trend in parts of the US and Europe of same-sex couples receiving rights and privileges just like heterosexual couples.

What I do not understand is why Pope Benedict seems determined to bring it up at every occasion, particularly when there are much more pressing issues (school shootings and other instances of gun violence, anyone?) that he might be addressing. Like, does he know that it makes many people who otherwise like him uncomfortable (there are plenty of anti-choice people who support gay rights). Is he just pulling a Kathy Griffin and bringing up what he’s been advised against mentioning because it’s entertaining to him?

I’m going to go with no. I think that he is trying to double-down on his position. Which I understand—supporting your ideals, even when they’re the worst, makes sense. Practically speaking, it’s not doing Catholicism any favors in the long-run. And while he makes ridiculous comparisons (same-sex marriage “deceives human nature” and other statements), they’re consistent with the Vatican position on the topic.

It’s unfortunate for a lot of reasons, but we can all take comfort in the fact that he’s not just on the wrong side of history on this—he’s on the losing side. Latino voters within the US, the majority of whom are Catholic, voted for Obama and support same-sex marriage. Europe, where Catholicism is even more prevalent, is pushing forward with marriage equality, nation after nation.

Eventually, when the dust settles and marriage equality here to stay in the West (the Middle-East and Africa, in particular, are going to take a while), we can expect to hear about it less from the Vatican. Until then, expect a lot more of the pope’s public addresses to label female reproductive autonomy a “threat to world peace” and marriage equality as a “lie.”



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Dignity: A Law & Order Review

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I had never seen Law & Order before I went to college. As much as I love television, I never really watched much of it during my teen years. In fact, I did not watch all that much of it as a child (my television viewing was strictly limited when I was younger, as was my diet—which I would prefer to believe has nothing to do with the fact that I am now fairly obsessed with numerous television shows and no longer eat anything at all that I do not want to eat). Honestly, I am not even sure that I had heard of the show before I went to college.

My roommate* freshman year watched a lot of television. He set the television to be his alarm to wake up. He went to sleep with the television on. It was one while he did his homework. It was on when he was drinking in his bed and glowering at me from across the room. To someone who is unaccustomed to having a television on, this was an extremely distracting whole new world. My roommate and I had very few common interests, and most of the television that I saw that he watched did not interest me in the least (I had never seen Friends before; from what I could tell, I wasn’t missing much, no matter how fond I am of some of the actors). There were a few exceptions: Judging Amy, The 4400 (which he stopped watching because it was, and I quote: “weird as hell”), and Law & Order. I was pretty hooked on these, but especially on Law & Order.

From what I can tell, a lot of people who really enjoy Law & Order have been victims of something or another. I am no exception—my father is literally the worst person whom I have ever met. Watching fictional violent parents get prosecuted was a nice way to cope (it would be years before I actually discussed my childhood with a therapist and received the PTSD diagnosis). I enjoyed SVU, I love Law & Order: UK, and I even enjoyed Law & Order: LA after they got that lovely new intro and brought Alana de la Garza over from the canceled Law & Order to work as a Deputy District Attorney.

But original recipe Law & Order is just the best. Not the first few seasons (which are devoid of female characters and present some very alarming attitudes), but after Anita Van Buuren becomes a character, everything improves. The show was awesome—there’s a reason for which it ran for twenty years.

The final season (featuring my favorite ADA of the series, played by Alana de la Garza) included one episode which I found so very upsetting that I did not watch any more of the season until the series finale. ‘Dignity’ (the fifth episode of the twentieth season) is about a late-term abortion provider who is shot and killed in a church (having survived a previous shooting).

There is one moment in the trial (the murderer decides to put late-term abortion itself on trial, and the lead prosecutor—for whom …

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Hey Girl: Paul Ryan Gosling Goes Web-Viral

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Is everyone familiar with the Feminist Ryan Gosling meme? You know, it’s a picture of Ryan Gosling (who is still super dreamy, but I think that he really looked his best when he was on that short-lived Young Hercules* show) with text that conveys really compassionate, understanding, entirely-too-perfect boyfriend lines that often involve an in-depth knowledge of feminist thinkers.

It’s an adorable meme and it’s fun to imitate. I actually made a set with my favorite handsomes specifically catered to me. Pictures of Avan Jogia seeming to commiserate with my frustrations over Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse being canceled have a lot more to do with poking fun at myself than anything else, but it was an entertaining exercise.

Well, you guys have probably read that Paul Ryan is a terrible nightmare for American women. In my experience, die-hard Republicans who are opposed to abortion state that they do not wish for women to be jailed for having abortions, but simply wish to ban the practice. Paul Ryan goes beyond that. (He also goes beyond wanting to ban any recognition of same-sex couples and wants to ban adoption by same-sex couples, which is kind of the political position of an over-the-top 1980s supervillain)

So, the Paul Ryan Gosling meme is a pretty brilliant way of conveying Paul Ryan’s 17th-century views in a humorous way. I don’t think that it’s inappropriate to do this—I think that it’s perfect. Like the pointillist portrait of Rick Santorum comprised entirely of tiny images of gay porn, except that there is actual substance to Paul Ryan Gosling. Tweets like: “Hey girl, I support your right to choose: kitchen or laundry,” is kind of beautiful in their simplicity.

If you aren’t following @PaulRyanGosling on twitter, then you probably should. It’s worth a laugh. And sharing something humorous rather than something political can reach more people.

A lot of people know about Paul Ryan’s alleged** handsomeness, and about the fact that he apparently mostly likes musicians and philosophers with whom the feeling is not mutual (Rage Against The Machine, of course, but it’s important to note that fiercely pro-choice Ayn Rand would have detested Paul Ryan). A lot of people know that his social views are ultra-conservative, but I think that it is important to keep reminding people. And humor is a wonderful vehicle for that.

*Before you cry foul, he was 18-19 then. Even though it was the 1990s, he somehow had better hair back then than he does now.

**Is anyone else a little weirded out when people talk about Paul Ryan being handsome? Like, I wouldn’t say “no,” but that says way more about my terrible, terrible sexual decisions than it does about his appearance. He has nice eyes, but I kind of think that he looks like some sort of albino goblin king.***

***I actually came up with a fairy tale involving the 2012 election. A retired knight who is now an aged but handsome baron and an albino goblin king team up to seize control of the kingdom from the kindly king whom some of the peasants view as a “dark lord.” And there was something about Jon Huntsman with a bow and arrow and being left out of the adventure but I don’t quite remember.



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Just Another Thing To Do: A Pro-Choice Essay

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I do not have a uterus.

I cannot tell a woman what to do with her uterus.

If I did have a uterus, I still could not tell a woman what to do with her uterus. I also still could not tell a transgender man what to do with his uterus. And others would not have the right to tell me what to do with mine.

I am a huge fan of Emily’s List (look it up; they’re awesome) and I am vehemently pro-choice. I try to be polite and delicate about it sometimes, because I know that abortion is a sensitive topic for some people, but it is not for me. For me, abortion is a medical procedure—except that unlike having teeth pulled or having an appendectomy, it is not a procedure that I will never undergo. Also, unlike tooth-extraction and appendectomies, it is a contested topic. In fact, it is still being contested today (and not just in distant parts of the world to which I am afraid to travel), which is more than a little mind-boggling to me.

But I do not believe that opponents of female reproductive rights are mindless, misogynistic lunatics who want to turn women into baby-making slaves. I do not have many friends who are opposed to abortion rights, but those who are tend to be educated and know how to express and articulate their beliefs without shouting “baby-killer.” In most cases, their beliefs have a foundation in their personal religious beliefs.

If your religious beliefs state that life begins at conception, then I understand that. But I do not understand why you would expect for me to believe that—or conduct myself as if I believe it. I believe in ghosts (not in supernatural ghosts that levitate chairs or start fires or other things like that). And I honestly forget, at times, that not everyone believes in ghosts (although it makes sense; I wouldn’t expect for someone who has never had an experience with something to believe in it, per se). That said, I don’t consciously expect for other people to believe in ghosts. And I certainly don’t expect for people to conduct themselves as if they did believe in …

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