Monday, October 29, 2012

Politics is as personal as ever, day 13: Birth control is for boys too!

          I have to admit, I’m a bit of a prude.  Which makes it hard to talk about all these “women’s” issues.  Because they’re so, you know, intimate.  I mean it’s rough enough to talk about the medical parts of all this--about getting to decide what’s allowed to grow inside our uteruses, and what can implant there to begin with.  But really, when Mitt Romney says he’s in favor of the “Birth Begins At Conception” bills some states are trying to pass, what he’s talking about is limiting the right for heterosexuals to have sex without getting pregnant.  And so, of course, yes, yes, yes, this is a women’s issue; women should have the ability to govern their own bodies.  But we have to admit, when a woman uses birth control medication to prevent pregnancy, two people are generally invested in that outcome.
          So yesterday, when I wrote about envisioning my daughter crammed into her doctor’s office with a bunch of banner waving politicians, I was not telling the whole story.  Because I have sons too.  And maybe someday they’ll experiment with heterosexuality, I don’t know.  But if they do, I want them to have the right to make thoughtful empowering decisions with their partners.  Decisions that nurture their health, well-being, and life pursuits.
          Okay *shudders* that’s the last time I’m going to talk about my sons’ future sex lives for a long, long while.  But honestly, if I don’t feel comfortable talking about the someday intimate moments of my children’s lives, why the hell do legislators feel so comfortable doing the same?  The answer of course, is that they don’t.  They don’t want to run a political campaign against heterosexual sex when they can just shame women instead.
          So I guess it’s for me to shout from the mountain top.  Me at my lesbian prudish best.  I will keep it short and on message:
          Dear heterosexual men, like having sex without making babies?  Vote Obama, Biden in 2012!

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