Soapbox

A Woman’s Nature

We hear it said once again that it is not safe to give a woman control of her own body, that a mere woman must not be allowed to control her own destiny- that such independence in a female is immoral, such liberty is licentious.

For a time it seemed we had defeated this ancient foe, that in the daylight of modern enlightenment, such nonsense was only still muttered  in dark rooms by small, frightened men desperate to turn back time. But  now, like a mob made bold by the setting sun and a lighted torch, they begin to shout it  again in the public square.

And so they say that our daughters' fertility- and thereby their lives- should properly be subject to the whims of their husbands, lovers, employers and abusers and, like unruly livestock, women should not be allowed to choose when to breed. If you have sex, you should get pregnant-– slut!

I do not know why some men are so eager to return to the days when passion and happy sexuality were the province only of men and something no proper woman would  enjoy.  I do not know why they are so determined that sex without risk of pregnancy must be something only men should be allowed to experience.

Perhaps it's that old  fear that a woman free to enjoy sex without physical consequences will choose another, better partner. You know- the way men do.  Perhaps they worry that a woman who is allowed to make motherhood a free and loving choice  rather than an obligation or possibly dangerous burden might start to get ideas… like the idea that her ideas matter, that her education and career doesn't have to be interrupted by constant child-bearing, that she can compete with a man and that maybe there are a few things she'd like to change in this world.

It is being said that a woman, born in blood and beauty, somehow cannot comprehend the reality of new life inside her without the help of a man, cannot possibly judge right and wrong for herself, the way he can.

But we say that a man, born of a woman and begetting his own daughters who  refuses to let them have an equal place in his world is no man.

We have tasted the autonomy that once belonged only to them, and it has not made us want to stop being women, to stop being mothers and wives, stop tending our family gardens.  We only want freedom to make our own decisions. That river has been crossed now, and we will not be pushed back across the Rubicon just because you find our presence on the other side with you inconvenient.

Do not mistake the softer nature of our geography and the nurturing manner of our souls  for weakness of resolve.
Do not think that we will allow you to take from our daughters that which our own mothers fought and suffered and bled and died to give to us, will avert our eyes meekly while you put their bodies, passions and their lives on a leash.

For it is not in the nature of a woman to surrender a child to a predator without a fight no matter how outmatched she may be.
We would die before we would allow you to violate her with your body, with your pinch and tear, your slap and thrust, and  no more will we step aside while you violate her with your laws, with your leering contempt and lecherous statutes, let you play doctor to amputate her rights and cauterize her dignity.

Do not make us choose between our children and you, for that is a contest you will never win no matter what enticements you offer or weapons you bring to bear upon us,
For such is the nature of woman.