Sex stuff

Among the many things on the block in the current budget proposal is funding for Planned Parenthood. Now I do not believe this budget will pass as written, so what ends up actually getting cut is anyone's guess, but it did remind me of something.

People write a lot in defense of Planned Parenthood, and one of the things they always say is that the organization is forbidden from using federal funds to pay for abortions, but while technically true that is kind of disingenuous and I always feel uncomfortable making that argument, I mean yeah okay those specific dollars don't get spent on the procedure, but let's be honest with ourselves, they do free up money that can end up being spent on it. Which is of course not a problem and I think the restriction is completely ridiculous on the face of it, but it leads into another problem with these writings.

They always minimize the abortion part of PP's services, listing the many other services they do provide, they aren't lies, those services are all vital and necessary, but I don't really know if it helps all that much in the long run, the very practice of trying to, not ignore exactly, but certainly avoid the topic of, seems to me that it does more to make abortion seem... I dunno, seedy I guess? It encourages thinking of the procedure as somehow illicit and doesn't do anything to try to remove the stigma around it.

I get that those arguments are not directed at me of course, as a supporter of Planned Parenthood they don't have to convince me, and as a man I am unlikely to need their services personally. I just wonder if these arguments harm the pro choice cause while at the same time making people feel better about the organization.

On a similar topic I often see lists of all the things birth control, specifically hormone based, is good for that isn't contraception. Again, I don't disagree, but those arguments always seem to be presented against the person, real or theoretical, objecting to the stuff because they think that women who want it just want to have sex without consequence.

First, those people are stupid, second, that isn't an argument against birth control, it is in fact the only reason a woman needs to be on it, there doesn't have to be any other justification in these situations, "I wanna fuck people and not have a baby" is totally legitimate! Hell it's a guys default position, I can (theoretically) bone anyone and not have to worry about getting pregnant. Why shouldn't a woman? What part of having a functioning uterus makes sex a magical and forbidden thing for them?

I don't want to minimize the other uses for birth control, it does make life easier, and indeed tolerable, for tens of thousands of people all over the world, it's just like with the abortion argument above, when you respond to someone who is criticizing a thing by minimizing the thing they are criticizing, it seems almost like you are doing the work for them anyway. If the attack is "You want birth control? You should feel bad for wanting to have sex" and the response is "I could want it for any of these other reasons." The attackers main point goes uncontested.

It is hard for me to write about these issues because they aren't mine in a lot of ways, so I don't know if my thoughts on them are actually all that relevant. I would be interested in hearing from some women on the topic if any of y'all have thoughts.


Oh man, on an almost entirely unrelated note, I drive by a strip club on Powell on my way home, it is one of those grim concrete boxes that are everywhere, but I used to get a smile out of it because the sign for a while just said "butt stuff" on it, which amuses me because in many ways I am still thirteen, but now they changed it and it is just creepy, it says "daddy issues" now, which just seems unpleasant to me.

Okay that's all I got.