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From: newman@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (Bill Newman)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Man's Responsibility
Message-ID: <1991Jun14.131823.10859@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: 15 Jun 91 17:51:59 GMT
References: <1991Jun13.155237.12650@aero.org> <MUFFY.91Jun13102345@remarque.berkeley.edu>
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In article <MUFFY.91Jun13102345@remarque.berkeley.edu> muffy@remarque.berkeley.edu (Muffy Barkocy) writes:
>In article <1991Jun13.155237.12650@aero.org> al885@cwns9.ins.cwru.edu (Gerard Pinzone a.k.a. Ataru Moroboshi) writes:
>   instead of a more practical and safe form of BC, surely would shift
>   the responsibility to the woman. Like you said....*everyone* involved
>   needs to be responsible.
>
>But, again, it would be silly to shift the responsibility to only one
>person, especially when it's the other person that is the one who
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>doesn't want children.  I know it's a little difficult to grasp (in this
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>society, anyway) that the person who doesn't want children (if there is
>only one) should do something about it, but it seems like the natural
>conclusion to me.
>
>Muffy

I don't understand this at all.  To me, it seems unreasonable to say
that a person who opposed an action is more responsible for the
consequences of that action than someone who favored the action.  "It
would be silly to shift the responsibility for the consequences of
America's involvement in the Persian Gulf war to the people who
supported our involvement, especially when it was the other people who
didn't want to get involved."?

As for the second part, Most People On Both Sides Of This Argument
agree that the best way to avoid having children you don't want is to
prevent conception.  However, accidents happen, and MPOBSOTA are
willing to at least accept the policy that a pregnant woman has the
right to decide whether to have an abortion.  This makes it impossible
for the man who doesn't want children to do anything about it after
birth control failure.  If you want the man who doesn't want children
to do something about it, how do you propose modifying this policy?  I
can imagine forced abortions, or perhaps a gubernatorial policy of
pardons for men who are forced to kill their sex partners to avoid
unwanted children.  I honestly can't think of a palatable policy.  Can
you?

  Bill Newman
  newman@theory.tn.cornell.edu