Abortion Rights are not Only for Women

An excerpt from Katherine Timpf:

Feminists are now arguing about whether or not it’s offensive to talk about abortion as a “women’s issue” because gender is not that simple and men have abortions too.

“We must acknowledge and come to terms with the implicit cissexism in assuming that only women have abortions,” feminist activist Lauren Rankin stated in July 2013. Or, as Jos Truitt of Feministing explained: “Trans men have abortions. Gender queer people have abortions. Two spirit people have abortions. [!?!?!?!?]  People who do not fit into the box of ‘woman’ have abortions.”

In response, abortion funds around the country have already been changing their names and language to be more “gender inclusive.” Last year, “Fund Texas Women” became “Fund Texas Choice,” because, in the words of co-founder Lenzi Scheible, the group “refuse[d] to deny the existence and humanity of trans* people any longer.” But not every feminist agrees with Rankin and Truitt and Scheible and friends.

At the risk of being branded a “cissexist,” feminist essayist and poet Katha Pollitt wrote a piece for the The Nation today daring to suggest that maybe it’s not totally offensive to link being pregnant with being female. “I’m going to argue here that removing ‘women’ from the language of abortion is a mistake,” she writes. “In an era where politics is all about identity, as a tool for organizing and claiming public space, are women about to lose theirs? Because after all we’re all just people now.”

TB: And now Monty Python weighs in...

Are Do-It-Yourself Projects In Decline Because Today's Men Aren't MEN?

According to the article here, more men can't (or won't) do the basic repairs around the house that men of the past once did.  The author avers that perhaps this is due to there being fewer masculine men.  (See Jo Metrosexual to the right looking at his abs in the mirror as he...vacuums).

None of this is true, however, of this man writing this blog post.

Excerpt:

Yet, undeniably, today’s 20- and 30-somethings don’t seem to possess your traditional “dad skills”. The dismal fact that a mere five per cent of 18-24s would attempt to unblock a sink doesn’t bode well for humanity – unless you’re a plumber.[For SHAME!]

Men [have been] clamouring over themselves to be seen as anything but sexist.

But as we lost our rough edges and took on more of what had traditionally been regarded as female roles, no one really stopped to question whether equality for women came with a cost for masculinity. If everything overtly “masculine” is dismissed as sexist, what’s left of men is, arguably, sexless.

You see this behavioural androgyny everywhere, from the increasingly corporate and sterile football terraces to the Croc-wearing househusband on the school run.

In an age where we’re expected to Hoover, iron, change nappies, make a woman climax for four hours like Sting and cook like Jamie Oliver, old-fashioned pursuits like DIY have become quaint, self-indulgent and almost shameful.

The result is that many modern men are more like our mothers than our fathers, while the opposite is true for women, who are increasingly wearing the trousers.

Beard (the verb)

Beards are wonderful.  "Beard," too is wonderful, and it comes in not only noun form but also as a verb. What follows are a few definitions given in the OED followed by brief commentary.

1. To become bearded, get a beard. 

As in "Lewis, King of Hungary, was said to have bearded at age fifteen."

 2. To chip or plane away the edge of (timber) to a required shape.

As in "That bearded brute of a beastly-man climbed the tree with his bare hands and bearded the top of it into the bust of Brutus!"

 3. To brush or rub with the beard.

As in "Some of the young men were romping with the young girls and bearding their rosy faces" or "Daddy bearded me when we were wrestling."

And my all-time favorite: