Justice Alito’s draft of arguments against Roe vs. Wade, relying on “settled” law going back to the 13th century, threatens all Americans with a giant resetting of society. SCOTUS now reveals itself as a new American Taliban, desiring women to accept inferior legal status and decreased rights. Men, we need your support now—just as we needed it 100 years ago when you voted to give us the right to vote. We were powerless without you then and we are powerless again in the face of this new onslaught. The loss of abortion rights affect you men as much as it affects your wives, sisters, daughters and girlfriends.
Back in January 2017, organizers called for a pro-woman march to protest the new POTUS, who had said publicly, on seeing an attractive woman, “I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
Hearing that, we knitted pink hats with pussy ears and marched in the streets. In that first march, my little group of progressives was flanked by a big group of university boys carrying signs to support Planned Parenthood. I was a little surprised and said thank you for being here.
“It’s the least we can do,” said one with a grin. “We depend on them.”
And no matter how you take this statement — whether the fellow meant they depend on Planned Parenthood for contraceptives or for, failing that, girlfriend abortions, the support seemed right, especially in this day when a quick swab can establish paternity based on DNA. Young careers, male as well as female, are derailed by unwanted pregnancies. And, from the baby’s point of view, being born into a family that’s not ready is no way to begin a new life.
Today, fellas, we need you again. We need you to speak out in defense of our bodies, sure, because you enjoy them as much as we do, and we need you to speak out for our rights as humans in this nation. While the focus now is on abortion, it’s time to grab hold and finally pass the Equal Rights Amendment. At present, there’s nothing in the constitution that protects us, nothing that protects LGBTQ people, trans people or any other non-heterosexual males.
The same year that former POTUS made his outrageous statement, the state of Nevada voted to ratify the E.R.A. The next year, Illinois ratified. Then, in 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify, which should mean that the E.R.A. is a done deal. Why is it not in the Constitution? The amendment, which was first proposed by women’s rights advocates Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman in 1923, will turn 100 next year and President Biden should make it part of his legacy and insist that it is included in the Constitution.
The E.R.A. shouldn’t be scary to anyone. All it says is “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Without it, nobody has protection against discrimination on account of sex. We need to begin the discussion again. There’s a national conversation to be heard.
Since founding, women have been marginalized in America. The Constitution today still treats men and women as inhabitants of two spheres, the domestic and the industrial. As kids in school, we learned that women’s work of family-nurturing and husband-support was less important than men’s work. But that very sentence belies how little we know of women’s history. In the Daniel Boone family saga, the women are forgotten. Yet, Olive Boone, pregnant and left alone in the Missouri woods when Nathan was off hunting and exploring, re-built their leaky cabin, added a fireplace, raised gardens and kept her baby alive. There might be hundreds of similar stories, if only we knew them.
The industrial age made things worse when household work moved to factories. “They stole our jobs,” the early feminists said. We got canned soup and cake mixes and industry got trade and profits. Industrialization chained men to dull jobs in pursuit of money and our meager status as homemakers was seriously impacted. But, the industrial age gave us leisure and the chance to form clubs and get to know each other. Education gave us a chance to discover new models. Other inventions did their part—the bicycle gave us mobility. When society didn’t come up to our standards, we started agitating for the vote and our arguments were so good that men voted to give it to us. Now, men, we need your help again.
If there’s a pro-choice march in your town, show up to support us. We know that you enjoy us women with our new-found rights. Now it’s time for you to step up and prove it.
Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. She also is a co-founder of CAFOZone.com, a website for people who are affected by concentrated animal feeding operations. Her latest book is “The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History.” Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, June 15, 2022
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