Many thanks to a reader for highlighting this post over at Feministing. It’s a list of reasons to thank feminism. (Cue soft violin music.)
The reader’s comments on number 3 (Thank you feminism for “an authentic language to discuss sex, work, and just about everything in between”) can’t be improved upon so I’ll just cut and paste: “Right. Like, ‘right to choose’ and ‘family planning’ and ‘reproductive freedom.’ I don’t think Orwell intended doublespeak to be considered ‘authentic.'”
She doesn’t realize she’s using euphemisms, taking the new double-speak instead as “authentic.” Oh the irony.
“I didn’t know”
Ok, so one blogger links to another and so it goes. Blaise drew my attention to Feministing, who both in turn drew my attention to Pam Stenzel.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0ezYNWIDB0]
Now Feministing can say she’s lying and dangerous as much as she wants–but young girls are going to like her. Why? Because she can relate to them. A while ago, I admitted that as a teen or even university student, I’d have rather been dead than pregnant. First time now, I’m hearing an experienced counsellor say she sees this mentality all the time. But she doesn’t go on to say what I might: That it’s not the end of the world to be pregnant, let’s gain some long term perspective and help each other out… She says for a girl that age, unmarried, not done school, the options once pregnant are bad, worse and terrible. What she’s doing is conveying the notion that there is no “undo” button, something our friends at the condom companies understand, but our feminist friends do not.
Pam Stenzel will do well because she’s telling the truth. And Feministing can’t change that, even if she doesn’t like it.
P.S. Stenzel is bang on about the cause of poverty in America–and Canada–today.
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Tanya adds: This is absolutely a video every woman (mother or not) should watch the whole hour through. (YouTube provides it in 10 minute segments.)