arndt@lymph.DEC (08/05/85)
Hi dear. Just thought of another point. It is a TRUE statement that no man will ever know what it is like to have a child. Exactly like! Just as my saying to mom, "But you don't know what it's like to be a growing boy!" is also a true statement if taken exactly. But one woman could say to any other the same kind of thing. "You don't know what I'm going through." And that would also be a true statement. You see what I'm getting at? It's a matter of degree not of kind when we make these distinctions of knowledge of experience. A particular woman may or may not know more about what a particular woman is experiencing. Remember, the biological aspects of having a baby are NOT the whole picture, right? So just being a woman, it seems to me, doesn't give insight about what is involved in having a baby or having an abortion. Once you admit, as I think you must, that some men may know more about baby/abortion than some women then the argument that 'men' can't know enough about abortion/baby decisions is exposed as simply too facile. Just so that one has to be married to understand love or the problems of a man and woman, or have children to speak about child rearing. Your statement is simply too extreme. All these people in the above examples know about beyond anyone else is their particular experiences with perhaps a dash of insight if they are really clever and thoughtful PERSONS. Getting pregnant doesn't involve being smarter, often it's the other way! I take your position to be sexist! Something about being a woman . . . . Pssst! Dump your SO. If he let this one get past him he can't be too swift on the uptake. Check out your friends who agreed with you also. You may be floatin' with the slow crowd. Regards, Ken Arndt