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Without reproductive rights, women are men's factory farms
Women own their bodies, we are not factory farms to be used for the industrialized mass production of consumer worker breeder units.
"I am not your cornfield
Not your uranium mine
Not your calf for fattening
Not your cow for milking
You may NOT use me as your factory
Priests and legislators do not hold shares
in my womb or my mind
This is MY body!
If I give it to you, I want it back
My life is a non-negotiable demand" _ by Marge Piercy
“A free race cannot be born from slave mothers. No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body.”
—Nurse-midwife Margaret Sanger (1920).
“The defenders of authority dread a woman’s right to choose! Who would fight the wars? Who would create wealth? Who would make the policemen, the jailers, if women were to refuse the indiscriminate breeding of children?” —Emma Goldman (1917).
“Doorways are sacred to women for we are the doorways of life and we must choose what comes in and what goes out.”
— Contemporary poet and writer
Marge Piercy
Without reproductive rights, women are factory farmed
By Utopia Bold
For more than twenty thousand years, women and men worshipped the Goddess. Women were revered, had reproductive rights and controlled the Doorway of Life. However, the uterus was appropriated beginning 5,000 years B.C during the rise of patriarchy, a male-supremacist social system.
For millennia patriarchal invaders murdered Goddess worshippers and installed violent male gods (The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler).
After the rise of patriarchy, midwives continued to administer birth control and abortion herbs. However, women's’ reproductive knowledge was once nearly lost forever. Male-supremacist rulers and clergy deliberately planned and executed The Women’s Holocaust during The Burning Times (“holocaust” means “sacrifice by fire”).
In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII unleashed an inquisition against the pagans who still worshipped the Goddess. The torture and carnage would last until the 18th century. Of the nine million “witches” burned, 80% were women (The Spiral Dance by Starhawk). Many were midwives who were tortured and burned alive. The churches (Protestant and Catholic) appropriated the slaughtered women’s property.
Patriarchy now spans the globe and the legacy of the Women’s Holocaust is mandated overpopulation. The agenda of male-supremacist governments and religions is the industrialized mass-production of consumer/worker/breeder units to keep the global economy growing – like cancer. Hence, anti-choice legislation-and scripture.
Without reproductive rights, the Doorway of Life is used to manufacture soldiers to feed the Jaws of Death - war. As with all wars, today’s oil wars enrich wealthy male supremacists (and patriarchal women who ally with money and power). George W. Bush slashed funds for international family planning in desperately poor countries where clinics perform or even discuss abortion.
However, the issue isn’t protecting “unborn children” It’s about the State appropriating them for profit at a later date – like the young of farmed animals. This is proved by the fact that contraception which prevents zygotes and fetuses is also opposed.
Nurse Margaret Sanger was jailed in 1920 for giving diaphragms to poor immigrant women. The Comstock Law of 1870 forbade birth control in the U.S. until 1936. Sanger said, “Man has not only refused responsibility (for birth control) but has individually and collectively sought to prevent women from obtaining knowledge by which she could assume this responsibility for herself.”
In the Dictionary, “husband” means “to use and employ to good purpose and best advantage,” such as “animal husbandry.” Male-supremacist religion mandates women’s husbandry using spiritual blackmail; fear of punishment and torture (hell) inflicted by various sadistic, male-supremacist gods that were created by dysfunctional men in their own image.
Consider these “words of god” (written by men): “God formed her body to belong to a man, to have and to rear children. Let them bear children till they die of it.”– Martin Luther. “In pain shall you bear children, your urge will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”– Genesis 3:16. “Your women are fields to cultivate, so go to your fields as you will!”– The Koran 2:223.
Fortunately, women are reclaiming their reproductive rights by regulating their reproduction at home to avoid the expense and risk of going to clinics. When women learn and teach private birth control, we can thumb our noses at anti-choice crazies and their laws!
As Marge Piercy said, “I am not your cornfield, not your uranium mine, not your calf for fattening, not your cow for milking. You may NOT use me as your factory. Priests and legislators do not hold shares in my womb or my mind. This is my body. If I give it to you, I want it back. My life is a non-negotiable demand!”
The Goddess made Women, but male-supremacists made “ladies!” Ladies are domesticated while women joyfully roar out of control! Once, we were all “wild women.” We lived our lives as we saw fit– not as obedient, second-class servants and unwilling breeders who sacrifice their entire lives for others.
To make this true again, we must reconnect as women by apologizing for hurts given and forgiving hurts received, including racism, economic exploitation and other artificial divisions created by the global social system of patriarchy to keep women divided.
Women must embrace globally as sisters, end our separation and help each other achieve human and reproductive rights. Otherwise, all will be lost as the human race breeds itself and the Natural World into oblivion by mandated overpopulation.
How to reclaim your body with Menstrual Extraction
Mandated pregnancy is violence against women. Menstrual extraction (ME) removes menstrual blood (in cases of honeymoons and athletic events).It can also be used for low-risk early abortions (up to 7 weeks) without anesthetics and a decreased risk of infection.
ME is often an outpatient procedure performed at home by a trained medical professional. Most women said it’s less painful than standard abortions. The Del-Em, invented by Lorraine Rothman, is used. It can be assembled at home from common items. Other materials are easily obtainable through medical supply catalogues.
The cannula is inserted into the uterus through the undilated cervix. A syringe, with a one way automatic bypass valve prevents air from entering the uterus—which can be fatal. It creates the suction necessary to remove the menses. In a very few cases, a second extraction must be performed.
It should be performed by a medical professional. However, with proper training, most women can be taught to safely perform ME in Self-Help Groups.
Resources
http://www.geocities.com/sister_zeus/ A HUGE resource for reproductive rights. To find a Self-Help Group to safely perform ME, Sister Zeus suggests checking with midwives, feminist health centers, fertility counselors and local feminists. Finding a Self-Help Group is difficult since ME is barely legal. Groups may be found by word of mouth.
Sister Zeus will help you find or start a Self-Help Group in your area to learn safe ME. http://www.sisterzeus.com/StateList.html
Email: sister_zeus [at] geocities.com All information confidential. http://www.sisterzeus.com/self-helplist.html
A woman’s Book of Choices, Abortion, Menstrual Extraction RU-486 by Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer. Herb information, (Misuse of herbs can be dangerous so ALWAYS consult a sympathetic midwife-herbalist), how to safely perform ME and how to make a Del-Em.
A New View of a Woman’s Body —Federation of Feminist Women’s health Centers. Difficult to find but full of high-quality information.
A Difficult Decision-A compassionate Book About Abortion by Joy Gardener. How to heal after abortion (grief, guilt and spiritual matters).
Planned Parenthood Ph: 1-800-230-PLAN http://www.plannedparenthood.org
http://www.io.com/~wwwomen/menstruation/extraction.html
Feminist Women’s Health Centers Ph: 509-575-6473 Ext.112 Fax: 509-575-0477 Email: info [at] fwhc.org
Did You Know?
• Earth’s ability to feed humanity decreased since 1994 due to overpopulation (WorldWatch Institute).
• Ninety million babies are born each year. The UN Population Fund found 80 million births are ill-timed or unintended.
• Most of the world’s women (and all female farmed animals) bear young against their will. •Abuse of animals and women are interconnected forms of oppression.
•Animal abuse legitimizes abuse of women.
Herbs and ME may be used in cases of rape, incest or failed birth control. However, there’s no substitute for responsible safe sex. Birth control that prevents conception can be used to avoid the need for abortion if neither partner is ready for child rearing. Men must share responsibility
Not your uranium mine
Not your calf for fattening
Not your cow for milking
You may NOT use me as your factory
Priests and legislators do not hold shares
in my womb or my mind
This is MY body!
If I give it to you, I want it back
My life is a non-negotiable demand" _ by Marge Piercy
“A free race cannot be born from slave mothers. No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body.”
—Nurse-midwife Margaret Sanger (1920).
“The defenders of authority dread a woman’s right to choose! Who would fight the wars? Who would create wealth? Who would make the policemen, the jailers, if women were to refuse the indiscriminate breeding of children?” —Emma Goldman (1917).
“Doorways are sacred to women for we are the doorways of life and we must choose what comes in and what goes out.”
— Contemporary poet and writer
Marge Piercy
Without reproductive rights, women are factory farmed
By Utopia Bold
For more than twenty thousand years, women and men worshipped the Goddess. Women were revered, had reproductive rights and controlled the Doorway of Life. However, the uterus was appropriated beginning 5,000 years B.C during the rise of patriarchy, a male-supremacist social system.
For millennia patriarchal invaders murdered Goddess worshippers and installed violent male gods (The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler).
After the rise of patriarchy, midwives continued to administer birth control and abortion herbs. However, women's’ reproductive knowledge was once nearly lost forever. Male-supremacist rulers and clergy deliberately planned and executed The Women’s Holocaust during The Burning Times (“holocaust” means “sacrifice by fire”).
In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII unleashed an inquisition against the pagans who still worshipped the Goddess. The torture and carnage would last until the 18th century. Of the nine million “witches” burned, 80% were women (The Spiral Dance by Starhawk). Many were midwives who were tortured and burned alive. The churches (Protestant and Catholic) appropriated the slaughtered women’s property.
Patriarchy now spans the globe and the legacy of the Women’s Holocaust is mandated overpopulation. The agenda of male-supremacist governments and religions is the industrialized mass-production of consumer/worker/breeder units to keep the global economy growing – like cancer. Hence, anti-choice legislation-and scripture.
Without reproductive rights, the Doorway of Life is used to manufacture soldiers to feed the Jaws of Death - war. As with all wars, today’s oil wars enrich wealthy male supremacists (and patriarchal women who ally with money and power). George W. Bush slashed funds for international family planning in desperately poor countries where clinics perform or even discuss abortion.
However, the issue isn’t protecting “unborn children” It’s about the State appropriating them for profit at a later date – like the young of farmed animals. This is proved by the fact that contraception which prevents zygotes and fetuses is also opposed.
Nurse Margaret Sanger was jailed in 1920 for giving diaphragms to poor immigrant women. The Comstock Law of 1870 forbade birth control in the U.S. until 1936. Sanger said, “Man has not only refused responsibility (for birth control) but has individually and collectively sought to prevent women from obtaining knowledge by which she could assume this responsibility for herself.”
In the Dictionary, “husband” means “to use and employ to good purpose and best advantage,” such as “animal husbandry.” Male-supremacist religion mandates women’s husbandry using spiritual blackmail; fear of punishment and torture (hell) inflicted by various sadistic, male-supremacist gods that were created by dysfunctional men in their own image.
Consider these “words of god” (written by men): “God formed her body to belong to a man, to have and to rear children. Let them bear children till they die of it.”– Martin Luther. “In pain shall you bear children, your urge will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”– Genesis 3:16. “Your women are fields to cultivate, so go to your fields as you will!”– The Koran 2:223.
Fortunately, women are reclaiming their reproductive rights by regulating their reproduction at home to avoid the expense and risk of going to clinics. When women learn and teach private birth control, we can thumb our noses at anti-choice crazies and their laws!
As Marge Piercy said, “I am not your cornfield, not your uranium mine, not your calf for fattening, not your cow for milking. You may NOT use me as your factory. Priests and legislators do not hold shares in my womb or my mind. This is my body. If I give it to you, I want it back. My life is a non-negotiable demand!”
The Goddess made Women, but male-supremacists made “ladies!” Ladies are domesticated while women joyfully roar out of control! Once, we were all “wild women.” We lived our lives as we saw fit– not as obedient, second-class servants and unwilling breeders who sacrifice their entire lives for others.
To make this true again, we must reconnect as women by apologizing for hurts given and forgiving hurts received, including racism, economic exploitation and other artificial divisions created by the global social system of patriarchy to keep women divided.
Women must embrace globally as sisters, end our separation and help each other achieve human and reproductive rights. Otherwise, all will be lost as the human race breeds itself and the Natural World into oblivion by mandated overpopulation.
How to reclaim your body with Menstrual Extraction
Mandated pregnancy is violence against women. Menstrual extraction (ME) removes menstrual blood (in cases of honeymoons and athletic events).It can also be used for low-risk early abortions (up to 7 weeks) without anesthetics and a decreased risk of infection.
ME is often an outpatient procedure performed at home by a trained medical professional. Most women said it’s less painful than standard abortions. The Del-Em, invented by Lorraine Rothman, is used. It can be assembled at home from common items. Other materials are easily obtainable through medical supply catalogues.
The cannula is inserted into the uterus through the undilated cervix. A syringe, with a one way automatic bypass valve prevents air from entering the uterus—which can be fatal. It creates the suction necessary to remove the menses. In a very few cases, a second extraction must be performed.
It should be performed by a medical professional. However, with proper training, most women can be taught to safely perform ME in Self-Help Groups.
Resources
http://www.geocities.com/sister_zeus/ A HUGE resource for reproductive rights. To find a Self-Help Group to safely perform ME, Sister Zeus suggests checking with midwives, feminist health centers, fertility counselors and local feminists. Finding a Self-Help Group is difficult since ME is barely legal. Groups may be found by word of mouth.
Sister Zeus will help you find or start a Self-Help Group in your area to learn safe ME. http://www.sisterzeus.com/StateList.html
Email: sister_zeus [at] geocities.com All information confidential. http://www.sisterzeus.com/self-helplist.html
A woman’s Book of Choices, Abortion, Menstrual Extraction RU-486 by Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer. Herb information, (Misuse of herbs can be dangerous so ALWAYS consult a sympathetic midwife-herbalist), how to safely perform ME and how to make a Del-Em.
A New View of a Woman’s Body —Federation of Feminist Women’s health Centers. Difficult to find but full of high-quality information.
A Difficult Decision-A compassionate Book About Abortion by Joy Gardener. How to heal after abortion (grief, guilt and spiritual matters).
Planned Parenthood Ph: 1-800-230-PLAN http://www.plannedparenthood.org
http://www.io.com/~wwwomen/menstruation/extraction.html
Feminist Women’s Health Centers Ph: 509-575-6473 Ext.112 Fax: 509-575-0477 Email: info [at] fwhc.org
Did You Know?
• Earth’s ability to feed humanity decreased since 1994 due to overpopulation (WorldWatch Institute).
• Ninety million babies are born each year. The UN Population Fund found 80 million births are ill-timed or unintended.
• Most of the world’s women (and all female farmed animals) bear young against their will. •Abuse of animals and women are interconnected forms of oppression.
•Animal abuse legitimizes abuse of women.
Herbs and ME may be used in cases of rape, incest or failed birth control. However, there’s no substitute for responsible safe sex. Birth control that prevents conception can be used to avoid the need for abortion if neither partner is ready for child rearing. Men must share responsibility
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Really interesting stuff, this ME. This article is very well written and I do agree that women globally are going to have to join hands. I was just wondering where this idea of women being catty and generally not getting along with each other comes from. I think that it's clearly a societal thought squished into a gender role and made cultural by those who see women as a united front threatening. My biggest concern is there are a lot of women in my age group who take reproductive rights completely for granted. They hear "choice" and it's immediately associated with abortion, to which they seem to respond with this idea of "oh I won't need an abortion because I'm on birth control" which is incredibly unfortunate because as you know, the same people trying to outlaw abortion are also trying to take away birth control. I support you in your struggle and your goals, I look forward to checking out the links you prvided as well. The only thing that got me was the comment about female animals reproducing against their will. I think the comparison in that paticular context is a bit of a stretch because I think that animals are instinctually inclined to reproduce, but I could be wrong.
For more information:
http://shannasweet.blogster.com/
I completely disagree with Feminists for life, but wonder how to talk to them, 'cause (as you'll see below) I've talked to some who identify as left and actually sort of seem to be- except they are anti choice, meaning that they want it legally banned.
There are leftist women out there with who are anti choice and it feels to me like theyre growing.
What dialogue do we have with them?
Here's a snipppet of a conversation I had with a women who is in the Feminist for Life- she's a poet and shes included in a new book about anti choice women who don't seem to be coming from traditional patriarchal perspectives....I would love to hear everyones comments.
I firmly believe, as a women who has had abortions, and who does see/feel "the doorway"...
This is what she said
"I am a deeply committed, longtime ecofeminist/ environmentalist & vegetarian, and one of many reasons is that I do not want reproductive coercion (this is a reference to abortion) to get even worse than it already is because of continued environmental degradation. Historically and in the present, around the world there have been and are too many circumstances already in which women are stigmatized and treated as irrresponsible for becoming pregnant & giving birth. including but not limited to coercive programs of
systematic, widescale population control. Right before your email arrived, in fact, I was sending a letter of protest against the firing of a single pregnant teacher from a religious school...from many vantage points I have witnessed in other women's lives & personally experienced myself the scapegoating and hostility: as a feminist activist, as someone who's explored eugenics history, as a pregnancy counselor, as a friend, as someone who lives every day in a nieghborhood battered by racism and poverty, as a multiply disabled, working-poor woman who birthed and raised a surprise, nonmaritally conceived child, as a member of a genocided ethnic group...i do believe in sexual/reproductive freedom, even as i do not see abortion as part of it.
There are leftist women out there with who are anti choice and it feels to me like theyre growing.
What dialogue do we have with them?
Here's a snipppet of a conversation I had with a women who is in the Feminist for Life- she's a poet and shes included in a new book about anti choice women who don't seem to be coming from traditional patriarchal perspectives....I would love to hear everyones comments.
I firmly believe, as a women who has had abortions, and who does see/feel "the doorway"...
This is what she said
"I am a deeply committed, longtime ecofeminist/ environmentalist & vegetarian, and one of many reasons is that I do not want reproductive coercion (this is a reference to abortion) to get even worse than it already is because of continued environmental degradation. Historically and in the present, around the world there have been and are too many circumstances already in which women are stigmatized and treated as irrresponsible for becoming pregnant & giving birth. including but not limited to coercive programs of
systematic, widescale population control. Right before your email arrived, in fact, I was sending a letter of protest against the firing of a single pregnant teacher from a religious school...from many vantage points I have witnessed in other women's lives & personally experienced myself the scapegoating and hostility: as a feminist activist, as someone who's explored eugenics history, as a pregnancy counselor, as a friend, as someone who lives every day in a nieghborhood battered by racism and poverty, as a multiply disabled, working-poor woman who birthed and raised a surprise, nonmaritally conceived child, as a member of a genocided ethnic group...i do believe in sexual/reproductive freedom, even as i do not see abortion as part of it.
Thank you for taking the time to publish this amazing and informative article. It should be required reading for every American and woman in the world. Also any man, because we all come from woman and we must liberate them and ourselves from the tyranny of facsist patriarchial control. The patriarchy robs men also. It imposses a limited, heart wrenching model of emotional absence, tyranny of sadistic corporate/war culture and a place of consumption of women i.e. the mating and sex game, dating hook up scene, in which very few find comfort, love and respect. It is a dehumanizing process that stunts the heart and spiritual growth of every human on the planet.
Regarding the post What about feminnists for life?
The anti choice woman called abortion "reproductive coersion" and "eugenics"
To *choose* abortion is not "coersion" However *involuntary* sterilization which was inflicted upon Native Americans IS a denial of reproductive rights.
Every women has the right to either choose to NOT get pregnant and also to choose TO get pregnant. Abortion as a choice is NOT forced sterilization
and in the US women are not FORCED to get abortions.
The anti choicers are the ones practicing eugenics by **forcing** tens of millions of children to be born who will never have enough food for their brains to develop normally and never have a chance at education. Many sell their bodies for sex to survive. There are millions of unnamed *feral* children starvng in the streets thanks to the anti choices.
I do NOT use their term "pro life" because they are pro DEATH and pro child suffering and pro ecocide and famine.
The anti choice woman called abortion "reproductive coersion" and "eugenics"
To *choose* abortion is not "coersion" However *involuntary* sterilization which was inflicted upon Native Americans IS a denial of reproductive rights.
Every women has the right to either choose to NOT get pregnant and also to choose TO get pregnant. Abortion as a choice is NOT forced sterilization
and in the US women are not FORCED to get abortions.
The anti choicers are the ones practicing eugenics by **forcing** tens of millions of children to be born who will never have enough food for their brains to develop normally and never have a chance at education. Many sell their bodies for sex to survive. There are millions of unnamed *feral* children starvng in the streets thanks to the anti choices.
I do NOT use their term "pro life" because they are pro DEATH and pro child suffering and pro ecocide and famine.
The Patriarchy still hasd our minds, even those of us that call ourselves 'feminist'. Under patriarchy, male/female sex means intercourse. Why aren't we talking about all the other wonderful ways people can give and receive pleasure and orgasm? If intercourse were great for women, there would be no books teaching them how to enjoy it, few sex therapists, no 'coaching' from older women (sisters and friends), no kegel exercises to help you come, etc etc etc!!! Shere Hite, in her brilliant first book quotes a lesbian couple saying, 'we do what men and women could do together but don't' when asked about their sex life. Men are quoted, in her second book, as saying that they fell 'society patting them on the back' when they are inside of a woman, although they don't prefer this kind of sex.
Sex is whatever two people (or more!) want to do to give each other pleasure and orgasm. We need to stop teaching that the most important kind is hetero intercourse.
We need to stretch our minds to
Sex is whatever two people (or more!) want to do to give each other pleasure and orgasm. We need to stop teaching that the most important kind is hetero intercourse.
We need to stretch our minds to
Yes, not all pro lifers are conservatives. I too believe many more on the left are not confortable with abortion but feel pressure from aggressive factions which promote abortion. Abortion is violence when you think about it. If we are committed to non violent action how can we support abortion?
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