Is it normal to think it's okay for men to take a stance on abortion?

73% Normal
31 Comments

Abortion. The sensible stance is to allow a woman to choose. The theocratic stance is to ban it. And the completely moronic yet increasingly common stance is to tell a man he isn't allowed to have a view on it because he doesn't have a uterus.

Telling someone they can't have a view on something that doesn't directly affect them is extremely shortsighted. Are people not allowed to have a view on civil rights atrocities that go on in other countries because they don't live there? Are people without disabilities not allowed to have an opinion on the GOP blocking a bill in 2012 that would ban discrimination against disabled people? Are people not allowed to be appalled by police unfairly targeting minorities if they're white? The line of thinking commonly brought up in response to abortion leads to downright psychopathy. Being able to discern that something's wrong in a situation isn't a matter of being a victim of it, it's a matter of decency. And as for the inverse, women can be anti-abortion too.

People must stand together and see themselves as one if they want to move past the problems that keep so many groups down. That means sexism is EVERYONE'S problem. Every time feminists tell men that they can't have a stance on abortion, they enforce an "us vs. them" situation and give fuel to their critics who say feminism is just a guise for modern misandry. Many feminists seem to want it both ways, to exclude men yet to have their compliance. Look, there's no convincing the MRAs that women aren't out to get them, they have something wrong with them and that's a lost cause. But the biggest thing preventing the average man from getting on board with feminism isn't the platform, it's the attitude. Telling men that what they think doesn't matter makes them an enemy, and that behavior is going to set women back as much as patriarchal attitudes have.

Voting Results
73% Normal
Based on 41 votes (30 yes)
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Comments ( 31 )
  • thegypsysailor
    10 years ago

    I think a man has some place in whether a woman should have an abortion, if there has been a long standing relationship, and that he put his money where his mouth is. But ultimately, it must be the woman who must choose to carry the child to term; after all, she is the one who has to go through the pregnancy and birth.
    I sure as hell wouldn't want to be pregnant, but thankfully, it isn't something I'll ever have to worry about.
    Realistically, if the woman is willing to carry the baby to term, but doesn't want to raise it, then the father should have the right to do so, without any further participation from the woman, financially or otherwise.

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    • SHAKEStheClown
      10 years ago

      I see you've been eating your spinach!

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      • thegypsysailor
        10 years ago

        Yep, me big strong old guy! Maybe that's why everybody gives me deodorant for presents?

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        • SHAKEStheClown
          10 years ago

          Stinky.

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          • thegypsysailor
            10 years ago

            the stinky sailor. that's good!

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  • RoseIsabella
    10 years ago

    Sure its fine, as long as women can have a stance on prostate issues.

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  • college
    10 years ago

    Well, this depends. Yes, I believe men should be able to have an opinion about abortion. However, when it comes to voting, I do think the woman's vote should carry more weight. You used the example about civil rights atrocities in other countries. Yes, I should be able to have a opinion on those atrocities. However, I don't know what it's like to live in that country, or the experience of a being a citizen of that country, so it makes sense that people who live in that country have more say in its politics than I do. Honestly, I think any answer to this question is purely subjective, so take mine with a grain of salt.

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  • SHAKEStheClown
    10 years ago

    This is why I say 69 is mighty fine!

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  • BobbyFord
    10 years ago

    Fine by me. It's just as much the man's baby as it is the woman's. Can't make a zygote without a little spermy lovin'.

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  • ucipher8
    10 years ago

    Should men take a stance, of course! Should, a majority of men be the ones to make the decision however, that doesn't seem too fair to women. Its about responsibility, of course and, the ability to keep it in your pants if you cant or don't want to deal with what happens if you didn't wrap it up, or otherwise.

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    • K1ngPete
      10 years ago

      "the ability to keep it in your pants if you cant or don't want to deal with what happens if you didn't wrap it up"

      you act like women don't have that exact same option.by that logic if she doesn't want to deal with the repercussions then likewise she should keep her legs shut!

      Inconvenience abortions shouldn't be allowed. only if no one could make the choice, would there be equality.

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  • GoraIntoDesiGals
    10 years ago

    Yes because some women can have a baby without the man's consent and then extort money from him.

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    • RoseIsabella
      10 years ago

      Not if he keeps his pants on.

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      • GoraIntoDesiGals
        10 years ago

        That's ridiculous. A man can consent with a girl to have sex and not want children so if she still has a child maliciously then it's her fault.

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        • funkedup
          10 years ago

          How do you have a child "maliciously?" A man can still sleep with a woman with very low risk of pregnancy. It's pretty unfair to say that if a woman gets pregnant it's her "fault." Also, it's not extortion, that refers to getting something (usually money) by force or threats of violence, not trying to trick a guy into knocking you up for support payments.

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          • GoraIntoDesiGals
            10 years ago

            So you deny that there are women who do this?

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            • funkedup
              10 years ago

              I do not deny that this happens, I've seen it happen, but I don't agree with the use of the word "malicious," and the implication that if this happens to a man that he's some kind of innocent victim, and should then have a say in whether that particular circumstance should lead to abortion.

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        • RoseIsabella
          10 years ago

          Not ridiculous at all. Just don't have relations with someone you don't love. Regardless it's inappropriate and lecherous behavior for grown men to want to have sex with "girls". Real men go after equals, and that means women.

          How about preparing for the worst and hoping for the best instead of attempting to play the victim card; it's unbecoming of an adult male.

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          • BobbyFord
            10 years ago

            Expecting people to only have sex with people they love is pretty outdated. And who gets to define what "love" is. What if you think you're in love with a man/woman, have relations with them, but as time passes you drift apart? Does that mean what you had wasn't love? And if it wasn't love, then does that mean the sex you had with that person, while morally sound before, is now wrong?

            And as for the women/girls point, women can be just as conniving as girls. Just like men can be just as much of a prick as a boy.

            Not even going to get into your comment below, other than to say that making a personal attack against Gora after no provocation apart from a slight jab at some of your feminist tendencies was a prime example of "spoiled child" behavior. And a tad spiteful. Not saying he couldn't have phrased himself better, but still.

            Think about what I've said. The more you know.

            PS: I smell rocks

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            • RoseIsabella
              10 years ago

              If someone doesn't want to find themselves in position of having to deal with a crisis pregnancy and possibly an abortion or an unwanted child use protection and for males that means a condom.

              My so called "attack" on Gora was more about semantics than whether or not anyone is conniving. Men don't have any business trying to have sex with girls and neither do women have any business trying to have sex with boys. Not everyone you disagree with is a femi-Nazi.

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          • GoraIntoDesiGals
            10 years ago

            For a feminist I find it dubious to think love and sex should always go hand in hand. What happened to so called liberation?

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            • RoseIsabella
              10 years ago

              I've never claimed to be a feminist. Sure, I subscribe to certain feminist ideologies such as equality especially in the work place. I don't feel any obligation to have an all or nothing attitude with regard to the whole of feminist ideology.

              The feminism of the 1960's was a reaction to the sexual revolution. Seeing as feminism asserts that women have rights over what happens to their own bodies then there is just as much liberation in saying no as there is in choosing to be sexually active. How is it any of your business whether or not women say yes or no to sex?

              I really enjoy your posts about you cat as I am an animal lover myself. However, I can't help but to notice that your posts regarding love and sex tend to be of the self pitying, "woe is me" sort. I also note that you consistently make posts of an entitled nature with regard to beautiful women, love, sex and even pornography and
              masturbation. I'm sorry that you're dissatisfied with this aspect of your life but having the mindset of an entitled, little, spoiled child will only further this victim mentality that traps you in your unhappiness.

              Stop playing the victim and see if your life doesn't improve.

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  • SuperBenzid
    10 years ago

    Well anything that men pay taxes into they should have an equal opinion considering the opposing view would have them pay taxation without representation which is tyranny. Of course feminism tends to be very authoritarian so I don't know if this argument would work on them. Them routinely call for magazines to be censored, in Europe they are enacting laws that make criticizing feminism a crime, etc.

    On men not getting on board with feminism, I don't know if it can be narrowed down to a single problem. Is it the misandry, is it the hypocrisy (calling for women only spaces while fighting against male only spaces), is it deceptive practices (use of aggregate figures in pay gap arguments), is it the conspiracy theory (patriarchy)? It's a combination of all of those things, it's a lot like asking why black people don't join white power movements, there isn't just one reason there are many valid reasons.

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    • RoseIsabella
      10 years ago

      There is much hypocrisy within the feminist movement.

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  • CoLLie94
    10 years ago

    I think anyone should have an opinion on this topic because they may not be carrying the baby or be the one to get the abortion but they still realize the value of a life or even the circumstances in wich the child may have to grow up in. Men are smarter then us women give them credit for. Obviously the ultimate choice is the woman's. But think of it this way too, if you are a women and you have a close friend or sister who is thinking about abortion then you can give them your opinion on what they shpuld do but they can still choose what they want. Therfore I think its normal for men to have an opinion on abortion. As for feminism I am a girl and frankly I think ots dead, women can do whatever they want so I don't think there is a need for feminist thinking. If a women doesn't like the way a man defines the role of a women then don't associate with them, I don't see the need for feminism in todays culture and that's how it should be thanks to the women in the 60's.

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  • dom180
    10 years ago

    Of course it's okay. I think it's extremely abnormal and illogical to think otherwise.

    If your best criticism of a shitty anti-abortion argument is "you're a man so you wouldn't understand", you should probably think more for yourself.

    I've never heard anyone actually say this. Maybe it happens in America where debate over abortion is more fierce, but I've never heard it here.

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