This contraception debate really, truly makes me want to cry.
Normally, I can brush this shit off at some point. But the things being said are so personally offensive that I can hardly even talk about it without screaming. I just don't even know what to say about it all anymore. I mean, it is horrifying and severely disappointing to find out that the people elected to represent the citizens of America do not even think I am a person who is capable of human functions, such as thought. It is so mentally destructive to hear these fucks claim that employers shouldn't have to pay for my healthcare if they don't think I deserve it. That is not how this works. People who have guaranteed health insurance and access to healthcare (representatives) should not be able to pass laws that say others are not deserving of healthcare simply because they are women. It is clear to me now that these are people who not only do not care about me, but actually want to do me harm. These are people who think I do not deserve to be treated like a human being. These are people (mostly men, unfortunately) who are so determined to reinforce the barriers separating people like me from gaining power that they will actually jeopardize my health.
It disgusts me. It makes my skin crawl. It fills me with so much rage that I want to take a sledgehammer and start breaking things.
This last week, in the ongoing war over my uterus, I've been called a sex-addicted slut simply for being on birth control. (Thanks Rush.) I wish I could simply believe that people who say things like this are ignorant, that they don't understand the myriad of reasons a woman might take hormonal birth control. But I cannot believe that. People in these positions of power have, undoubtedly, had this pointed out to them. The truth is that they don't care. They don't care that hormonal birth control is used to treat severe menstrual symptoms, or ovarian cysts, or hormonal imbalances. That does not matter to people like Rush Limbaugh, because people like him do not care about women. They don't care that without legalized abortion, women die. They don't care that doctors cannot treat a woman who is bleeding to death, because it would abort the fetus. None of this matters to them, because people like this see women as expendable less-than-human beings.
There is no way to clue in people like this. They are so far beyond help that there are not words in the English language that will change their minds. Women, in their minds, will never be capable of being as smart, or as talented, or as strong, as they are. They do not view people like me as equals, or even as rivals- they view us as no better than children. They see us as ignorant lesser beings who should not be given any kind of power.
This is not a characteristic of all men, and it infuriates me when people imply that this is somehow a trait that all men share. It is not. For one, there are (inexplicably) women who argue that we are not as capable as men. More importantly, there are men in this world who are just as infuriated as I am. I've been fortunate to have so many male peers who see me as an equal. It is reassuring to know that there are men out there who believe I should have every right to do whatever I want with my body.
Because the truth is that it is none of anyone's business, what I am doing with my uterus, or my breasts, or my earlobes. It should not matter whether I take birth control because I like sex or because I have a hormonal imbalance. It is between me and my health care provider, and no one else. I don't ask to know why anyone else takes a prescription drug, and I don't know why my prescription should be anyone else's business. The reason that I deserve to have my prescription paid for by my health insurance is because that is what health insurance is for. It is there to assist us with medical costs. It helps pay for insulin, and painkillers, and power scooters, so why should my medical needs be excluded? It would be one thing to argue we should do away with health insurance, and that is a different discussion for a different time. However, it is basic discrimination to argue that only my medical needs should not be covered, simply because some people personally do not like it. I personally do not like people who get free power scooters, and yet I see no "conscience" argument against providing for them. This is not about your conscience. Your conscience has no fucking business in my medical decisions. If you want to pretend the space beneath my underwear is nondescript and looks like a Barbie-crotch, fine. I don't care. But wanting me to pretend that about myself? No. Fuck no. I'm not interested in this religious guilt-tripping, because I have nothing to feel guilty for. I have not violated any of my own ideals. So why exactly should I be penalized according to beliefs I do not believe in?
