It makes me grit my teeth every time I see one of the variations of these groups on facebook about “When i was your age, I was <insert something about Pokemon here> not <insert something about getting pregnant here>
First and foremost, as pointed out by Sarah, if you’re at the age where you had Pokemon in your childhood, you’re not fucking old enough to preach anything to anyone about “When I was your age”. “When I was your age is reserved for when you’re an actual established adult. (which is debatable if you’re over 18 and still joining facebook fan pages dedicated to laying hate on an opressed group)
I don't remember him being branded a 'slut'. I DO remember the girl being SLAUGHTERED by the media, while the wee guy was branded a 'victim' and pitied.
Where’s all the hate-filled groups about teenage dads? It takes two to fucking tango, and do you not think it’s enough punishment to have to squeeze a screaming brat out of your fanny and then take care of it for 16 years without your pretentious bastard scrutiny and mockery? Most girls who end up pregnant as teenagers end up with the entire burden as the guy goes off to live his life. I think losing your opportunities, hopes, dreams and freedom is a big enough punishment from the patriarchal had of society without a generation of deely-bopper snooty CHILDREN trying to look down on them.
It’s a total ploy to make non-pregnant FAILED teenagers feel better about themselves.
Working Class has a high concentration of teenage pregnancies because shitty state schools do NOT offer adequate sex education (And for Catholic Schools, none at all). Young girls AND BOYS aren’t taught responsibility and the repercussions of having unprotected sex. This is not their fault. The only people who would see teenage pregnancy as the mother’s fault would be those so uneducated themselves, that they fail to see what wrong has been done to the young woman.
Young women in working class areas are vulnerable and in a bad position to begin with. This is due to the Capitalist way of Britain (And most of the world). You have insanely rich people, who have access to the right kind of education and amenities (and yes, I’m saying birth control is an AMENITY) to avoid that kind of situation, and SHOULD a well off woman get pregnant, she will NOT have to struggle along for the next 16-18 years. She’ll be well looked after and have all the supplies she needs.
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A GRAPH TO PROVE MY POINT! Click to Enlarge
People WILL get pregnant during their teenage years. It’s a fact. It’s always been happening. It’s not some new epidemic, it only seems that way to teenagers now because it’s around them and they were too young to notice before. Plus, remember when you were wee, and teenagers of like 14 were basically big adults to you? Well, yes, if they got pregnant, in your tiny mind, it was okay back then.
Now, you see everything in a different light, and it’s all “She’s such a <insert misogynistic term here> cause she’s pregnant,”. Well, it could have easily happened to anyone. People forget birth control it sometimes fails or any other kind of unfortunate circumstance. What I’m saying is, shut your fucking mouth until you know the reasons behind teenage pregnancy.
People use misogyny as the nice, acceptable fascism to scapegoat on people. Racism is less acceptable now and they’re young people themselves. Women are the only way out. they’re getting all our housing cause they’ve got kids, they use all the benefits.
Naw mate. Go up the town and have a wee look at the bank buildings. RBS? Lloyds TSB? Aye, THAT’S where all your fucking (not well earnt cause you’ve never been taxed in your fucking life) tax money went. Fucking benefits, don’t kid yourself. If benefits were that high, we wouldn’t be in this position, but you wouldn’t really know because all you listen to is The fucking Daily Mail and old people going on about shit they don’t know anything about.
Over the weekend it emerged that a government adviser had circulated a memo about the Pope’s upcoming visit to the UK that they have been forced to apologise for.
The document was apparently the result of a “brainstorming” session, where staff tried to come up with a scenario for an ideal visit by the Pope. You can see at least some of the text here, including suggestions that the Pope should launch a ‘Benedict’ brand of condoms, visit an abortion clinic and bless a civil partnership.
This has led to a storm of condemnation of the memo, branded “offensive” and “vile”. Many revealed that this in fact may not have been a serious planning session, but in fact an attempt to take the piss. Paralysed in shock, the nation gradually came to realise that someone had dared to mock a man who promotes views which we all know to be total nonsense.
The government has apologised and been desperate to smooth things over. Meanwhile, the Vatican itself spoke of “dark forces” at the heart of the British government.
It’s difficult to find a full text of the memo online, and there’ve been differing reports of what it contained (which makes you wonder how many of the people rushing to condemn it have actually read it), but based on what has been mainly reported, is it a case of outrageous prejudice?
Is it outrageous to ridicule the church’s mental position on contraception, sex education, homosexuality etc.? Is deliberately misinforming school pupils about abortion and their sexuality really a set of views that we should just respect? Or is it ok to poke fun at reactionary craziness, even if it is supported by lots of religious believers?
When I was in Catholic school we were taught that two thirds of condoms failed, given no education on different kinds of contraception and any discussion of abortion was solely focused on it being traumatic and wrong for the woman in all cases. We never got to see “The Silent Scream”, a disturbing anti-abortion video, but other pupils did, and it had a major effect on how they view abortion. The film is riddled with inaccuracies and downright pish, Leftfield will be coming back to why it’s nonsense in a later post.
I found it offensive that the Catholic Church was allowed to promote their one sided view of the world in schools, and I wasn’t allowed to hear about anyone’s rights regarding sex education, contraception or abortion – and not only was it offensive, it wasn’t even funny unlike the memo done by hard working civil servants, who no doubt had to take their work to the pub with them.
Some people, including some on the Left, say the memo was out of order because it was an attack on a religious minority and have compared it to the attacks you get on Muslims from the far-right, some evangelical Christians and some very confused ’secularists’. What’s happening to Muslims today is much, much worse though – nobody is denying the Catholic Church the right to build spires on Churches, enforcing legal restrictions on what Catholic women can wear, or talking about Catholic birthrates destroying Western civilization.
The Pope gets into the spirit of things after blessing a gay wedding
Also, while there is no Islamic equivalent of the Pope, if for example the King of Saudi Arabia were to visit the UK we probably would find it quite funny if people took the piss out of his regime for its interesting stances on community restorative justice (i.e. beheadings for witchcraft) or its unique plan to encourage use of public transport by not letting women drive cars – which has won it plaudits from the Top Gear presenters, including fellow Islamist Jeremy Clarkson.
If the Pope doesn’t like being mocked he should either abandon his views or try and defend them against attack. When I was in RE classes it was pretty obvious to most if not all of the people in the class that the Church’s position on many of the issues in the memo were patently ridiculous – and very few of the people at my school were atheists or agnostics. Most of them would still have described themselves nominally as Catholics, and ignore all the nonsense bits of it, like banning condoms etc. If the Catholic Church had spent half as much time attacking poverty in Scotland and the world, opposing climate change, or other kinds of injustice in society as they did attacking homosexuality and sex education then it’s likely a lot more people in my school and in Scotland would have a lot more respect and time for the Catholic Church.
Today some members of SSY and assorted other pro-choice activists held a picket of the anti-choice ‘International “Pro-Life” Youth Conference’ held by the UK’s largest anti-abortion campaigning group, the ‘Society for the Protection of Unborn Children’ (SPUC).
We had a successful and peaceful day of highlighting our opposition to their anti-woman views. Unfortunately, although we only wanted to show the members of SPUC that their views would not go unopposed and make them think about exactly what their anti-choice ideas mean in reality (such as the fact that over 200 women die every day because they can’t access legal abortions), they seemed to be a bit timid and chose not to venture beyond their hotel, which was insensitively placed right beside a hospital.
Protestors begin to gather
SSY thinks it’s important to continue to defend a woman’s right to control her own body. If the potential next Tory government thinks that they can get away with eroding women’s rights over the coming years, we hope you’ll stand with us in defence of choice and safety for vulnerable women.
On a related note, American filmmaker Michael Moore, a pro-choice Catholic, has written this piece condemning his anti-choice Michigan Democrat Congressman who has attempted to halt the Obama administration’s health bill on the basis that it doesn’t erode women’s rights quite enough for his liking.
It contains some pretty shocking facts about the state of abortion rights in America – such as that regardless of it being technically legal, in 71% of American counties it is impossible for a woman to find a doctor who will be willing to perform an abortion, such is the strength of the anti-choice Right in America. You can read it here.
Hey all you happy cheery women out there! Would you like to know which of your rights are being demolished this time? I bet you’re just bursting to know!!
With the Tory fist of power soaring across our skies thick and fast as crazy people decide to take a rebel move and vote the fuckers in, women should know that Nadine Dorries’s stupid Bill for reducing the time limit for an abortion from 24 weeks to 20 is coming back when Cool ol’ Cammy takes his throne… I mean seat.
According to Nadine I-Hate-Women Dorries, the UK will become the “abortion captial of the world”. Here’s a few things that would ACTUALLY work, just for your benefit, Nadine:
Sex education for all! Not just those lucky enough to live near an non-denominational school. To be frank, no one gives two damned fucks about ‘God’s Plan for Life’ – We want to know what are the implications of unsafe sex and how the hell you prevent babies! And you know what? Not all of us have the money to travel miles away to go to a non-religious school, but I tell you what, you give me the travel money, and I will.
Free condoms in all secondary schools. Nothing prevents a baby like a wee rubber bag to catch sperm! It’s a brilliant idea, innit? Well, you should slap a sexual health room and counsellor in each school to hand ‘em out and give the kiddies advice about this new, fancy sex stuff. Oh! Oh, what’s that you’re saying? It’ll encourage them to have sex too young? Well, here’s some news for you, Tories – Sex is pretty much the most awesome thing LEIK EVAR. If people want to have sex, they’re going to whether there’s someone to get safe sex advice from or not. Why not keep ‘em safe, eh?
Have a wee pop at ending poverty. One of the reasons people don’t want kids is because WE CANNOT AFFORD TO PAY FOR THEM. If you’re dirt poor already, who the hell wants another mouth to feed, skin to clothe and body to warm. Not any of us. Give people more money and people will not have to worry about this. They can keep a child and care for it properly without living your whole life in desperate need of money, sinking further and further into depression, with your kid having a shoddy life too.
Protect women. Go to greater lengths to cut sexism. There are predatory men because women are portrayed so heavily by the media as being completely available for the taking. Pathetically, only 1 in 20 of reported rape cases in Scotland end with a conviction. Many, many more cases go even with report because women know themselves that they will not find justice this way. Do not let our women suffer at the hands of these monsters and as a result. Futher more, they will not need abortions from non-consented conceptions.
Following these simple steps will reduce the amount of abortions needed each year by helpless women. The effects of simply reducing the available time period will only be that more women will resort to ‘back alley’ abortions and cause serious damage to themselves. Sure, the RECORDED abortion rate will drop, but the actual rate will not. Women will become ill and possibly die from what the Tories have forced them to do. That’s blood on your hands, Nadine.
I mean, JEEZE we even supplied a diagram!
Women are entitled to the rights that men have, to do exactly what they want with their bodies whenever they want to. Who is anyone to say that a woman should keep/give birth to a baby she does not want? That is up to the woman, if you ask me (Or indeed any sane person). To deprive women of this right is just tyranny. It’s just another way to ‘put her in her place’. Imagine if old Div Cam could get preggo? Just imagine with me for a second that he did. His belly swelled and the doctor said.
“Hold up old chap! You seem to have a little bundle of joy on the way! Since you apparently don’t have a vagina, you’ll just be having it by C-Section. That’s alright, isn’t it old bean?!”
And he’d say “Of course! I mean, I WAS stupid and slutty enough to have sex! DUH! Wouldn’t want to contribute to the abortion rates! I should just go back home and quit my job to prepare to dedicate at least 16 years of my life to raising my new child. Forget my flourishing career! I’m ready to be a mummy!”
Naw. He’d be legging it down to the abortion clinic screaming
“BY JOE! MY IMAGE! MY MONEY! IT’S ALL AT RISK! GET THIS THING OUT OF ME!”
Aye, what’s your answer to that, Na-demon Dorries?
We’ve fought the racists and fascists on the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh -- now it’s time to fight the woman-haters.
SPUC not only want to stop women getting abortions -- they’re also against condoms, the pill, and sex education. WTF?!
A woman’s right to control her body is a fundamental human right. Women should have total control over their reproductive system, being able to make free and informed decisions about how they live. Every undermining of a woman’s right to choose whether, when and how to have children is an attack on all women.
Every day, 200 women die because they couldn’t access a legal abortion.
After the general election in May there’s the very real prospect that abortion rights will come under heavy attack. Tory MPs want to make it more and more difficult for women to access abortion. If enough of them are elected there could be a majority in the Westminster parliament for gradually taking women’s rights to control their own bodies away piece by piece. That means we need to get organised now, and start undermining the ability of anti-abortionists to meet and organise against women. Just as we do with racists, we also need to do with misogynists.
Anti-abortion nutjobs 
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