Birth Control is for Sluts!

So says Jill Stanek.   Jill is not happy that the Feminist Majority Foundation is encouraging college feminists to protest their local pregnancy care center on April 13th, even though in Jill’s own words, " pro-lifers around the country now gather twice annually at abortion mills (annoying pro-life buzzword for clinics) for 40 days, often around the clock (aside from thousands of other times annually)"

The reason the Feminist Majority Foundation is protesting pregnancy care centers is because they often mislead women , specifically on the link between abortion and breast cancer (which is none, according the American Cancer Society and The National Cancer Institute, the effect of abortion on future fertility, and the mental health affects of abortion. The post abortion stress syndrome that pregnancy care centers often warn about is not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association nor the American Psychological Association. (but the President is biased… or something.)

But that’s not really what this post is about.  I’m more interested in Jill’s characterization of feminists.

FMF can only rally its femitroops 1 day, April 13, strangely a Monday. I guess college women who advertise they’re pro-birth control and pro-abortion are much in demand on weekends.

Femitroops… cute.  Obviously stems from "Feminazi" which of course was made popular by Rush Limbaugh.  But more importantly, anyone who is pro-birth control or pro-choice (I won’t won’t use the term "pro-abortion" because I agree with President Obama that no one is "pro-abortion") is "in demand", loose, a slut, gets around, open for business, you get the idea.  Personally, I find that kinda offensive. 

But I guess it’s not really the 98% of American women who use some form of birth control or the 1 in 3 women who will have had an abortion by age 45 that Jill finds slutty…. just the ones that speak up and fight for those rights (you know, the "femitroops")

Jill concluded with some words of wisdom to the FMF (and the rest of us sluts)…

Hey FMF, good luck with the protests. Just don’t plan any in winter… or when it’s raining… or when it’s really hot…. or that last longer than 30 minutes…. Feminist girls don’t like being put out, just putting out. That’s what this is all about, right? Their freedom to do that.

I’m really trying to "follow the dots backwards" as Jill advised one of her commenters to do (who shockingly found Jill’s snide comments about alleged sexual activity really unnecessary) but reducing reproductive rights (and feminism) to "the freedom to put out" is more than unnecessary.  It’s hurtful to women. Despite what Jill thinks though, feminist activism is alive and well, and that scares people like her. 

Speaking of activism, Jill has perhaps inadvertently advertised for something that does deserve recognition  – and that is that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.  I’ve recently started volunteering at the Montgomery County Women’s Center, and even though I’ve only been volunteering a short time, I know that there are way too many women being sexually or physically abused.  It breaks my heart, and I’m actually glad I saw that blurb on Jill’s page because it reminded me to get the word out and look into what else I can be doing to stop violence against women (when I’m not putting out, of course).