Quick thoughts
In grade 4 I was taught a cheeky little lesson by my best teacher:
“Fair doesn’t always mean equal.”
Me and a few other students were complaining about another student and the seemingly special treatment he received, especially since he was one of the more “troublesome” students in the class. Of course we were unaware at the time, he just needed a bit more attention and some extra tools to learn at the same pace and level as the rest of us, but all we saw was the time he got to spend away from the classroom and the extra blocks he got to use during math.
I’ve been thinking lately, amongst all the talk about women’s rights and the new abortion law and even just general gender equality, just how relevant it is to all things.
I simply do not believe there should be any laws based strictly off opinion. That is an extremely outdated idea that is against almost every idea of the so-called “democracy” and “free” society we are supposed to live in.
There is an argument that if a woman is able to decide whether or not to have the child, a man should be able to decide whether they want to support the child. That is where this simple thing my teacher once told me gets me thinking. Technically, that would be an equal argument. If one individual has the option after the mistake was already made, why doesn’t both? Of course I am speaking in a strictly consensual course of events.
The simple answer to that is, men don’t. They do not get that choice. Women have the right as it is strictly about her body and reproductive health, no matter the reason they decide to keep the child or not. There is no aspect of child rearing that affects the male body. The women has to make the decision to put her body through such an extensive change, and they have the right not too. Of course, there is the need to be proactive to prevent the situation from ever occurring, but I do also think that is where men should excel. Birth control is another responsibility almost strictly placed on women, which I think is bonkers but thats another conversation. Even if you were to tell a male that he should simply carry a condom, there are some that will fight the idea and say that a woman should carry them if they don’t want to get pregnant, because that is “fair”. That is not fair. I’m not entirely sure how to articulate this properly, but women have the decision after conception about what to do, end of story. If the man is so concerned about conceiving a child, to the extent where they simply do not want to deal with the consequences such as provide child support, should they not be doing what the can to avoid it happening? This should, at minimum, be carrying a condom around. Multiple. Simply be smart. And if you really want, there is always the option of getting a vasectomy. What many people do not understand is that they are both reversible and a procedure that you can get on your lunch break and return back to work immediately after. Being proactive is where men should excel, but they simply don’t. They wait until they lose the ability to make anymore decisions, and proceed to fight for them, claiming how unfair it is. But simply, their decisions were already made, their ability to avoid something that is avoidable was lost because of the immaturity that the men with this mindset have. Take responsibility for being irresponsible, and maybe you’ll be able to understand the concept of what is fair versus what is equal.
