The Anti-Pleasure Brigade

by tristero

Ampersand makes a good case that the anti-choice gang’s statements are less consistent with a moral opposition to abortion than they are with a desire to punish women for having sex. This reminded me of a response Digby got recently:

Digby makes the wisecrack about her not having sex. I can only take from his comment, that he is like so many other’s of the same ilk who believe we’re all like jungle animals and have to hump when the mood strikes. Of course, that isn’t the case. People don’t walk down the street and just bump into each other and start screwing (unless it’s a Cinemax movie). We have the mental capacity to be able to take care of such business in private. We also have the ability to abstain. Nothing is going to happen to us if we don’t have sex.

And if you’re in a position like this woman, a low paying job and two kids already. Guess what? Don’t fuck.

This is not the attitude of a person opposed to abortion, but of someone who doesn’t want women to have access to pleasure. If he was merely opposed to abortion and only abortion, he would have written, “If you’re in a position like this woman, a low paying job and two kids already, guess what? You and your partner damn well better use good contraception or get your tubes tied or be prepared to accept the consequences of raising a third kid.”

But no, it’s either/or to this guy. Either you have sex or you don’t. He lives in a world where there is no morally acceptable way to use condoms, birth control pills, diaphragms, or any other effective means to enjoy sexual activity without the potential for procreation.

It is insane to call these people “pro-life.” If they are pro anything, it is pro-misery. They wish to make everyone’s lives, especially women’s, as dreary, as guilt-ridden, and as fearful as possible. Unless you do exactly as we say and especially, don’t fuck, you will be hounded by furies, and we are only too willing to be those furies. And if you’re not happy following our “God-given” orders for a moral life (an outrageous, blasphemous lie), if you don’t love raising that third or fourth kid you really don’t want, or enduring a grim, neutered existence stripped of all potential for pleasure and joy, hey don’t blame us. That’s your problem.

Fortunately, there is an alternative to this sickening, cramped, and phony worldview. It is called liberalism, which holds, as one of its self-evident truths, that human beings have a right to the pursuit of happiness.