politics & the office--just don't mix

[novapsyche]

So my boss is talking to our receptionist (who happens to be male) and strains of their conversation is wafting through the department. I hear:

"And he says that he believes that life begins at conception. Well, biologically, what else happens then?"

I say fairly audibly, "Now, see, that's something I think shouldn't be discussed in the office." But my boss's office is some cubes down, so he almost certainly didn't hear me (though my officemates did).

The receptionist: "Right."

My boss: "Now, he says life begins at conception, but he's for abortion."

I speak up quite loudly: "No, he's not 'for abortion,' he's for the right to choose. They're not necessarily the same thing."

Still don't think my boss heard me, though the rest of his conversation was difficult to discern.

It's difficult for me, as a woman who has had an abortion, to discuss it in the clinically dead tones one is supposed to when talking politics.

When I heard that Kerry said that he believed life began at conception, I was more than a little disappointed. But he regained his position in my sight when he said that he didn't believe in legislating his personal beliefs onto everyone else. That I can respect. That, to me, is the morally superior position.

Of course, as a woman and a feminist, I don't think men should have such power over such issues in the first place. I don't like being sexist, but this is one area where I cannot help but be.

Also, I'd like to add that I'm tired of abortions being women's dirty little secret. Several million women get abortions every year. Yet it's so rare to hear the procedure discussed among everyday people. I remember getting acquainted with my brother's fiance, and her relating to me her two abortions. We were not in earshot of anyone, but still she whispered the information to me.

The procedure is legal. It amazes me how stigmatized the women who get abortions are. I don't think rapists are so stigmatized (at least not date rapists).

Edit: This topic has been taken up in this thread in philosophy.

Comments

[guttaperk.livejournal.com]

Unwanted, unwed pregnancy is excessively stigmatised, and abortion even more so, but in my view rape is rightly stigmatised to even a greater degree.

Even the refuted accusation of rape carries a terrible stigma.