News Flash! The New York Times begins 2023 by launching another campaign to obfuscate the denial of women’s human rights and thereby normalize the War on Women.
When does life begin? The question at the heart of America’s abortion debate is the most elemental — and the most complicated. www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/31/us/human-life-begin.html
Yup, this portentous headline appeared underneath this dramatic image, splashed over a full page, perhaps intending to suggest someone desperately reaching out of the womb?
Elizabeth Dias, NYT’s national religion correspondent who spoke with scientists, philosophers and spiritual leaders over several months, concludes the introduction to her report with this comment: “America’s fight over abortion has long circled a question, one that is broad and without consensus: When does life begin?”
The “elemental question at the heart of America’s abortion debate” in reality involves women’s human rights. And yeah, this “question is the most complicated” to answer under the patriarchy. By consulting leaders in religion, science, and philosophy, Ms Dias suggests a wide-ranging inquiry as she effectively obfuscates the political power structure that demands the domination of women by any means necessary. The cult of misogyny embeds the view of women as less than human, the patriarchy demands control over re-production.
This subjugation of women is ubiquitous and normalized -- aided by narratives that constantly reframe and minimize their conditions of oppression and domination. “When does life begin” takes center stage while women’s lives as full human beings have never begun.
Faithful Dispatch Readers you are familiar with my insistence that normalization must be constantly called out. The failure of most progressive activists to include gender justice with race and economic justice is a particular irritant. This omission apparently reflects the belief that strategies for race and economic justice will also achieve gender justice.
Race, Gender and Class are intertwined foundational oppressions – each one requires recognition and analysis that can inform effective ongoing work for equity and justice.
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