Memes that Suck: “The Handmaid’s Tale” and Better Alternatives
Instead of dystopian fantasies, we might focus on the fact that every decision about pregnancy should be “NOBODY’S F**KING BUSINESS”
Friends of mine fume that Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization will overturn Roe v Wade.
I’m upset too. Roe created a world in which it was NOBODY’S FUCKING BUSINESS what heterosexual conduct occurred unless someone opted to make it the People’s business (e.g., in rape or sexual harassment proceedings).
Before Roe, any sexuality that resulted in pregnancy was EVERYBODY’S business. That’s what it means to make some conduct or procedure ‘criminal’: it is the PEOPLE’s business, and the PEOPLE will appoint government agents to enforce these laws at the public’s expense.
This meme hinders actions by hiding that reality in favor of empty, satisfying false camaraderie:
Snarky! “I told you so!” How ineffective….Snarking at people who refused to vote (because they regarded Hillary and Donald as ‘two evils’ and just tried to stay home) will not bring in new voters. Never worked before. More likely, it turns off those sorts of voters who don’t want to be drawn into ‘the fight’ and don’t realize that if they are sexually active in any way that could result in pregnancy, they’re already smack in the middle of it.
These messages will get amplified though, and will draw eyeballs and clicks. Great to amass a pool of followers. Terrible to actually change anything in this real world, where rights are really threatened, and this stuff really matters.
If rights are threatened, one must grow a coalition to defend those rights. Such memes impede that effort. Compare that meme with the “Pro-Life” methodology of weaponizing baby photos.
No caption needed. Any baby reaffirms their convictions. Happy baby? Scared baby? Everything works.
Babies draw eyeballs. Engagement. No need for a Hulu subscription to get the message.
One woman’s decisions about the creation of one specific baby has nothing to do with another woman’s decisions. But reliance on this sort of imagery is less intimidating to the sort of voter who actually perceived a choice between Hillary and Donald as “lesser of two evils” and opted to stay home. They’ll tune out the snark and shift to the next stream. But their eyes may linger at a cute baby.
Effective messaging: insidious and manipulative. It works. Countering this tactic may entail equal ruthlessness.
IT IS NOBODY’S FUCKING BUSINESS WHETHER ANY SPECIFIC WOMAN EVER HAD AN ABORTION
Overturning Roe v. Wade makes this all of our business.
Who prosecutes a crime? The PEOPLE. Every murderer is prosecuted by the government, not by the victim’s family. Our government was built to prosecute criminals as a core function. If Roe is overturned and abortion is criminalized once again (as it has been in 26 states), the PEOPLE will prosecute any woman who has an abortion.
That does not mean that the PEOPLE will only look into people who become pregnant. EVERY single sex act that could result in conception is a potential murder.
To actually investigate murder of fetuses, the PEOPLE will need to know whether a ‘life’ was created in a bedroom every time couples have sex.
Social media and political campaigns abound with public images of candidates, surrounding themselves with women, girls, old and young, often beautiful, mostly because they know such eye candy draws more eye candy. But every single one of the women they show may have had an abortion — may be a murderer. Some of the possible murderers are protected by powerful men —
Most aren’t protected by powerful men. For most of us, the only protection we ever had from the government crawling into our bedrooms to investigate whether we impregnated or became pregnant is Roe v. Wade.
Under Roe v. Wade, is was nobody’s fucking business who was fucking whom (actually, Lawrence v. Texas (2003) was the final piece of the puzzle, extending the same privacy expectations to homosexuals that heterosexuals had enjoyed since Roe).
An entire culture emerged in which nobody ever asks a woman about abortions — impolite, improper, degrading to women.
But given such a culture, we forget what Roe actually means because nobody has dragged someone else’s sexual history into public light. The question goes from “did you have an abortion” (an inquiry into medical history) to “are you now or have you ever committed murder?” (an inquiry into criminal history).
That’s not just women either. Under Roe, it’s nobody’s fucking business who fucks whom.
If Roe ends, men who impregnate women actually contribute to murder UNLESS they take action to stop an abortion (say by reporting the woman they just slept with to the police to investigate and verify that she will not have an abortion).
This actually was a legal structure in much of America before Roe, with ‘fornication’ a criminal offense linked to all sorts of other sexual crimes (possession of ‘obscene’ materials like condoms was the first crime that reached the Supreme Court — the Court declared that law was ridiculous and struck it down — but many justices abhor the ruling that did so).
Focusing on “The Handmaid’s Tale” — the dystopian Gilead fantasy — undermines efforts to protect an America from people who make up bullshit in their drive for power and self aggrandizement.
For those who think ‘abortion’ is a states right’s issue — usually, ‘murder’ is murder wherever it happens. A Texan who goes to California to ‘murder’ another Texan will still be a Texan and a murderer if ever they return to Texas. Texas might even petition federal courts to intervene and help them capture ‘runaway fugitives’ who flee to other states to engage in murder. The PEOPLE must prosecute murders.
Discussion about privacy, women’s rights, and all the rest is cute and reassuring to an insider group — as is fretting about the dawn of Gilead — but it has not been effective at bringing in new voters, because all these claims are esoteric and besides, they’re not even pregnant (or may not even be able to become pregnant, so what do they have to worry about?).
This is ugly. So are back alley abortions. So is denying women their rights. But rights will be denied unless enough people can realize exactly what is at stake and rally to defend it. Some will come to defend the issue because they care about women. Others will only do so if they realize they are themselves at risk because of the nutjobs others forced into government positions.
