Has unrestricted abortion & easy contraception actually degraded women? (generation, controversial, high school)
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Here's a thought-provoking and no doubt controversial question:
Has unrestricted abortion and easy contraception made it easier for men to view women as objects of pleasure for their own selfish use?
I am NOT suggesting that women have never been viewed as sex objects until recently.
I am NOT suggesting that women are somehow "at fault" for being victims of sexual assault, rape, or anything of the sort.
What I am asking is: has the technological ability to prevent or abort pregnancy led society to view sex as merely a means of personal gratification, and if so, has that made it easier for men to view women (or visa versa) merely as sex objects?
If possible, I would rather this thread NOT turn into an "abortion is evil vs. abortion is a right" debate, since there are plenty of other threads on that already. Rather, I am interested in opinions on how easy abortion & contraception may (or may not) have affected the way in which we regard the opposite sex.
OK, I'll jump into this one. I would say the proliferation of birth control methods, and access to abortion as well as acceptance of single mothers has made women more lax about "protecting" themselves from the results of non-marital sex. We were told as teenagers (back in the late sixties, early seventies), to keep our legs crossed if we didn't want to end up an unwed mother (which was looked down upon at that time) People tended to get married younger in those days, because young adults want sex, married or not.
So I have to say that if men treat women more as pleasure than as a committment, women have contributed to it somewhat. And, I think we're paying the price for it, too. So many women cannot get men to commit because (and boy do I hate to say this) "why buy the cow when the milk is free?"
mmm, I think you're discounting the fact that women want sex too. It isn't a one way street. Women have "that special feeling" (as my grandma called it!) too, and it can be hard to resist. Men aren't the only ones who get horny.
Men are going to do what they're going to do. I don't think the possibility of pregnancy ever stopped them.
Yeah, I think that there is some truth here.....
Historically, women were the gatekeepers to a greater societal morality -- after all, women were the ones who had to pay 'the price' if a pregnancy happened, men were able to skip their responsibilities.
With birth control and abortion women are freed from very real consequences of premarital sex, especially adding in societies more liberal and kind view on single mothers (they are no longer considered the 'sluts' of an earlier generation). But somehow with women gaining more rights over their sexuality, men have been given even more freedom -- the freedom to never marry, the freedom to walk away from their children. Yes, it was important to destigmatize single mothers, but not to the extent that absentee dads have been given a free pass.
I think it has more to do with the hyper-sexualization of women in the media. Girls think they have to have sex to be "cool" or normal. Being a 20 year old virgin is an anomaly now. Plenty of men just won't bother with a girl who doesn't "put out."
You win some you lose some. Maybe sex isn't seen as "precious" or "sacred" anymore, but at least we aren't treated like the property of our husbands anymore. I'll take my sexual freedom over the "good old days" any day.
I think it has more to do with the hyper-sexualization of women in the media. Girls think they have to have sex to be "cool" or normal. Being a 20 year old virgin is an anomaly now. Plenty of men just won't bother with a girl who doesn't "put out."
You win some you lose some. Maybe sex isn't seen as "precious" or "sacred" anymore, but at least we aren't treated like the property of our husbands anymore. I'll take my sexual freedom over the "good old days" any day.
I'll agree with you on most of that! However, sexual freedom isn't really freedom at all when a girl in middle school or high school is expected to give a blow job because her date bought her dinner. It is another form of sexual bondage that doesn't even have the security of marriage. Imho, this type of hypersexualizing is very damaging to girls......
I'll agree with you on most of that! However, sexual freedom isn't really freedom at all when a girl in middle school or high school is expected to give a blow job because her date bought her dinner. It is another form of sexual bondage that doesn't even have the security of marriage. Imho, this type of hypersexualizing is very damaging to girls......
As long as she has the freedom to say "NO" and have that respected, it is still freedom.
If I had a daughter, I think I'd be tempted to home school her- and she certainly wouldn't be watching any television without supervision.
It is sad that sexualized images of young women seem to feature younger girls every day. When you ask girls whether they'd rather be stupid or ugly, many will say "stupid." Very disheartening that women are taught to value looks above all else. To me this is a much bigger problem than contraception.
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