So, this is a contentious issue among the left. The right normally takes a very traditionalist view toward sex, which combined with their economic views turns into a doctrine of personal responsibility. They believe that if you have sex, you risk the right to having a kid, and if it happens, then you shouldn't have had sex. They believe women should carry fertilized eggs to term regardless of the stage of development because "life", and that men should pay child support, because, well, he created the child and is personally responsible for it, and because men are breadwinners, they are expected to provide for their family.
Liberals seem to be a bit better, but in feminism's hypocritical stance of supporting rights for me but not for thee, they support a woman's right to choose with a ferocious furor, often accusing anyone who opposes it of sex shaming and wanting to "control women", but...let's be honest, these same feminists, when the issues becomes one of men having to pay child support, suddenly after her body her choice, it's a 50-50 proposition between them because they both had sex and created the child. Never mind we just clearly gave one party far more freedom and rights to get rid of that if they want. But men? Well, men can suffer. Any of the typical personal responsibility, sex shaming arguments that are rejected when applied to women, now apply to men. It's BS.
Here's the thing. I support a woman's right to choose. I believe that having sex isn't consent to parenthood. I accept that despite the best attempts for the parties to use birth control, that can fail. And I support the right of the parents to do what's best for them. If they don't want to have a kid, they shouldn't have to, and this is often celebrated among women who exercise this right. But if you're a man, well, you should man up and take responsibility. Again, rights for me, not for thee.
What if you were entrapped? What if the woman said she was on birth control but wasn't? What if she poked a hole in the condom? What if it failed for completely innocuous reasons? In our current society, if you're a man, you're crap out of luck. You just signed up for debt servitude for the next two decades, and if you don't pay, we'll garnish your wages or even throw you in jail. It's BS.
I say, if the woman has all of these rights, and the man wants no part of it, well, the man should have a right to have no part of it. He should sign his parental rights away, and not have to pay child support either. Period.
Now, some would say "but what about the child? They might grow up in poverty!" Well...that is the mother's choice...isn't it? And maybe she should take that into consideration when deciding to have a kid. Hate to sound cruel, but if we have wide access to abortion and birth control, and it's the woman's choice, it's her choice, and she can deal with the consequences. The man might say, hey, I never wanted this. You forced this on me. It happens. Men get trapped. I'm actually, quite frankly, scared to have sex, in part because of how men are treated. The idea of having a kid I don't want is a matter of existential dread to me. And it would make my life miserable. When women face such misery, they're often looked upon with sympathy, but the men? Well, you had sex, it's your fault. Again, rights for me, but not for thee.
I'm again, not trying to hate on feminists in saying this in the sense that I support womens' rights. But I am going to pick on them when their progressivism suddenly turns into rank conservatism when the shoe is on the other foot. This is an issue I have with gendered politics in general by the way. I support women's rights, I support men's rights. I reject the tribalism and hatred both sides have toward the other side's causes. Both sides have legit grievances, and both can be pants on head stupid when it comes down to the other side. So I want to make that clear.
As far as the child and the potential for child poverty...I mean, dude. I support UBI, I support a generous "welfare state". But the problem is, that isn't the answer that a lot of these, quite frankly, conservatives (even the feminist liberals suddenly become conservative when the issue becomes about men) want to approach the issue from. Again, to them it's about personal responsibility. They have the attitude that society shouldn't bear the cost of raising the kid, the individual should. it's the individual's concern. It's personal responsibility. And for me, that's the problem. I prefer a world where "personal responsibility" is more limited, and we just societally solve most problems from existing in the first place. So I support a UBI, including a smaller UBI for children that would be relatively neutral from an "incentives" perspective.
And that's my ideal. Women should have a right to abortion. Men should have a right to opt out of parenthood and parental responsibilities (including child support). Everyone should have a UBI. No one should be forced to do anything, everyone should have freedom, everyone should be taken care of, and conservatives who want to impose their traditionalist way of life on people can get screwed.
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