Here’s an interesting political approach. While there are hairs to split (do all women have vaginas? do all people with vaginas consider themselves women? and what about those of us with no sexual partners, or sexual partners without penises?), there’s something to be said for appealing to the majority. After all, those of us who already get it, get it, no?
I do wish it came with an action plan, though. Links to a site for people to contact their congresscritters would be good.
I remember a while ago…something here about “reproductive coercion” – I think a more effective video would have been from the perspective of women who have been in this situation…you know, speaking first-hand…or a dramatization…or a video that included those teen mothers from the TV show – they talk about birth control, so why not Planned Parenthood?
I’d even like to see them interview teen mothers about their attitudes toward politics…voting…feminism…and make an ad out of sound bites from that discussion…
I really don’t like this video. It seems a two-tier approach – we women, well, WE don’t need to use Planned Parenthood…’cause ya know, we’re educated and all that…and we’re comfortable in front of a camera…we’re the top tier…but for those OTHER women, you know, those poor women, or disadvantaged, or at risk…the bottom tier…they need to get their care too…noblesse oblige…or vaginesse oblige…
It’s “interesting” that there are no (obviously) black women in the video…??? How effective would this video be, when viewed by black women? Whatever their socioeconomic status? But the question of effectiveness is kind of moot, because really, what is the point? Vote? Register to vote? Email your representative? Join NARL? Donate to Planned Parenthood? Write a letter to the editor of your local paper? Your school paper? Bring up the subject of Planned Parenthood with your male sexual partner…or, maybe wait till he says something disparaging about PP, and then tell him to “get fucked?” It’s a mystery…
The thing that really bothers me is, this whole idea of women withholding, as they say, “sexual favors,” in order to get a man to do something she wants…like female sexuality is a bargaining chip…really really offensive. Like, you know, argument, reason, persuasion, political chops, don’t count for anything – it’s all about the vag…there is a Greek play, isn’t there, the woman decide not to have sex with the men, in order to stop or prevent a war…to me, this video ends with a declaration of interpersonal and political weakness, not strength.
And lastly – in terms of fat acceptance – what’s the deal with the heavier woman being the one who cracks the (lame) period joke…twice? With the cartoonish laugh? Oh that’s right, fat women are just inherently funny, in a “zaftig,” “daffy” kind of way. I don’t know about that. She functions as the comic (asexual) relief?
Having viewed this for the third or fourth time, I wonder if the intended audience for this is men, not women. Just a thought.
G.K., I agree that this message does seem directed at men more than women. And I’ve never been a fan of the Lysistrata approach to political power, either. It troubles me for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the assumption that women have no desire of their own and that sacrificing sex is a hardship only for (heterosexual) men.
I think the video is a part of a larger DIY video campaign in support of Planned Parenthood, currently under attack from extremists in the House of Representatives.
Desperate times/desperate measures?
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