Metablog

First off, you might have to take my word that I’m a pretty feminist guy in order to understand this post the way I intend it. If you don’t want to take my word, I’d still like to hear from you, but we may not get very far. In case you’re interested, this post comes from my comments on this thread at Alas, a blog. I finally decided to make a post on it after reading this thread at Pandagon that brings up some of the same issues in the comments.

Second, my whole argument is premised on the idea that abortion is readily available to the mother, in the strongest sense, and as that really isn’t true in the US right now it makes my argument kind of hypothetical, and in any case a much lower priority than other feminist issues. Nonetheless, the issue kind of bothers me, being a guy and all.

So, all you feminists out there, what do you think the man’s obligation is where he meets a random girl in a bar, they hook up that night consensually, and she gets pregnant and bears the child? Do you think he should be obligated to pay child support? Is there a way to justify this with feminist theory? Or do you think it’s so obvious you would want to hear an argument against before even bothering with defending it?

In case you do, here’s why I think it shouldn’t be obligatory. Continue reading »

I haven’t been posting because a wave of apathy has overtaken me. My life feels meaningless and empty nowadays. The only bright spot has been hanging out with a certain new friend of mine, but even that doesn’t consistently keep me up (since she’s a pretty busy person). I could probably figure out how to change my brain either through cognitive therapy or medication (for ADD, probably) to get rid of this feeling, but that raises issues of the continuity of personal identity through change that make me feel all squicky.

So maybe if I try to start posting again it’ll help me some. I have like a million drafts, but everything I’ve written sounds so naive and unpolished, and it’s on such heavy material that I feel incredibly unqualified to post it. Maybe I should just say to hell with it and click “publish” after an hour of revision, no matter what the state at that point, and let the magic of the internets point out the error in my ways. It’s a thought.