Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Murder of Pregnant Women
Unfortunately, the gruesome murder and mutilation of Bobbie Jo Stinnett by Lisa Montgomery is nothing new.
At the very least, the eight month old baby girl that Lisa Montgomery cut out of her mother's womb has been reunited with her father and is doing well.
The Washington Post has conducted a year long examination of death record data from several states, from the year 1990. The paper documents the killing of 1,367 pregnant woman and new mothers.
The killers are usually the women's husbands or boyfriends. Apparently these "men" didn't want the responsibility of being a parent or having to pay for child support. Or they just plain wanted the women out of their lives for good.
Still there are some who would say that the men resented losing control over the women and their bodies. (Typical psychobabble b.s. if you ask me) But the bigger issue is the fact that they felt they had a right to kill these women as a result of their feelings.
I hate to say it but I'm not surprised. For at least forty years, the cultural norm has been that sex doesn't have to have consequences. (And who are we kidding here, it's ALWAYS had consequences.) Women can be free to explore their sexuality or have sex like men by popping birth control pills and getting abortions.
And speaking of the pill, I am just now remembering a conversation I had a long, long time ago with an old high school friend. My friend M. went to a male gynecologist -- When M. told him that she used she used a condom a diaphragm for birth control, the man was enraged. He told her that she should be on the pill -- and that every young woman should be on the pill. Needless to say, my friend did not agree.
When she told me this, she asked why it was that she should injest hormones and possibly endanger her health just for the purpose of being at a man's beck and call.
I completely agreed with her and still do.
As I see it, the sexual revolution has benefitted men more than it has women. In the past, if a man wanted sex without commitment, he could pay money and go to a prostitute. Now he gets it for free since many women will often sleep with a man on the first, second or third date. It's no wonder that men are commitmentphobic, since they already have access to the milk without having to purchase the cow, so to speak.
Bear in mind though, I am not blaming women. In a society that degrades modesty, and where women are ridiculed for having TOO LITTLE sexual experience, women will often
do what they *think* it takes to avoid being left out.
As Wendy Shalit put it in her excellent book A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue, a cycle is set into motion:
But getting back to the murder of pregnant women, what I see here is that these "men," who are no doubt used to sleeping with women without giving the matter a second thought, are shocked and angry when they come face to face with the result of their actions. Hence they strike out like the monstrous spoiled brats they truly are. In a way, we have created these monsters.
At the very least, the eight month old baby girl that Lisa Montgomery cut out of her mother's womb has been reunited with her father and is doing well.
The Washington Post has conducted a year long examination of death record data from several states, from the year 1990. The paper documents the killing of 1,367 pregnant woman and new mothers.
The killers are usually the women's husbands or boyfriends. Apparently these "men" didn't want the responsibility of being a parent or having to pay for child support. Or they just plain wanted the women out of their lives for good.
Still there are some who would say that the men resented losing control over the women and their bodies. (Typical psychobabble b.s. if you ask me) But the bigger issue is the fact that they felt they had a right to kill these women as a result of their feelings.
I hate to say it but I'm not surprised. For at least forty years, the cultural norm has been that sex doesn't have to have consequences. (And who are we kidding here, it's ALWAYS had consequences.) Women can be free to explore their sexuality or have sex like men by popping birth control pills and getting abortions.
And speaking of the pill, I am just now remembering a conversation I had a long, long time ago with an old high school friend. My friend M. went to a male gynecologist -- When M. told him that she used she used a condom a diaphragm for birth control, the man was enraged. He told her that she should be on the pill -- and that every young woman should be on the pill. Needless to say, my friend did not agree.
When she told me this, she asked why it was that she should injest hormones and possibly endanger her health just for the purpose of being at a man's beck and call.
I completely agreed with her and still do.
As I see it, the sexual revolution has benefitted men more than it has women. In the past, if a man wanted sex without commitment, he could pay money and go to a prostitute. Now he gets it for free since many women will often sleep with a man on the first, second or third date. It's no wonder that men are commitmentphobic, since they already have access to the milk without having to purchase the cow, so to speak.
Bear in mind though, I am not blaming women. In a society that degrades modesty, and where women are ridiculed for having TOO LITTLE sexual experience, women will often
do what they *think* it takes to avoid being left out.
As Wendy Shalit put it in her excellent book A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue, a cycle is set into motion:
"Once the social pressure is on for women to have 'life experience, sexual and otherwise,' a cycle is then set in motion. More women try to get this experience to fit it, but then the more women who do, the more pressure there is in turn on other women who do not, and the more likely it becomes that the inexperienced woman will in fact, be left alone. To a man who says to a young woman, I prefer a woman with life experience, sexual and otherwise, because I like a woman who knows how to please me in numerous ways, and you probably will be a clingy drag, so go out and learn a little more, honey, before I will condescend to have you pleasure me, the proper response, it seems to is, is, That's nice, I happen to prefer a man who's not a jerk, so goodbye."
But getting back to the murder of pregnant women, what I see here is that these "men," who are no doubt used to sleeping with women without giving the matter a second thought, are shocked and angry when they come face to face with the result of their actions. Hence they strike out like the monstrous spoiled brats they truly are. In a way, we have created these monsters.
