Wtf Meghan Murphy

[CassieMaddox]

A feminist I used to really admire, deciding pussy grabbing, porn loving, convicted felon Trump and his misogynistic, fickle, anti abortion, running mate Vance are the best choice for American women.

https://x.com/MeghanEMurphy/status/1814817323754381763

Feminists/'feminist' men keep insisting to me that @JDVance1 is a misogynist who wants to 'take away women's rights' yet Trump/Vance are the only choice if we wish to restore women's sex-based rights in America (never mind the fact that Vance is anti-p*rn). I am not a fan of letting the government have any say over what women do with their bodies, but 'abortion rights' have for decades been used as a pawn in political games, and women keep letting themselves be played.

Voting Democrat solely because they'll let you have an abortion while they allow all the rest of our sex-based rights to be destroyed seems unwise to me. Women need to take their bodily autonomy into their own hands imo — this means we need to learn about and educate other women about their bodies and reproductive system, so we aren't relying on the government to dole out hormonal birth control (which is HORRIBLE for us) and dictate our reproductive choices. It's far from an ideal situation, but I resent being told I must vote for a party that can't even define the word 'woman' because they'll allow women to have abortions. That gives me the icks and should give you the icks as well.

I don't believe we should be handing over our power to governments, and the more we understand about our own bodies, the power of food/herbal medicine, the less we need to rely on the state or the medical establishment to allow us bodily autonomy and pretend to be invested in our health and wellbeing.

I do think we should fight against anyone/any laws that tell us what we may or may not do with our bodies, but the Democrats are not the party of body sovereignty either, so I'm not sure why women give them that credit.

I'm not sure what's going on with her but this is a huge shock. Very glad I'm not in the States right now.

This is unhelpful too and designed to undermine "the left".

Labour weren't and aren't "shit for women" compared to the Tories.

I believe the same is true in the US. Cannot actually imagine much worse for women than Trump. He's horrifically misogynist.

Condoms, decent education about tracking my cycle and my likely fertility window, (which would have likely led me to abstain from sex even with condoms during it) and decent access to morning after pills would have screwed me and my hormones up a lot less than the daily dose of synthetic oestrogen and/or progesterone for a couple of decades did.

I don't think she's advocating for the removal of contraceptive choices - I think she's advocating for better knowledge and education around things like hormonal contraceptives, and their likely short and long term effects on the body, and the choices that we have.

Ah. she's just a common or garden trump supporter then.

My mistake!

@CassieMaddox re I cannot believe any feminist would advocate removing the choice of reliable contraception from women.

I'm not advocating removal of contraception.

I agree women should have choices - but the choice is not down to pharma or western medicine alone. There are other choices. An over-reliance on the provision of reproductive "health-care" is not freedom. That's all. And again I say for the generations past this chemical control of our reproductive agency wasn't available. Some of the issues of the past around women were heinous, of course. But I think these issues are massively oversimplified or simply unquestioned by many women now.

just imagine calling yourself a feminist and not caring about abortion access or putting proven rapists into power

I'm not sure that she's doing any of that in the tweet you originally posted, though.

Sadly I see the term "feminist" used now as a shortform for group think in many quarters. By those women for whom my generation fought for the right to think and stand and speak and make sensible policy. So I don't use it any more. Things were really bad when I was young - women couldn't have a bank account for example. As for the right to abortion, forget it! I am advocating for thoughtfulness and consideration of different points of view, in a nuanced and intelligent way. That was original feminism!

unfortunately for many women (like me) we suffer with things like endometriosis or adenymosis and need access to contraception.

before i was diagnosed i was very wary of it as id been taking it for over 10 years straight and had many years struggling to conceive which i had attributed to the contraception use.

I think one of the first things Boden did after taking office was to effectively sign away the definition of women with a jubilant, be-kind flourish probably having no idea what the implications were.h

www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/02/02/fact-check-biden-executive-order-discrimination-transgender-women-sports/6686171002/

@Alwaystired94 sorry to hear, it sounds tough. I'm not advocating against contraception or abortion. Some women will need this and it should be available. I don't think reproductive healthcare should be a political issue. I guess I am arguing that women with solidarity from other women might opt to look at things through a different lens sometimes, because reliance on the medical industry (which is what it is) isn't freedom.

i agree to a point, medical access should never be a political point but sadly in these times they are. some may see it as over reliance but with how common conditions like endo and similar are - it’s a large proportion of women.

Yes.
My exH refused to wear condoms. Lots of women are in the same position. There is also the issue of "stealthing" with men you don't know well (or even ones you do).
The MAP was terrible for me and isn't reliable as ongoing contraception. I don't think cycle tracking is reliable for all women either, especially not young women.
The pill in general has been very liberating for women and enabled us to choose if and when we have children. I really am quite alarmed by the current push back on it. Seems to go hand in hand with pronatalism and traditional gender roles to me

Really?
How quickly we forget....

(Same with vaccines, of course)

This bit
this means we need to learn about and educate other women about their bodies and reproductive system, so we aren't relying on the government to dole out hormonal birth control (which is HORRIBLE for us) and dictate our reproductive choices

She's making it sound as if the current government are enforcing contraception against women's will. Trump isn't offering some kind of new contraceptive system. So I'm not sure wtf she is on about but it sounds a bit unhinged and "one size fits all".

@CassieMaddox I can't tell if you are serious? :) But yes, it was uncommon for women born before 1960 to access the pill. Women used diaphragms alongside other more invasive measures of birth control. And yes same with vaccines of course. Vaccination is another discussion around individual freedom of course. Complex, all of these things! Much comes down to personal belief and understanding about the world we live in and our view on life's purpose and meaning. Deep stuff. But reading history of vaccination and of medicine in general is hair raising and very interesting.

Yes. And lots of women had unplanned pregnancies and ended up getting married/quitting work/giving babies up for adoption, with consequences for the rest of their lives. Your post seems to overly romanticise the past.

Vaccines too, polio killed children, mumps affected male fertility, deafness from rubella, now mainly in the past so people seem to think vaccines are a bad idea. Hence why children are getting ill and dying from measles and whopping cough again.

I'm not romanticising. Nature is tough. I suppose the question comes down to how far one is willing to try to control it and how far one views oneself as part of it. Having children, fighting illness, being honest about a human lifecycle. Looking life and death in the face is quite liberating. Especially in the face of so much human profiteering and artiface. These are all philosophical questions. I don't really hold to a right or wrong on it. We answer these things for ourselves. For me, I'd like every women to have freedom to consider these things for herself. For options to be there. But for these to be real options made in a conscious and informed way.

I think american women are stuck between a rock and a hard place - the democrats appear to support trans demands wholesale; this means letting males into women's prisons, women's sports, women's shelters etc. Which is worse? Yes women need free and affordable access to contraception and abortion (sorry, "people") but this can't come at the cost of dismantling women's right to name themselves, organise and create single sex spaces and services where they are needed. That is the choice facing them, I honestly don't know which I would choose (I would probably just not vote) as many of the women needing the abortions will be the ones who are pregnant because the Dems have let men who ID as women into women's spaces.

It's hardly a "wtf". American women are in a lose-lose situation with Republicans and Democrats each supporting different policies which go against women's rights.

Like any feminist Meghan Murphy is entitled to her view on which party is less of a lose for women right now.

We are lucky in the UK that we are not faced with the same trade-off between contraception/abortion and other women's rights as in the US. Ironically in the UK that's because we have an NHS and we're not dependent on organisations like Planned Parenthood. For us access to contraception, abortion, HRT and cross-sex hormones are all independent decisions in the UK, whereas they are painfully politically interlinked in the US (and likely in Canada too) So in some ways having more centralised government medical provision has worked better for women. We are TERF Island because we can afford to be.

The TRA position is very anti-feminist yet the Democrats and "progressives" espouse it regardless and keep their hands over their ears against any warnings. And now you're surprised that women are coming out against the Democratic position. If you really are surprised then wake up and smell the coffee. What else did you expect to happen?

I don’t think there is any great endorsement of Trump/Vance.

This to me sums it up ^Voting Democrat solely because they'll let you have an abortion while they allow all the rest of our sex-based rights to be destroyed seems unwise to me…^
^It's far from an ideal situation, but I resent being told I must vote for a party that can't even define the word 'woman' because they'll allow women to have abortions. That gives me the icks and should give you the icks as well.^

And the snidey “Oh she always wanted to vote Trump anyway” is such obvious nonsense.
You can find Trump viscerally objectionable and still see that Democrats hate women - they put women into locked cells with rapists for God’s sake. They are utterly beholden to TRA’s and do not deserve the votes of women.

I think criticism should be aimed at those in power who use abortion rights as a political football and as a method of control over the female electorate, rather than individual women who have an awful decision to make in November and have chosen to speak out about it.

I think the Democrats have betrayed women on abortion. It feels like they kept it as a way to keep women voting for them rather than actually protecting women’s reproductive rights when they could have. So with that and the women’s rights issue in general I’d be pissed off feeling I had to vote blue.

I also think that MM has had some of the experiences of KJK and when you’re totally abandoned by your side and hated on then you reassess literally everything. Sometimes you maybe go too far on some ideas. I think it’s probably hard to end up with anything but deep cynicism about the left/progressive movements though.

I'm not anti-abortion, but the idea that this is a right does a lot of heavy lifting, and to my mind it doesn't serve us in the way many young women seem programmed to believe.

I would agree with this.

@PronounssheRa put it much more eloquently than I did!

Sorry, are you saying that "men in womens spaces" are linked to the number of abortions needed? That's a huge stretch. Most women who have terminations don't have them as a result of rape. If abortion is outlawed, raped women won't be able to have an abortion regardless of whether or not the rapist identified as a woman

She's come out pro-Trump/Vance
I understand not agreeing with the Democrats but supporting Trump, especially when you aren't even voting, seems absolutely mad.