In Which I Make Ridiculous Assumptions About Things Instead of Learning the Truth

I have this awesome blog on my blogroll written by the Boganette. She's great, but that's not my point. Prior to seeing her blog, I had never come across the words "bogan" or "boganette" before. So I asked her what it meant. (It's the New Zealand equivalent of America's white trash.) Apparently, what I did was wrong. Instead, I should have just made up some meaning for those words that furthered whatever political goals, othering or general hatefulness I need to fulfill, thusly:

I think the fear of babies, the fear that leads to women gulping contraceptive chemicals like candy regardless of what these things may do to their bodies, that leads men to abandoning pregnant girlfriends or wives, that leaves to both men and women fearing and hating each other's reproductive ability even within the context of a loving marriage, and drives some people to the abortion clinic, is rooted in a truly deep and ugly fear: the fear of having to give up one's own carefully structured selfishness and, with it, the desire to remain a child.

You know, you could simply ask people why they . . . gulp contraceptive chemicals like candy? I have no idea how you eat candy, Erin, but I don't swallow one tiny little piece of candy at the exact same time each night (within 1 hour). I has a sad nao considering Erin's candy paucity. I guess I'd be a hateful, arrogant asshat if that were my only interaction with candy. Shall we take up a collection to send Erin a large shipment of Cadbury Minieggs complete with proper candy eating instructions (hey, as much as you want, whenever you want)?

While it is true that I am somewhat fearful of getting pregnant, I don't hate my husband's testes, nor do I think he hates my uterus. Really, what an odd world Erin inhabits.

Ah, and my "carefully structured selfishness". Is that what we're calling poverty these days? You know, Erin, you could go to imnotsorry and find stories about abortion written by women who have abortions and I'll tell you something, you arrogant twit, "I didn't want to give up my carefully structured selfishness" isn't in it. You know what is in it? Poverty, abuse, poverty, poverty, poverty and, let's be honest, if a person says they would not be a good parent, let's just assume they know themselves better than we know them.

The rest of the post descends into something that really pisses me off: you're not really a grown up until you spawn children of your own.

A. You should be* a mature, responsible person before you inflict yourself on a helpless infant. BEFORE.

B. Having children does not make one a mature, responsible person. Some people rise to the occasion, some people do not.

C. Not having children has nothing to do with maturity, either. Some people without children are mature and responsible, some people without children are not.

In other words, the qualities we associate with adulthood, such as responsibility and maturity, are independent of reproduction. Having children will not magically turn you into a person you are not, stop lying about it. Seriously, think of the children, born to people who don't want them and can't care for them. Let's not encourage more of that, okay?

And the next time you want to know why people use birth control or don't have children, ask them. It's that simple.

*Yes, I know we don't live in a perfect world, but I'm pro free birth control for everyone, which would be a big step.