Turns out free access to birth control slashes the abortion rate. Less punishing women, less abortions. Cool, we’ve identified a point of differentiation.
Okay, so what did most of the ‘pro-life’ side go with? Shit, turns out they went with punishing women instead of fewer abortions and again and again and again. Well, that’s not cool. For fairness’ and balance’s sake, I’ll say that the pro-choice is probably less about integrity of body and more about wanting to fuck without consequence.
This isn’t necessarily a good argument given that they have theological objections to birth control. This maybe indicates a general value which is an objection to technological modification of issues connected to reproduction as part of what may be a general reactionary attitude. This is consistent with for example, the early objections to IVF and the use of anesthesia in pregnancy. However, the second one of these could also be construed as a “punish women” goal, even as it has become uncommon. It might be noteworthy in this context that the IVF issue still is an issue for Catholic official doctrine but not almost any Protestants, and the objection to anesthesia in pregnancy is essentially gone completely. On the other hand, maybe looking at something more connected to male biology might help: if this is purely an objection to technical intervention in sex, then one would expect objections to Viagra and similar drugs. But they don’t exist. So that’s an argument against the technical intervention hypothesis.
Another possibility is that trying to understand is part of a general attempt to give broad explanations for what amounts to an attempt to modify old theology to handle modern technologies and dilemmas. Thus the exact results may be to some extent essentially stochastic. One example that might prove an interesting contrast in this context to the Christian right outlook is that of Orthodox Judaism. In some respects, Orthodox Judaism has more of an objection to birth control than it has to abortion. Fitting this sort of norm into any of the above hypotheses really seems like shoehorning.
Why do people insist on comparisons to -Viagra- when discussing birth control? Vasectomy would be a better comparison. Of course, it doesn’t illustrate the same kind of point, because religious objections to vasectomy do exist (and get almost no media coverage compared to religious objections to comparable procedures in women).
Why do people insist on comparisons to -Viagra- when discussing birth control? Vasectomy would be a better comparison. Of course, it doesn’t illustrate the same kind of point, because religious objections to vasectomy do exist
So this is an interesting point but actually reinforces the sorts of claims being made by Xachariah, since the amount of objection to vasectomies is much smaller than the amount of objection to birth control, which is consistent with his hypothesis. But I suspect that in fact the reason vasectomies aren’t used as an example are far the same (actual) reason that they don’t have nearly as much objection: they aren’t that common.
Thinking more about this though, there’s another interesting hypothesis that hasn’t been discussed yet: the goal might not be punishing a specific gender for having sex, but punishing sex in general. That seems by and large consistent with almost all of the discussed issues here with viagra being possibly a counterexample.
So this is an interesting point but actually reinforces the sorts of claims being made by Xachariah, since the amount of objection to vasectomies is much smaller than the amount of objection to birth control, which is consistent with his hypothesis.
If you’re thinking about US politics in 2012, most of the “objection to birth control” was objection to Obama’s mandate that insurance companies to fully cover birth control for women, but not men.
More generally, in the US there’s much more objection to birth control. This is a long-term trend independent of any recent issues. Moreover, the objections made about the recent health-care mandate were not made by and large based on gender equality issues.
Moreover, the objections made about the recent health-care mandate were not made by and large based on gender equality issues.
Sure. My point was that no one was requiring employers to cover vasectomies, so of course no one will get angry about having to provide vasectomy coverage.
Vasectomies(and tube-tying) tend to be used very differently than temporary birth control. Usually they’re done either in the context of a married couple who has as many kids as they want, or someone with serious enough medical issues that reproduction would be ill-advised. As such, the impact on casual sex is dramatically different than the impact of the Pill or abortions.
I’m not sure that state laws mandating specific corporate policy make a good basis for defending corporate policies.
That said, even if it were true, I am not sure it’s really that objectionable. Viagra is intended to treat a dysfunction of the body, whereas birth control is intended to prevent a function of the body; they’re not comparable in kind, even if they both enable the same behaviors.
This isn’t necessarily a good argument given that they have theological objections to birth control.
Given that there’s no god to specify what theology you get, this just raises the question — why do they have those theological objections? You’re proposing what amounts to a null hypothesis in your notion that “the exact results may be to some extent essentially stochastic”.
One example that might prove an interesting contrast in this context to the Christian right outlook is that of Orthodox Judaism.
Or the various cultures wherein are found the murder of women who have extramarital sex and other forms of “honor” violence. The differences do not seem to be described well as theological differences, since some of the same behaviors exist across different religions in some regions of the world.
It is easy for atheists to come to the conclusion that religious people do nasty things because of religion. I suspect that it would be more accurate to say that religion provides a set of powerful rationalizations for certain emotional reactions; and that which reactions a person manifests has as much to do with other elements of culture as with their theology.
This isn’t necessarily a good argument given that they have theological objections to birth control. This maybe indicates a general value which is an objection to technological modification of issues connected to reproduction as part of what may be a general reactionary attitude. This is consistent with for example, the early objections to IVF and the use of anesthesia in pregnancy. However, the second one of these could also be construed as a “punish women” goal, even as it has become uncommon. It might be noteworthy in this context that the IVF issue still is an issue for Catholic official doctrine but not almost any Protestants, and the objection to anesthesia in pregnancy is essentially gone completely. On the other hand, maybe looking at something more connected to male biology might help: if this is purely an objection to technical intervention in sex, then one would expect objections to Viagra and similar drugs. But they don’t exist. So that’s an argument against the technical intervention hypothesis.
Another possibility is that trying to understand is part of a general attempt to give broad explanations for what amounts to an attempt to modify old theology to handle modern technologies and dilemmas. Thus the exact results may be to some extent essentially stochastic. One example that might prove an interesting contrast in this context to the Christian right outlook is that of Orthodox Judaism. In some respects, Orthodox Judaism has more of an objection to birth control than it has to abortion. Fitting this sort of norm into any of the above hypotheses really seems like shoehorning.
Why do people insist on comparisons to -Viagra- when discussing birth control? Vasectomy would be a better comparison. Of course, it doesn’t illustrate the same kind of point, because religious objections to vasectomy do exist (and get almost no media coverage compared to religious objections to comparable procedures in women).
So this is an interesting point but actually reinforces the sorts of claims being made by Xachariah, since the amount of objection to vasectomies is much smaller than the amount of objection to birth control, which is consistent with his hypothesis. But I suspect that in fact the reason vasectomies aren’t used as an example are far the same (actual) reason that they don’t have nearly as much objection: they aren’t that common.
Thinking more about this though, there’s another interesting hypothesis that hasn’t been discussed yet: the goal might not be punishing a specific gender for having sex, but punishing sex in general. That seems by and large consistent with almost all of the discussed issues here with viagra being possibly a counterexample.
If you’re thinking about US politics in 2012, most of the “objection to birth control” was objection to Obama’s mandate that insurance companies to fully cover birth control for women, but not men.
More generally, in the US there’s much more objection to birth control. This is a long-term trend independent of any recent issues. Moreover, the objections made about the recent health-care mandate were not made by and large based on gender equality issues.
Sure. My point was that no one was requiring employers to cover vasectomies, so of course no one will get angry about having to provide vasectomy coverage.
Vasectomies(and tube-tying) tend to be used very differently than temporary birth control. Usually they’re done either in the context of a married couple who has as many kids as they want, or someone with serious enough medical issues that reproduction would be ill-advised. As such, the impact on casual sex is dramatically different than the impact of the Pill or abortions.
Someone started a rumor last decade that a large portion of health insurers cover Viagra but not birth control. It’s not true.
I’m not sure that state laws mandating specific corporate policy make a good basis for defending corporate policies.
That said, even if it were true, I am not sure it’s really that objectionable. Viagra is intended to treat a dysfunction of the body, whereas birth control is intended to prevent a function of the body; they’re not comparable in kind, even if they both enable the same behaviors.
Given that there’s no god to specify what theology you get, this just raises the question — why do they have those theological objections? You’re proposing what amounts to a null hypothesis in your notion that “the exact results may be to some extent essentially stochastic”.
Or the various cultures wherein are found the murder of women who have extramarital sex and other forms of “honor” violence. The differences do not seem to be described well as theological differences, since some of the same behaviors exist across different religions in some regions of the world.
It is easy for atheists to come to the conclusion that religious people do nasty things because of religion. I suspect that it would be more accurate to say that religion provides a set of powerful rationalizations for certain emotional reactions; and that which reactions a person manifests has as much to do with other elements of culture as with their theology.