"All my adult life, I’ve been pretty sure I’m a sentient, even semi-competent human being. I have a job and an apartment; I know how to read and vote; I make regular, mostly autonomous decisions about what to eat for lunch and which cat videos I will watch whilst eating my lunch. But in the past couple of months, certain powerful figures in media and politics have cracked open that certitude.
"You see, like most women, I was born with the chromosome abnormality known as 'XX,' a deviation of the normative 'XY' pattern. Symptoms of XX, which affects slightly more than half of the American population, include breasts, ovaries, a uterus, a menstrual cycle, and the potential to bear and nurse children. Now, many would argue even today that the lack of a Y chromosome should not affect my ability to make informed choices about what health care options and lunchtime cat videos are right for me. But others have posited, with increasing volume and intensity, that XX is a disability, even a roadblock on the evolutionary highway. This debate has reached critical mass, and leaves me uncertain of my legal and moral status. Am I a person? An object? A ward of the state? A 'prostitute'? (And if I’m the last of these, where do I drop off my W-2?)"
http://ideas.time.com/2012/03/07/subject-for-debate-are-women-people/
/snort "roadblock on the evolutionary highway" ... without XX, the highway becomes a steep cliff into a very deep canyon.
Posted by: bullwinkle | 25 March 2012 at 05:47 AM
We went over all this in the 60s and 70s. I'm sorry, the misogynists don't get to call 'do-overs'...
Posted by: gayle | 25 March 2012 at 07:17 AM
Heh, we all know a "Y" chromosome is simply a broken "X"...
Posted by: Chris | 25 March 2012 at 06:58 PM
How do we combat this evil that is sweeping our nation? Sides, never supporting any of the men mentioned to the best of our ability.
Now I can say that I don't read Franzen cause he's an ass.
Sigh. Must try to forget about this so I can get some sleep tonight. Well, not forget but set it to the side.
Posted by: Melissa | 25 March 2012 at 10:54 PM
It makes me feel better to remember that the Y chromosome is really just an X chromosome that's missing a leg.
Posted by: Bonnie | 26 March 2012 at 11:40 AM
It's heartbreaking that we of a certain age recognize this for what it is, and the younger women don't seem to be bothered by any of it. They take what they have for granted. Also, I keep asking, why aren't our men standing up and protesting too?
Posted by: quiltyknitwit | 26 March 2012 at 10:36 PM
It's all rather terrifying. Isn't it? We really shouldn't have to fight these fights over and over again.
Posted by: tammy | 27 March 2012 at 09:56 PM
I am appreciating all these XX writers who are summing up the indignation--even rage--that so many of us are feeling. I mean: how EFFING DARE these lawmakers?
Only tangentially relatedly (as in, pretty much not at all), have you seen these awesome photos, all of which feature a single woman in a crowd of men? http://blog.aaa.si.edu/2012/03/whos-that-lady.html
Posted by: Jocelyn | 02 April 2012 at 01:20 AM
It's been my experience, as a woman owning a usually male owned business, that someone with a penis prefers to do business only with people who also have their own penis. The implication is that if one doesn't have a penis it impedes the ability to make sound business decisions. I guess I could conclude that men think with their penis.
Posted by: Carleen | 13 April 2012 at 12:07 PM
...but we already knew that, didn't we?
Posted by: kmkat | 13 April 2012 at 12:42 PM