More Than A Magazine, A Movement
In addition to schools being where you might find victims of shootings, it’s also where you can likely now turn to find a new crop of shooters, courtesy of the gun lobby.
Get ready for the Wee 1 Tactical JR-15 Rifle, designed specifically for children.
With the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade severely curtailing women’s reproductive rights, it might seem an odd moment to report good news about male birth control. Nevertheless, researchers recently announced that male birth control trials with mice were wildly successful—99 percent effective at preventing pregnancy.
Depending on the result of human trials, the drug could soon be the first effective form of birth control for those with testes apart from condoms or vasectomies. Why has it taken so long?
There’ll be time enough for backyard barbeques once fathers take the lead in establishing “Dads Demand Action to Raise Healthy Boys,” following in the footsteps—a decade late—after “Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense,” launched the day following the mass murders at Sandy Hook.
Think about what it could mean to transform Father’s Day from a commercial holiday to a call to action centered on raising boys. To date, fathers and mentors, uncles and coaches have rarely been organized as a group; we’re an untapped force for good that could also become a new voting bloc. Call us say, soccer dads.
Long before a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion revealed that by summer Roe v. Wade will likely be overturned, only pregnant people bore the burden of pregnancy—not just physically, but also financially. “Impregnators” have always had the choice to walk away. Sure, they could be on the hook for child support after birth—but what if they could be held responsible for their actions before, from the moment of conception, just as the pregnant person is?
That question led two Pennsylvania state representatives to begin drafting a law to hold impregnators accountable.
Men must leave the sidelines in this national reproductive rights emergency. The stakes are too high to simply declare abortion a “women’s issue.”
Even with President Joe Biden in office come January, Trumpism will still be with us, as will the Proud Boys, the faux militia Wolverine Watchmen, the civil war-promoting Boogaloo Boys, and the ex-military/police Oath Keepers.
As 2020 draws to a close, we need to acknowledge the connection between those groups’ brutish expression of patriarchy and its white-collar counterparts, like Mitch McConnell and Brett Kavanaugh.
All of us who recognize manhood and masculinity are evolving must speak out about the intimidating alpha males who pose a grave threat to society, especially at this fraught moment when COVID-19 is ravaging the world.
Wherever they’re being held—in Washington, D.C., or Anchorage, Alaska—let’s encourage men to march for gender equity, and to transform manhood.
The 21-year-old Texan charged with the El Paso murders is an avowed white supremacist man. The slain Dayton killer had previously compiled a “rape list” of females he wanted to sexually assault. Both are poster boys of toxic masculinity.
Father’s Day is a perfect time for men to wake up, stand up and speak out on behalf of women’s reproductive health and rights.
