Hi– I am an internist and writer who lives in Berkeley. A friend sent me your opinion piece on abortion in the media–Hallelujah. I have been concerned about this for years. My generation of women doctors (UCSF 1977) went to medical school because of the women’s movement. We were acutely aware of how women before us had suffered to obtain the rights we had. These authors casually undermine this effort. And it’s not just abortion–there is a weird attitude about contraception also.
As a black woman, I am particularly annoyed with portrayals of black women as Uber-Mamas, always willing to put their ambition aside for children. In Woodson’s Red at the Bone, we are asked to believe that an affluent black 15-year-old in Brooklyn in 1984 with college aspirations not only would not obtain contraception but would turn down her partner’s offer of a condom. Please. Reviewers praised this character’s independence because the teenager then dumps the child on the grandmother and goes off to college. I was an affluent, smart black teenager in the 1960’s and I found none of this credible.
No one believes me when I point out that the percentage of black women who have abortions is higher than white women–presumably because of decreased access to contraception.
Basically, I think many authors rely on pregnancy to make a character vulnerable because it’s easy. And we are so used to it, no one questions it, even when it is anachronistic. Keep up the good work!
AUTHOR: Toni Martin
AUTHOR EMAIL: tmartinmail@comcast.net
AUTHOR URL: http://www.tonimartinwrites.com
SUBJECT: [Kate Cohen] Contact
IP: 24.4.103.140
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[1_Name] => Toni Martin
[2_Email] => tmartinmail@comcast.net
[3_Website] => http://www.tonimartinwrites.com
[4_Comment] => Hi– I am an internist and writer who lives in Berkeley. A friend sent me your opinion piece on abortion in the media–Hallelujah. I have been concerned about this for years. My generation of women doctors (UCSF 1977) went to medical school because of the women’s movement. We were acutely aware of how women before us had suffered to obtain the rights we had. These authors casually undermine this effort. And it’s not just abortion–there is a weird attitude about contraception also.
As a black woman, I am particularly annoyed with portrayals of black women as Uber-Mamas, always willing to put their ambition aside for children. In Woodson’s Red at the Bone, we are asked to believe that an affluent black 15-year-old in Brooklyn in 1984 with college aspirations not only would not obtain contraception but would turn down her partner’s offer of a condom. Please. Reviewers praised this character’s independence because the teenager then dumps the child on the grandmother and goes off to college. I was an affluent, smart black teenager in the 1960’s and I found none of this credible.
No one believes me when I point out that the percentage of black women who have abortions is higher than white women–presumably because of decreased access to contraception.
Basically, I think many authors rely on pregnancy to make a character vulnerable because it’s easy. And we are so used to it, no one questions it, even when it is anachronistic. Keep up the good work!
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