A Vatican conference from the comfort of your home

It isn't too often one has the opportunity to partake in a Vatican conference.  Fortunately, the event occurring right now -- the Humanum conference focusing on the complementarity of men and women -- is open to all of us.  The conference features the presentation of short films on a number of topics, followed by live witnesses and brief presentations from people of various faiths.  The short films and the presentations are available on the Humanum website and are being posted soon after they occur live in Rome.

Be sure to take a look ... and to be truly authentic, perhaps you'd like to watch with a cappuccino or gelato in hand.

Hobby Lobby's degradation of women

This just in -- women in the United States are being victimized, humiliated and reduced to an all new low.  Perhaps you've heard about it?  Blaring across headlines, news shows and all of blogdom is the persistent idea that who women are involves one thing, and one thing only, and what women want is one thing, and one thing only.  


The tale, it is told, is that women's biggest interest in life is sex.  And what women want, nay, what they need more than anything in the world is love contraception.  Make that free contraception.  To give them less than free contraception is to deny their dignity, goodness and humanity.  Shall we treat them like women-persons who must supress their fertility on the company dime and give them free contraception, or shall we treat them like an object that is capable of bringing forth new life and force them to do so by rejecting their pleas for monthly free trips to the pharmacy?  That's the message we've been given.

You know what's ironic about it?  The idea that women are solely interested in sexual encounters with "freedom" from pregnancy, the idea that women require free contraception to be happy, fulfilled or even to be themselves is, in truth, what is objectifying, victimizing and humiliating.  Women have been reduced to their ability to engage in sex, and a broken sort of sex at that -- an intentionally sterile sex that uses hormones or copper or metal impants to reverse what is perfectly healthy.  If an alien were to come to earth and hope to learn what this strange creature, "woman" is, he would spend five minutes listening to Nancy Pelosi or Barbara Boxer or nearly any reporter and conclude that a woman is a sex-enjoying machine who relies on the government to give her the medicine she needs to ensure that this act remain on a superficial, inconsequential level.


How is this not insulting?  The alternative to the vision of women embraced so wholeheartedly by the government, the media and so many unsuspecting, not-truly-listening Americans is not to see women as baby-making machines.  The alternative does not demand that all women be cooped up in little shacks, stirring broth to feed their 22 children, each a year apart.  No, the alternative, ironically, sees women as persons, not as machines.  It sees women as unique, unrepeatable creatures whose greatest need -- and what they most deserve -- is love.  It sees women as possessing an inherent language of their bodies that allows them to speak love.  It sees the potential to give life as so beautiful and feminine that every woman is called to bear and nourish life spiritually.


Women have bodies, even in some sense are their bodies, but their bodies aren't just a necessary object for sex.  And women are not just their bodies.  They have a rich, interior landscape.  Women have feelings, emotions, desires (not just sexual!), talents, fears, joys, struggles, thoughts.


All of the whining and complaining that the Supreme Court just insulted women by saying that certain closely-held employers can avoid paying for contraceptives if it goes against their religious beliefs -- and instead send their employees to the government who will pay for their birth control --almost sounds like an article from The Onion.  The complaint is that women are being mistreated and denied their fundamental rights by 5 justices who clearly have no respect for women.  But isn't it really the other way around?  Isn't the reality that reducing women to the right to free contraception is denying that what women need and deserve most is not a handful of synthetic hormones but authentic love?

A gender-neutral menstruation app?

Say what? Apparently, a team of people has created an iPhone app to calculate one's menstrual cycle ... in a "gender-neutral" way. The creators say:

"We understand that sex and gender identity are not the same and we designed our app so it can be used by almost everyone. Mcalc is 100 percent gender neutral and it won't assume anything from your gender while using it... We all have different needs, and Mcalc can suit them accordingly."

Doesn't the fact that only half of the world's population could use a menstruation app already assume something about gender?  Do totally random people have periods, or do women have periods?  Last I heard, it was the latter.  

So, why do we need a "gender-neutral" menstruation app when gendered people who are specifically female are the only ones who menstruate?  Why do we feel a need to take out feminine pronouns or other words associated with women in order to track a woman's cycle?In an effort to promote equality are we hoping to find an artificial way to allow men to experience bleeding, cramping, mood swings, bloating and the like?  Is this app in some way meant to prepare men to experience a simulated menstrual cycle?  Or are we trying to hide the fact that men and women are different, that only women have the capacity to nurture life within their bodies, and that from the age of 12 or 14 their bodies are manifesting that fact?  Do we want to remove the pronouns so that we can pretend both men and women live and love in the exact same way?

You can't make this stuff up.  

Spiritual motherhood

What's really going on in Texas?

The other day I spent significant time listening to the Texas House's debates regarding "HB2," the pro-life bill on the table.  Along with listening and watching the livestream, I also monitored Twitter reactions to the issue at hand.  Right now, the Texas Senate is debating passage of the same bill, which the House passed.


I've been involved in pro-life work for more than a decade.  So, I have seen and experienced pro-abortion arguments, strange logic and even abusive treatment.  I've seen the signs and heard the chants.  I've also had meaningful conversations that stepped away from debate and soundbites and really engaged the issues at hand -- sometimes issues that were far below the surface.


But observing the HB2 debate in Texas has been nothing less than draining.  I have friends who have been in the Capitol building and outside at the rallies.  I'm just at home.  Nevertheless, listening to the arguments used, and monitoring the stack of tweets that bashes the bill has been a bit deflating.  


When HB2 was on the House floor a few days ago, amendment after amendment was presented by those who disagreed with the bill in order to stem its affects.  One amendment said women who are victims of rape or incest should be able to abort past week 20.  One said that young women who have not had good sex education should be able to abort past week 20.  One said if abortion clinics in Texas are closed due to higher standards, then the state should pay for the transportation costs of those who are impacted.  


One representative decorated the microphone with a wire coat hanger, while other representatives stood around her holding the same.


Arguments were made about women's rights to control their own bodies.


The representative with the wire coat hanger told the story of her own daughter who found herself unexpectedly pregnant.  After her mother (the representative) told her about all of her options, the young girl eventually decided to give life to her son.  The representative shared that her grandson is now 30 years old and has given her a great grandson.  Yet, she said that if she could go back in time she would still want her to daughter to have access to either choice -- to give birth to her son or to abort him.


I couldn't help but wonder if her grandson was watching and what he could be thinking.  "So, you don't care if I'm alive or not?  You wouldn't stand up for me?  My son -- your great grandson -- is just a matter of choice to you?"


It was chilling.


There was a lengthy conversation about matters of rape and incest.  Certainly, these are horrific situations.  But the representatives argued that a woman who is the victim of rape or incest would be punished every day of her life is she gave birth to a child conceived as a result of one of these horrific experiences.  The example of the three young women who were recently released from years of kidnapped captivity in Cleveland, Ohio was given.  One of the representatives said that if one of these young women were pregnant when she escaped, then surely an abortion would be a desirable way to terminate the pain.


I couldn't help but think of those children who are alive today who were conceived as a result of rape or incest, including the child of one of the young women from Cleveland.  What about their inherent dignity?  How do they feel when someone tells them they should not be alive, that every breath they take is a punishment to their mother?  Perhaps some day I will share on the blog a conversation I had with a woman who was conceived in rape.  It's a story and a perspective that more people need to hear.


Meanwhile, Twitter explodes if a man says anything in favor of HB2, because clearly he just "hates women."  And if a woman is in favor of the bill, then she is dumb.


It's just mind boggling to me that this whole debate is happening.  Texas is trying to pass a bill that would ban nearly all abortions after 20 weeks (which amounts to less than 400 annually) and would give stricter guidelines to abortion providers.  Yet, the promoters are considered anti-woman for wanting more safety regulations to be in place.  And they are pulling out wire coat hangers as a symbol of the future, when thousands of abortions in Texas would be considered legal, just as they are today.


It used to be argued that abortion should be "safe, legal and rare," but the arguments against this bill only appear to be concerned with the legality.  


There is even an outrage over the idea of following the FDA's guidelines on distribution of the RU-486 abortion pill.  


The old arguments for abortion are being dropped in the dust, while the debate around HB2 unveils the real arguments -- the idea that babies of any age and stage are nothing but parasites on women, that the right to abortion is the ultimate right, that women are autonomous, self-determining individuals who live in the isolated world of, "My body, my choice."


Things have been getting radical in Texas.  Part of the radicality is not so much the arguments in and of themselves, but the fact that they are being championed, celebrated and broadcast so widely.  "Safe, legal and rare" has been trampled by, "Control, power and privacy" or by, "Me, myself and I."  And it's all on display.


This already lengthy post could probably be much longer, but let's just pray for Texas and for all those involved in this debate -- not only for a pro-life bill passage, but also for all of us to become loving, selfless people who live our lives "for" others. 

"Modesty is about revealing your dignity"

http://jessicarey.com/#

Try as I might, I can't seem to upload this video to the blog.  So, take my word for it that Jessica Rey's brief presentation on "The Evolution of the Swimsuit" is well worth your time.  

Today it's a given that 95% of women will spend their beach time in a bikini.  But has that always been the case?  Learn more about what you wear in the water.  

The video is available here.

Happy Mother's Day!

"Thank you, women who are mothers!  You have sheltered human beings within yourselves in a unique experience of joy and travail.  This experience makes you become God's own smile upon the newborn child, the one who guides your child's first steps, who helps it to grow, and who is the anchor as the child makes its way along the journey of life." ~ Bl. John Paul II in "Letter to Women"

Happy Mother's Day to all spiritual and physical mothers!

Happy birthday to Archbishop Fulton Sheen!

It's the 118th birthday of Venerable Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.  Anyone who has listened to his talks or watched a few moments of his network television shows knows how captivating Archbishop Sheen was in his delivery of the faith.  And then there are his books that taught with a simplicity and a depth that are quite remarkable.  

In honor of the day, here are a few of my favorite quotes from Archbishop Sheen.

• “To a great extent the level of any civilization is the level of its womanhood.  When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her.  The higher her virtue, the more her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her.  The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.” ("The World's First Love")

• "There are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing."

• "Those who glorify the ego, or the seeming-self, often develop a vicarious interest in solving problems which do not concern them, as a substitute for tackling their own problem of selfishness.  One wonders if the contemporary interest in movie murder mysteries, thrillers, and newspaper horror stories is not an admission that millions of men feel the need to solve important personal problems; but rather than facing the riddles of self, which are indeed difficult, they shift the problem and study baffling events in other lives, instead.  The man who has horrors tormenting his own soul may like to hear of greater horrors in others, or to see them on the screen, in order that he may for a moment forget his own hell within." ("Lift Up Your Heart")

• "But the Catholic mother finds a model of pregnancy in the Mother who began the bringing of God to man. Physical trials become more bearable when she sees herself a co-worker with God in the making of life.  A dying man in a country region of France, unable to receive the Eucharist, asked that poor person be brought to him so that he might at least have Christ in a lesser way.  The woman with the child may sometimes be unable to receive Holy Communion, but she can, with an act of faith, see that she already is bearing a lesser host within the tabernacle of her body." ("Three to Get Married")

• "All love craves a cross by the very fact that love is forgetful of self for others." ("Three to Get Married")

• "A woman may love God mediately through creatures, or she may love God immediately, as Mary did, but to be happy she must bring the Divine to the human." (The World's First Love"

An encouraging moment for a culture for life

I'm not in the habit of sharing grocery store commercials, but have you seen this?  It's a beautiful depiction of motherhood, the dignity of the unborn child and the simplicity of family life.

Quote book

“Femininity is a conquering and appealing feature; femininity in a soul consecrated to God should be so sweet and gentle to draw anyone to it, and then lead them to God... I am glad to be a woman, because the Lord gave to women the gift of intuitive intelligence and it's so good to sense other people's needs, and to be maternal and understanding...”. -- Ven. Carla Ronci

Quote book

“Woman’s singular relationship with human life derives from her vocation to motherhood. Opening herself to motherhood, she feels the life in her womb unfolding and growing. This indescribable experience is a privilege of mothers, but all women have in some way an intuition of it, predisposed as they are to this miraculous gift.” -- Bl. John Paul II

Quote book

"In the name of liberation from male 'domination,' women must not appropriate to themselves male characteristics contrary to their own feminine 'originality.'  There is a well-founded fear that if they take this path, women will not 'reach fulfillment,' but instead will deform and lose what constitutes their essential richness.  It is indeed an enormous richness.  In the biblical description, the words of the first man at the sight of the woman who had been created are words of admiration and enchantment, words which fill the whole history of man on earth." -- Bl. John Paul II 

Quote book

"Necessary emphasis should be placed on the 'genius of women,' not only by considering great and famous women of the past or present, but also those ordinary women who reveal the gift of their womanhood by placing themselves at the service of others in their everyday lives.  For in giving themselves to others each day women fulfill their deepest vocation.  Perhaps more than men, women acknowledge the person, because they see persons with their hearts.  They see them independently of various ideological or political systems.  They see others in their greatness and limitations; they try to go out to them and help them.  In this way the basic plan of the Creator takes flesh in the history of humanity and there is constantly revealed, in the variety of vocations, that beauty -- not merely physical, but above all spiritual -- which God bestowed from the very beginning on all, and in a particular way on women." -- Bl. John Paul II 

"It's not easy being a woman"

My latest contribution to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's new blog is online today.

Kermit once said, “It’s not easy being green.” Such is no longer the case. Green is “in.” Green is hip. Green is as convenient as purchasing the cloth grocery bag, conveniently located right next to the convenient scan-it-yourself aisle. Green is available at farmer’s markets and specialty stores and even regular grocery stores. Green is loudly touted by the media, by the teachers, by the government.

But, you know what’s not easy? It’s not easy being a woman.

This thought struck me as I opened a new bag of bread on Monday morning. As I untwisted the tie, I realized that staring back at me was a bikini-clad beach volleyball player. My first thought wasn’t about how many crunches I would have to do to try to look like her. Instead my first thought was, “Poor woman!” Here she is living as an athlete, and a view of her body that only her husband should see is plastered on plastic bags holding bread. Men, women and children throughout the country are being treated to her body while they make their daily sandwich, and her dignity, her mystery, her treasure is completely disregarded.

I managed to swallow my sandwich before heading back to my computer. Good thing too, because I next came across this story about a new app that tells its users about nearby women. The app, “Girls Around Me,” is in a bit of trouble for not seeking permission to share information from Foursquare and Facebook to alert men as to what women may be within reach.

Some may read these stories and rightly cry, “Objectification!” But sadly, many, many women view these as compliments. Many women today find their sole value in how they look, what they wear, how many catcalls they hear as they walk to their school or their place of employment. There is a lost sense of sacredness.

It’s why we see women of all ages running errands in tank tops and spandex. It’s why there is such a sense of competition between women regarding their clothes, makeup and hair. It’s why we view our treasure as our salary, our GPA, our ability to be Superwoman, instead of as being a precious daughter of God.

Read the rest on Being Catholic.

"Enjoy life while you can!" -- Are we being well prepared for marriage?

It’s not every day your run across a piece like this: Harvard law graduate turned mother shares her thoughts about young women today being groomed to be executives with no real training for wife and motherhood. She shares thoughts like this:

Recently, a possibly tragic event took place: a highly educated young woman I know got married. Radiant in her delicate lace dress, full of joy and optimism about the future, this blushing bride was not yet aware of the reality of her situation: that she has been groomed through her many years of education to be, well, the groom – and this fact is very likely to cause friction for her and her family as she tries to achieve the deepest hopes and dreams of her heart.

My post doesn’t directly deal with Lea Singh’s thoughts, so I highly recommend at the conclusion of this, that you take a detour to her entire post, “The bride who was groomed for a career.”

She is quite courageous for speaking of this. But many Catholics might read it and say, “That really doesn’t apply. We’re quite pro-family here, thank you very much.”

But I have to wonder how much this really is the case.

To boil it down to the two extremes, (which of course are not the only two options on table), there seem to be two types of single women in the Catholic world. On the one hand, there are the husband hunters who are so intent on capturing a new last name that the man who is going to give her the title of “Mrs.” becomes a means to an end, an ironic object in the quest for marriage and motherhood.

On the other hand of the spectrum are the single women who want nothing to do with being a husband hunter and so are focused in pouring their all into where they are now – career, friendships, adventurous expeditions. And at first glance, this second option seems a good one – to be fully present to the place one currently is, to experience life with joy and creativity.

Such is all the case, and yet there is an inherent danger that must be avoided. In seeking to not self-identify by what is lacking in one’s life, one may become used to, trained in a sense, to view life in terms of what I do and what I experience – my job, my friends, my hobbies, my freedom. And the “my” mentality can lead to a tyranny of unintended selfish consequences.

So that when Mr. Right waltzes onto the scene, the single in the second situation may find it difficult to pry her hands off of her career, which she may love, or her weekend adventures, which a family may make a bit difficult.

But, at the same time, Single Lady #2 is doing something right in living her singlehood in joy and peace. But when she hears people say at every turn, “Enjoy it now, honey, because when you get married, your freedom will be GONE,” it can be difficult to envision marriage and family life as something attractive or worth making sacrifices.

I think the question boils down to this – why is one embracing her career, investing in hobbies, etc? Is it to truly live out this time of single life that God has given, or is it to escape something? Is it to take the attachment of Single #1 to the man of the future and to attach it instead to things – career, clothes, girls’ nights? Or is to live fully, to live present, to live with a detachment that says, “I am ready to sacrifice this when God invites me to do so.”

Instead of eagerly dishing out advise to Catholic singles to pour forth everything into career and “all of the opportunities you will no longer have when you’re wearing a ring,” perhaps we need to reconsider how to properly prepare for a married life of giving all away. How do we live singlehood in a way that doesn’t view marriage as a prison of “no more freedom” but as a lifelong gift of sacrifice and gift of self for others? Perhaps it’s as simple as occasionally skipping that $3 coffee and tithing the money instead, or of spending girls’ night in the soup kitchen to serve others.

Whatever the concrete details may be, I think we need to examine how the desire of Single #1 to live for Mr. Right in the future and the desire of Single #2 to live for something in the present can meet in Single #3 whose singlehood is very much a preparation for a vocation of service, without instrumentalizing Future Husband as the tool to achieve the goal. And if perhaps single life is perpetuated longer than planned or hoped for, then one can rest assured that she has been learning to live for God in a selfless way even though her concrete circumstances are not within an objective “Vocation.”

Now, if you’ve forgotten where that tangent began, you can return to Lea Singh’s thoughts here.

Does chivalry matter?

Emily Stimpson does a wonderful job articulating the good of chivalry in her recent post, "Ryan Gosling, Manly Men, and the Witness of Chivalry." It's a good read.

Now, is there any guarantee that a man who opens car doors for a woman won’t use his strength to overpower or insult her? Hardly. Likewise, will letting a man open those doors automatically prevent a woman from being shrewish and selfish? Most definitely not.

But that doesn’t mean those gestures don’t help some. Nor does it mean they aren’t good in and of themselves. They are the embodied proclamation of the beauty of sexual complementarity and, when properly understood, help cultivate the virtues of humility, charity, and generosity. In more ways than one, chivalry puts the “civil” in civilization.

That’s why, whatever way you slice it, abandoning chivalry has made the world a more hostile place for women and a less human place for men. If we lived in a culture where men routinely gave up their seats on crowded subways (and women let them), I suspect fewer people in general would be spewing invectives online about people they’ve never met.

And the rest is here.

Mandatory free sterilization coverage for college women

Does the headline sound like it comes from a Communist country, or perhaps Nazi experimentation in concentration camps? No, not this time.

It's our own country. Apparently, last Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that free sterilization must be offered to all women of college-age (enrolled in college or not).

First of all, why are we not hearing this? There are a limited number of news services where I have seen the story, and unfortunately, this one, covers the story, but also shares a mostly "uncovered" picture of a celebrity in the margin, which I must warn you of before proceeding.

Secondly, why, oh why, would we ever think that offering 18-23 year olds free sterilization is a good idea? It's demeaning. It's degrading. It's heartbreaking. It says fertility is a major disease. It says we don't believe life is good enough to say yes to in the future. It says we don't want to be generous with love and life. It says we are incapable of self-sacrifice.

It says a lot ... and I could vent about it for a long time. But for now, please know that we must be vigilant about the anthropology of our government -- an anthropology that says I am made for this world and nothing more. Don't we want the beauty of knowing we are called to be more?

Prolonged adolescence of young women

When most hear the relatively new phrase in sociological circles “prolonged adolescence,” images come to mind of twentysomething men in their favorite college hoodies gathered around the Playstation with a stripe of tomato sauce on their faces from the day-old meat lover’s pizza left on the counter. The picture is complete with fear of commitment, loud burping, living in the parents’ basement and piles of dirty dishes in the no-longer-visible sink.

But do young ladies experience their own version of prolonged adolescence in today’s me-driven culture? It seems that women’s prime symptom of prolonged adolescence is glimpsed in their friendships with other young women.

Perhaps in their search for faithful, committed relationships, young women are using their female friends as replacement “spouses.” In their fear of losing another relationship, young women are clutching on to their female friends as tightly as a little child holds a plastic trinket. In their determination to not let go, they simultaneously are unable to open their hands to receive new friendships. When these new friendships include the possibility of a romantic relationship with a young man, the result is often Mr. Committed walking away wondering why the girl he pursued won’t open to receive his gift of self.

It’s not that young women aren’t generous, loving or eager to give. In fact, their close female friendships can be full of giving, sharing and generosity. But they become so focused on the security blanket of their female friends – who can’t “break up” with them – that they often become unconsciously closed to others.

All of the compliments, presents, affirmations, backrubs and chats in the world offered within the fearful hoarding of prolonged adolescent female friendships ironically become me-focused instead of other-focused, turning generosity on its head.

For men, prolonged adolescence involves a security blanket of maintaining the activities, locations and friends of the past. The comfort zone of women takes the form of close, and even closed-in, friendships with one another.

Could this fear of loss of commitment turned overly committed friendship syndrome arise from the prolificacy of divorced families of origin? Could our fears, concerns and desire to safeguard relationships come from our lack of examples of faithfulness?

There is also a fear of vulnerability. Rather than expose a desire for love, women take what they have and hoard, hold and suffocate in a frenzied panic not to lose what they have. Rather than open themselves to the possibility of hurt, disappointment or rejection, young women create a sense of commitment, possession and independence that unsuspectingly can counter their desires for love. While they create walls to protect the love and friendships they have, they are consequently building an impenetrable fortress through which the new love and relationships they desire can barely hope to pass.

Just as the prolonged adolescence of young men results in an inability to foster good relationships, female prolonged adolescent friendships affect women’s ability to love rightly. Not only is there a lack of vulnerability, but young women who unconsciously treat their female friends as their make-do “spouses” are unconsciously emasculating their future husbands.

Rather than appreciate Mr. Right as the man he is, they question his inability to determine who is the right match for Susie, why Peter’s text message seemed abrupt and which bridal gown is the best style for a particular celebrity. When he can’t behave as her best friend does, then what is wrong with him, they wonder. In reality, Mr. Right has been given the impossible standard of being like his girlfriend’s female friends. Taylor Swift’s Saturday Night Live skit last year illustrated this reality.

Giggles over crushes, whispers over guys’ “cuteness” and games of “who likes who” seem to lend themselves more to one’s future pre-teen daughter than to friends in their third decade of life. Certainly this can’t be any more attractive to men than their stereotypical piles of dirty dishes are to women.

All of this is not to deny the gift of female friendships. Young women are right to cultivate friendships with one another. There are innumerable ways in which same-sex female friendships can assist each party in growing in holiness and growing in an identity rooted in Christ. The beginning to a true friendship rooted in Christ is the realization of its presence as a gift to be received and appreciated, and not as an object to be grasped and hoarded.

Perhaps when young men chuck their 24-hour video game marathons to admit to their need for something more, and young women widen their circle of friendships to admit they are longing to give and receive a total and faithful gift of self, we can begin to implement the challenge of John Paul II:

“The skill in giving and receiving which is typical of love is exhibited by the man whose attitude to a woman is informed by total affirmation of her value as a person, and equally by the woman whose attitude to a man is informed by affirmation of his value as a person. This skill creates the specific climate of betrothed love – the climate of surrender of the innermost self" ("Love and Responsibility," 129).

*** This article originally appeared on TOB.CatholicExchange.com. Since the site no longer exists, I am re-posting many of my old articles on my blog.

A strike that underscores a lack of dignity

In an effort to garner support for mandated contraceptive coverage, a group of women has decided to embark on a strike. A sex strike. No sex for a week, they say, to prove to men that men benefit from women having "reproductive choices"too.

So, what's ironic about this?

Well, to start with, these are the same people who would say that Natural Family Planning is a laughable endeavor because it involves periods of abstinence. Times of abstinence, in fact, that average about a week to ten days each month. So, if they can abstain for a week to prove a point, then why is it "impossible" to abstain for the same duration (or a few days more) every month for a greater purpose?

Secondly, do these women realize what they are saying by this strike? "I realize that you value me for the sex I give you. I am a dispenser of sex, not a unique and unrepeatable woman with dignity." Who wants to be treated as an object? Yet, this is precisely what these women are saying: "I am going to strike against being treated like an object, which ironically proves that I allow myself on a regular basis to be treated like an object." How sad!

Thirdly, what is the vision of men here? Men who make their decisions based on a week without sex? And men who must abstain involuntarily. That's a far cry from women who embrace Natural Family Planning ... they can't go it alone. If it becomes necessary for serious reasons to abstain, then both husband and wife unite together in their abstinence. It's not a matter of one person greedily grabbing for control for some sort of power trip. It's a matter of two people discerning how to love one another and their family in the best way possible. Abstinence doesn't become the lack of a gift; it becomes a gift of self in a different way. For "Liberal Ladies Who Lunch," where are the men with courage, self-control, generous hearts and self-sacrificial desires?

Fourthly, do these women realize what they are saving about sex? It's a bargaining tool. It's something useful that can get me something. Where is the dignity, sacredness and mystery of sex? If sex deserves such flippancy, then why is it worth withholding as a bargaining tool anyway?

So, as the "Liberal Ladies Who Lunch" gather women to strike for a week, I'm left feeling very sorry for them. They see their bodies as objects. They see men as sex-hungry monsters. They see sex as a bargaining tool. And contraception? Well, apparently, they see that as the key to freedom.

Let's talk about women's health

This promises to be a wonderful event. Mark your calendars now.