I know of no man who believes women are thrilled to birth 20 children (maybe there is one or two, I just don't know them), let alone men generally. If it served the patriarchy to have 20 children, then we should see such a norm established. At present it serves the leading members of the patriarchy to reduce the number of "unwanted people" in the world (only unwanted from their point of view and only certain people) by controlling the reproductive capacity of women, either through chemical or surgical sterilization or through aborting undesirable fetuses (girls). This view is not hegemonic, of course. Many men oppose birth control and abortion. They, too, want to control the reproductive capacity of women. Either way, whether they advocate population control or deny women the right of family planning, whether they work though feminist organization or not, they control women's wombs. I have two basic concerns: First, that we should not be in the business of controlling women's wombs. Women should have the right to family planning. There should be no restrictions on this right. They should not be denied or encouraged one way or the other. One of the major flaws in liberal feminist thinking as it pertains to family planning is that while they are keenly aware that the pro-life position means to control women's wombs, they are blind to the fact that their aggressive advocacy of contraception and abortion also means to control women's wombs, "for their own good," of course. Second, that population control targets groups deemed to be "in surplus," falsely blaming their situation on their numbers. It holds an image of third world people and poor people in the core as licentious and in need of "enlightened" instruction from the "west." This is classic colonialist thinking. Pregnancy is viewed as a disease among the poor and the "colored" and the goal is to inoculate as many of these disease carriers as possible. Andrew Austin Knoxville, TN ------=_NextPart_000_6eb09c2b_6e21a4f$7a32164e--