The Abortioneers chronicle “the ins and outs and ups and downs of direct service in the field of abortion care” on their group blog. The informative, opinionated posts address everything you’d ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask about abortion, women’s rights, human rights, pop culture, and anti-choicers . . . and that list barely scratches the surface of all the topics they’ve covered in their almost two years of existence (happy early anniversary!). As befits a group project, several of the Abortioneers agreed to take part in this Feminist Conversation.

1.  When did you first call yourself a feminist, and what influenced that decision?
mr. banana grabber: I’ve considered myself “feminist” for as long as I can remember, mostly due to the fact I grew up in a liberal-minded family and went to undergrad at a pretty liberal school. I would say when I was about 18 was when I first really sat down and thought about it, and considered myself “feminist.”

Anti-Anti: I actually never used the word “feminist” until recently. Even though technically I’ve always been one, I hated the word itself. I associated it with bra-burning, man-hating, battle-axe women who were generally joyless and implacable. I, on the other hand, do a bang-up manicure and am unsure of how tall I actually am when not wearing heels. So what did I have in common with those women? Well, one common thread is that we embrace stereotypes. But beneath the surface we share a distinct love of self, of womanhood, and a need to demonstrate in as many different ways as possible how wonderful and indispensable women are.

placenta sandwich: Starting around age 15, I had a strong interest in learning about adolescent sexuality (I went to an all-girls’ school, but had many nosy conversations with the handful of boys I knew, naively thinking my interrogations would elucidate “how all boys are”). It was partly my outrage at the unjust judgments of female sexuality that led me to realize, at 17 or 18, that I considered myself a feminist. Unfortunately I’ve felt uneasy sometimes about the name “feminist” – not because I’d bought into the bra-burner myth like Anti-Anti; rather, I busted out of the barn totally gung-ho about feminism, with little knowledge of the historical and current problems presented by some feminists and feminist approaches that ignore/excuse their own privileges in untenable ways (related to race, class, nationality, orientation, gender identity, and so much more); then I learned about those things, uncomfortably, over time. But feminism is still, usually, the best word for my analytic lens.

About A Girl: I first began calling myself a feminist when I was about 19 or 20 years old. Working for an abortion clinic whose mission was based in feminist philosophy influenced that decision.  [Read more...]