39 Comments
Nov 3Liked by JoJoFromJerz

"What I do is not up to you." -- Diana Prince

Today's my birthday and I'm going to quote Wonder Woman as damn well much as I want, during this weekend of impossible uncertainty. Thank you, Jo, for being you.

Expand full comment
author

Happy birthday!!!

Expand full comment
author

Happy birthday!!!!

Expand full comment

Happy Birthday!🎉🎉🎂

Expand full comment

On its face, the Supreme Court Dobbs decision overturning Roe and Casey is patriarchal and misogynistic. It does not escape notice that Dobbs is a male decision (Barrett is a self-described complementarian) giving control of women’s reproduction to male dominated state legislatures, without consideration of women’s explicit, extant, fundamental Fourteenth Amendment constitutional right to liberty. In its opinion, Dobbs tells us it is not invidious discrimination with animus against women but that does not square with men appropriating women’s reproduction and passing control of their reproduction to groups of other men.

All women are the losers in Dobbs, no woman gains a thing, all women lose the same rights, most women know it, some don’t. Some women who identify as pro-life (pro-life is pro-birth) today will have abortions later for their own good reasons, and some pro-choice women (pro-choice is pro-life understood as more than pro-birth) dearly want children, just later. All women are in the same boat! Repeat after me, all women are in the same boat!

A convenient mnemonic is 6-4-1-1. Each year there are about six million pregnancies but only about four million births, the difference is one million spontaneous abortions (clinical miscarriages) and one million elective abortions. The important take-away here is the number of clinical miscarriages is about the same as the number of elective abortions, and that both are abortions, one is decided by unconscious biological processes and the other by the conscious decision of the mother. About forty percent of all pregnancies are unintended, and about fifteen to twenty (15-20) percent of all pregnancies result in miscarriages, another 15-20 percent result in elected abortions. Neither clinical miscarriage or elective abortion cares if you are pro-this or pro-that.

Unremarkably, most men are unaware or insensitive to these numbers. Dobbs gives no hint of being aware of these numbers.

And what does Dobbs have to say about the all too obvious patriarchy and misogyny?

"Our decision returns the issue of abortion to those legislative bodies, and it allows women on both sides of the abortion issue to seek to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting, and running for office. Women are not without electoral or political power."

No, the “sides” are not women versus women, that’s the Court majority’s storyline, men versus women fits the facts much better. Men appropriated women’s liberty when Dobbs overturned Roe and Casey and state legislatures, dominated by men, are ‘taking’ women’s liberty with oppressive restrictions on their way of life and behavior. The opinion of the Court says the proper response to its opinion is for women to work harder, a statement that lacks servant leadership, humility, equality and mutual respect and replaces those values with criminal deceit - any grand jury in the business world would return an indictment.

It is a reasonable inference that the ease with which Dobbs manhandles women must have its roots in something common to all six majority justices, and it is a reasonable inference that the six who share reverence for the Bible as their highest authority will act in accordance with its inerrancy - patriarchal authority is a major catechism of the Catholic Church.

Dobbs has an unpleasant undertone, one that resurfaces the question, “What is really going on”.

Expand full comment

You Go Girl ! You watch and see,See what the American Women can do, Together ! I've seen it before, back in 1970-72 What a Time we had?!! You saw what It looked like in 2016, the "Me Too" movement in Washington DC. The Whole World will see it, November 5, I promise ! Terrific read this evening, JoJo, Thank You and will reStack ASAP 💯👍💙🌊

Expand full comment
Nov 3Liked by JoJoFromJerz

Thanks, Jo. You are an inspiration. You are changing the world. Luke Skywalker and the President of the United States agree. You are what we need in the USA. You are our Amelia Earhart of social change.

Expand full comment
Nov 3Liked by JoJoFromJerz

Thank you. I got chills from that clip. I’m 79, and I remember never fitting in, never belonging. I remember hearing all the time , “. Little girls are to be seen , not heard.” How many of us die inside a little everyday because we hide who we truly are. I don’t hide anymore, I speak my truth. Thank you for reminding me once again. We will never go back!

Expand full comment

What a powerful piece. Women are about to save this country from tyranny. And we've got two bad ass Jersey girls leading the way. Let's get this done.

Expand full comment

💪💪💥🇺🇸

Expand full comment
Nov 3Liked by JoJoFromJerz

Ditto! Jo, you're my favorite big-mouthed brat!

Women are about to save us all by electing Kamala.

Expand full comment

Beautiful work!

Expand full comment
Nov 3Liked by JoJoFromJerz

While I was not a "tomboy" ( I still can barely walk a straight line and catching any ball is iffy), I was the sort that believed there were fairies at the bottom of our garden and I made them tea cups out of acorns and used wildflowers and berries to "cook" for them. What called to my soul was the very IDEA that my voice should be silenced (as IF!) or that my opinions weren't as valid as any man's. My parents must have been exceptional. I was born in the 1950s, the heart of republicanism with the mind of a liberal. For some reason, and I think it was that my mom was stay at home, like so many friends moms were BUT my father's cousin's wife always worked. So I saw early that women must have options? I also was blessed with cousins on my mom's side who were single, amazing women. Auntie Rie, my Godmother was a gym teacher and then a guidance counselor. She loved people, words, games and life (she lived to be 100!) and never knew a stranger. All her friends were around as I grew up, and they were mostly teachers too, again, highly intelligent women. I was so damn lucky. And as I grew the women's movement grew too. DJT more than any other has been a shock to my system in a way that totally freezes me. I am not brave. I am terrified. The things that have happened because he somehow "won" the presidency have been taking apart my entire world as I knew it. My father never told my mother what to do nor she him - they really had a "perfect" marriage - impossible to meet. The IDEA that men should tell a woman who to vote for is insane! I really thought, much like the racism I now know was sleeping, such ideas were so 19th century!

I see the picture of your daughter and think SO much is on the line for her. Every week another woman is dying because no one is brave enough to tackle the draconian laws enacted not by medical professionals but by demagogues. We need this win more than any other in our lifetimes.

Bless you Jo for giving me the courage when mine falters these days. I see your optimism and think "I can't let Jo down!"

Expand full comment
Nov 3·edited Nov 3Liked by JoJoFromJerz

You’re amazing, Jojo. But quoting Ayn Rand gave me the heebee jeebees!

Expand full comment
Nov 3Liked by JoJoFromJerz

Rand would be a maggot today, there is no doubt (sadly, in the Cold War days, I read all of her books). Understand Rand was 'independent' and belligerent, but in the wrong direction. She lacked any understanding of Keynesian Economics (which is 100% correct).

Expand full comment

Thanks, Lorraine, for reminding me of the fact that Ayn Rand is more associated with right-wing ideology such as Libertarians. But at least she was pro-choice!

Expand full comment

Oh good, thanks for affirming that I wasn’t crazy on this knee-jerk reaction, Katharine. I didn’t know she was pro-choice but I guess that makes sense. But I can never forget Paul Ryan, et al. Yuck!

Expand full comment
Nov 3Liked by JoJoFromJerz

You are officially one of my heroes. I'm going through a really tough time and this uplifted me in so many ways. Thank you. I've felt like I've been under a dark cloud and this article made the sun sneak through. Thank you for writing this. I printed it and put it on the fridge.

Expand full comment
author

I’m sorry you’re going through a tough time. We are all here for you!

Expand full comment

Thank you, JoJo, for including Tara’s fabulous video. Jersey Girls rock! My darling Mum arrived in the States in 1958 with two young girls and a husband, settling in New Jersey, so I’ll take the honor too. I’m sorry you didn’t have my Mum—who by the way had a button which said “For McGovern Before Miami.” She raised me to be an independent woman.

Bless all of us who will save DEMOCRACY.

Expand full comment

Reading about you as a youngster, I thought "She's a tomboy!" Which got me to thinking why there is even such a word. I remember a lot of "tomboys" who grew older and became "normal". Those that did not were labeled as "probably a lesbian".

Your story shows how -- for so many, many years -- we have pushed young people to "grow up and be a man" or to "grow up and act like a lady". Now that we -- or at least many of us -- have realized that the binary -- either/or -- framework is arbitrary and does not recognize the many variations that exist.

When I was in graduate school, I was looking at differences in the skeletons of individuals that could be used to decide what sex they were when alive. The shape of the pelvis was most diagnostic -- larger outlet to accommodate bearing children. Most of the others were either size-related or likely to be responses to higher levels of testosterone and greater musculature which tend to reflect activity. Some just wouldn't fit into A or B but had characteristics of both. Since I became a dirty old man, I have noticed that those wider hips tend to be seen after giving birth as the ligaments and muscles that hold the parts of the pelvis together tend to become more flexible and don't easily regain their pre-partum configuration. This leads me to wonder if we were not looking at the results of giving birth rather than adaptations to make giving birth less difficult. And sure enough, what we are learning today is that even the presence or absence of a Y-chromosome is not diagnostic.

I am happy that you were able to learn and respond even after all those traumatic events in your life. What is needed now is to reduce the trauma and allow everyone to become the person they can become.

Expand full comment
Nov 3Liked by JoJoFromJerz

Exactly.

Expand full comment
Nov 3Liked by JoJoFromJerz

That was a beautiful piece, JoJo! It brought up memories I didn't know I had - and feelings! I felt as you did when my daughter was born. We're in it now! That's what counts!

Expand full comment
founding
Nov 3Liked by JoJoFromJerz

Just donated. Now, let’s do this, girls!

Expand full comment

Just powerful.

Expand full comment