And speaking of 'Progressive Bloggers' who Just Don't Get It, have you good people met Paladiea?

Wow. Just ... wow.

"Paladiea" would like you all to know that he or she is very pro-choice, and dislikes anti-abortionists with a vengeance. He / she makes it clear in the very first paragraph of his / her post, which is not-at-all-patronizingly titled Mountains and Molehills - Abortion Redux.

The rest of the post continues in a slightly less nauseating can't-we-all-just-get-along tone, but here's the money shot:

... when dealing with misogyny, we should be careful to separate the malicious (“Nice Guys” PUAs MRAs etc.) from the ignorant and well meaning (most of society). The solution to this is not to scream and wail and have the Prog Blogs moderate to the point of dictatorship, it is to bring facts and reason to the argument to prove your point.

Got that, ladies? Stop your screaming and wailing, and bring facts and reason to the argument to prove your point. That point being, apparently, that women should have the right to control their own bodies. I guess in Paladiea's view, that's still in issue, so it needs to be established all over again.

I'm just shaking my head here.

Related posts:

• Hey, 'Progressive Bloggers' and Scott Tribe: Are you giant wankers, or just trying to look like it?
• Hello, "Progressive Bloggers?" Open asses. Remove heads.
• On reproductive freedom, there is nothing to fucking 'debate'

Hey, 'Progressive Bloggers' and Scott Tribe: Are you giant wankers, or just trying to look like it?

From a comment over at DJ:

I've requested the regina mom be removed from so-called ProgBlogs because "I will not be associated with an organization of any sort that believes women's fundamental right to freedom of the person is up for debate." The response? Wait for it! "The organization believes nothing of the sort.. it isnt official Prog Blog policy.. it IS official Prog Blog policy to allow freedom of beliefs and expression on touchy topics like this. The reaction to this is way overblown and over the top. Your request will be honoured when I have the time to do so." So, now our full emancipation as human beings is a "touchy topic!" Fuck that bullshit, I say!

Let's just see how fast they find the time now.

Related posts:

• Hello, "Progressive Bloggers?" Open asses. Remove heads.
• On reproductive freedom, there is nothing to fucking 'debate'
• U.S. doctor urges colleagues not to perform transvaginal ultrasounds

Hello, "Progressive Bloggers?" Open asses. Remove heads.

So apparently the administrators at the so-called "Progressive Bloggers" aggregator are prepared to continue indulging members who think it's worthwhile to have a "debate" about Stephen Woodworth's crusade for "the rights of the unborn."

Well, fuck that, and fuck them, sez I. While we're at it, maybe we can have a "debate" about whether black people should have the same rights as white people?

Have you noticed what's going on to the south, ProgBlog mods? Have you been off the planet for the last couple of years? There's a wholesale war on women, in case you hadn't noticed. Republicans are working to roll back abortion rights and control women's sexuality in almost every state. And you want to crack open the door for that up here? We're supposed to keep the Sewer of Stupid from oozing over the border, not let it roll over us.

News flash, folks: you don't get to entertain a fucking "debate" over whether women control their own bodies and still call yourselves progressive. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, things aren't black and white, there's room for nuance and shades of meaning, and you can't reduce everything to ideological litmus tests ...

No. This time, you can. Either you believe in reproductive freedom and personal autonomy for everyone or you don't. There's no fucking middle ground on this.

So with all due respect to the mods at Progressive Bloggers:

Now it may be, as some commenter suggested over at the National Putz, that this is just

the Harpublicans chumming social conservative waters with a disposable Theo-con MP destined to join Stockwell Day counting angels dancing on the head of a pin

but really, that's neither here nor there. They want to have their little wanker debates and socon circle jerks, they can get a room somewhere. In progressive company, that question was settled a long fucking time ago.

Which means that there's a dirty but unavoidable task in front of us. Words and labels are vital, and it's obvious that we need to be vigilant about their meanings so that they, and the conversation, aren't co-opted and colonized. We cannot allow people who think this way to strip words of their meanings and repurpose them. The admins at the so-called "Progressive Bloggers" need to be put on notice.

Related posts:

• On reproductive freedom, there is nothing to fucking 'debate'
• U.S. doctor urges colleagues not to perform transvaginal ultrasounds
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On reproductive freedom, there is nothing to fucking 'debate'

The folks at Dammit Janet, the Dawgmeister and Dave over at TGB have already pointed it out, so I'm not going to go through it again. (You can stop the applause, smart-asses.)

I am not going to "debate" about the notion of fetal rights or when life begins or whether or not women have the right to control their own bodies. That's done. Anything that purports to "reopen" such a question needs to be seen for exactly what it is: a transparent attempt to reassert patriarchal control over women's sexuality and reproductive autonomy.

Anyone who wants to have that "conversation" can go fuck themselves. The idea that it could even be entertained in a forum billing itself as "progressive" just strips the word of its meaning.