The following conversation actually happened on social media. It was the final part of a comment thread sparked by a third person posting a video in which a 12-year-old girl defends the pro-life position.
Some details have been changed to protect the guilty and remove some unrelated comments, although I suppose one might easily guess that ‘White Christian Male’ is yours truly. It happened some time ago, so it’s extremely unlikely it may ever be found by searching said social media site in any attempt to identify the other participants.
I openly admit that I am white, Christian and male, and that this may well (in fact probably does (in fact most certainly does)) shape my opinion and make me biased – but then who is not biased towards something?
I invite your comments – not to add to the argument, nor to agree or disagree with me or my antagonist – but to suggest what may be helpful or unhelpful about either person’s approach; is there any hope that a White Christian Male and an angry Gender Studies Student might one day be able to talk, and even be friends?
(Anything in italics are comments added by me for clarification. Profanities have been converted to symbols)
Gender Studies Student I’ve said it a million times before and I’ll say it again – no uterus no opinion!
White Christian Male So are you saying men should have no say in this whole issue? Isn’t that gender discrimination?
Gender Studies Student Hahahahahahahaaahaha yeh, right. I am not even going to try to argue with you because you are so far brain-washed that nothing will get you out of that hole.
Men can have opinions but it is not their bodies therefore they have no say as to what goes on. (and they’re not children, they are fetuses or zygotes, ugh!)
Hahaha so child is consequence for sex. Hahahahah. She only blames the mother for sex – what about ~the father~ hahah f&#! She says the side effects of abortion [referring to the pro-life youtube video]- but she forgets to include the side effects of pregnancy:
[An 830 word long list of possible complications and side effects of pregnancy followed]
So in case that wasn’t clear: pregnancy is always life threatening and never merely an “inconvenience”.
White Christian Male Wow, that would have to be the longest ‘comment’ I have ever seen on a fb post. _______, you are obviously passionate about your position, and dare I say ‘brainwashed’ by the feminist and ‘pro-choice’ agenda, both relatively recent phenomena, as opposed to a worldview that had been held and tried and tested for at least 4 millenia by billions of people, and which – it may surprise you – provided the foundation for freedom of speech and the emancipation of women which enabled the pro-choice movement to happen. However the fundamental difference between us in this issue is how we view the unborn child. I say unequivocally that they are human beings, and science supports this conclusion.
The use of the words zygote and fetus has been employed to serve the abortion agenda; you might just as well say ‘you are not human, you are an adult’
I feel sad that you express such revulsion against one of the most magnificent and beautiful aspects of life on earth – reproduction.
Gender Studies Student hahahah yeah mate. sure. i could argue forever about this but seeing as I f&#!ing can’t stand religion or white dude bros who think they know more about women, their bodies and the feminist movement than women and a woman who is doing her honours in gender studies. The fundamental difference between your movement and the pro choice movement is that you force women to not be able to get abortions whereas the pro choice movement believes that there should be a choice.
Well I do love the starting process of reproduction (however nothing gets ‘reproduced’ :P) but I am probably hurting your Christian ears yes?
White Christian Male no. Not even my white dude bro ears. Sex is a great gift from God, and was intended for pleasure.
I am not aware of my movement ‘forcing’ women to not get abortions, any more than Christians ‘forced’ people to not have slaves in England in the 19th century…
Might I suggest that the feminist movement would be better advanced by reasonable, respectful discussion, rather than angry taunts and profanity? I don’t think many men will be won to the cause otherwise.
Gender Studies Student Please don’t tone police me – it doesn’t help your argument or hinder mine. Besides, there would be no change if the oppressed stayed polite and silent – they would simply be ignored. All progress has come from noise! Whether it be violence (revolution style) or protests. I will not pander to your feelings and I will not be polite when you, and people from your movement make misogynistic statements that aim to oppress women.
You don’t care about women or the feminist movement – you just want us to be silent.
White Christian Male Not my feelings. Hurt them all you want. Just suggesting a more civil discussion.
Who is ‘you’ – me, or men in general? If I wanted women to be silent, I would not be commenting on ________’s post, nor asking you to have a civl discussion with me.
Gender Studies Student You and other people that have the opinion of quietening women (or other oppressed groups) in order to continue their privilege.
White Christian Male I never said that women should be quieted. And what privilege?
Gender Studies Student
Male privilege – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org
Male privilege refers to the social theory which argues that men have unearned social, economic, and political advantages or rights that are granted to them solely on the basis of their sex, and which are usually denied to women. A man’s access to these benefits may also depend on other characteristics such as race, sexual orientation and social class…
(At this point the original poster interrupted as asked that the discussion be continued in a another more appropriate forum)
New Jerusalem 
Tip 1: Ask a lady friend of yours (like your wife) if she would like the privilege of finishing off your conversation and let her have your final say. The Gender Studies student will have to change tact as she has previously stated that she respects the opinion of a woman.
Tip 2: 1 Peter 2:15 “For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men[people]”
Give them a cupcake, support Rehab ministries and let them become angry and confused. When/if she clicks that such ‘condescending acts’ benefit women much more than yourself or other men, she might slow down to think.
Most of the policy makers (historically) have been of the dominant race and gender (for us, white males.) They decided which issues recieved priority and which issues were not their concern. It wasn’t until the feminist movement in the 1960s was serious resources and research made into women’s medical concerns. In fact, when studies are done on the effects of medication, men are used as the default subject as they don’t have the same horomones that women do which could affect how the medication is absorbed. It was only recently that it was discovered that women have been overdosed for decades as the medication does not get used up as quickly in women as it does in men. Were the men in charge simply blinded? Were they unaware? One white male politican asked if it was possible for pregnant women to swallow a camera-pill to see how far along the fetus was developed; to him it sounded like a reasonable medical exam to perform, except that the digestion system had no direct pathway to the reproductive system. I know it’s difficult to imagine a world where being a white man is in the minority, where your health is over-looked and your politicians don’t know enough about human anatomy to make reasonable laws on your behalf. The problem is that this is systematic. Only 30% of the leadership in my county is female. Even fewer are of a minority race. Intersectionality explains that issues of gender and race can meet to create different levels of privledge and disadvantage. If being a white male gives you the greatest advantage, then being neither male nor white is the greatest disadvantage. Does statistics bear that out? Yes. As a Christian, Jesus asked for the greatest to be least, the leaders to be servants … that means that our leaders will have to put others needs before their own to set things right, the needs of women, the needs of the poor, the needs of the unemployed, and the needs of the disabled. We don’t have a long history of powerful women leaders – why is that? In ancient cultures, women recieved less education, less medical care, and less legal representation. They weren’t equals. Now that women are equal, then that means changing the rules and the status quo for a leadership that truely reflects that and our respect for all races – and even promoting leaders among the LGBTQA groups as well, so that their voices are not drowned out, but heard and contributes to a whole diverse society. White males were the leaders for a time when the power was all theirs, but now no one has all the power, so no one group should be the dominant leaders.