Synchronicity or a trend? Two posts in my feed-reader today which feature forced-birthers using talking fetuses as the sure-fire strategy to convince women that abortion is always always always wrong.
Kevin T Keith (yay, a post from Kevin!) at Sufficient Scruples lets loose his inner ranter in response to Joe Carter making “one of his not-infrequent visits to fetus-fetish loopyland”.
Tracey at Unapologetically Female is not amused by an oh-so-cute free-floating cartoon fetus that’s meant to be a topical funny online comic.
So, who’s spotted the talking fetus tactic elsewhere recently?
Categories: Miscellaneous
Are we all still here? 
Otterday and Open Thread 
So my plans for writing today didn’t quite work out 
Otterday! And Open Thread 
Hoyden About Town 
The top pregnancy ticker at Baby-Gaga has a creepy talking fetus. Try both the “development” and “humor” options from the dropdown at the right hand side.
Examples:
“Gross! I’m already secreting urine! Good thing I’m generous enough to stay in here and save on diapers.”
“My Mommy’s uterus is almost the size of a grapefruit, which she’d like to throw at Daddy right now.”
“I’m 4-6 mm, my vocal chords are forming & my tiny heart is beating & circulating blood! I’m 5 weeks & 4 days old, only 241 days to go!”
“I’m 3.5″ CRL & weigh 1.5 oz; I’m practicing smiling, grimacing, frowning & squinting! I’m 13 weeks & 5 days old; only 184 days to go!”
I’m 62″, 170 lbs., I breathe autonomously, I have a master’s degree, and I like fruity martinis. What do I win?
A punchbowl of fruity martinis?
I think the talking fetus on a site that’s celebrating a planned/wanted pregnancy is kinda forgivable, although that particular one seems especially twee.
Bringing it into political op-ed pages though? It seems to be yet another manifestation of the idea that if only women seeking abortions realised Just How Cute Babies Are then they wouldn’t want a TOP.
Yet again, the women don’t know what they really want card.
I was thinking about this topic just the other day after having had to explain more stuff about pregnancy to my daughters. I realized that, taking a leaf from the exellent discussion of passive tense and ownership on this site, that I reallydon’t think we should *ever* use the word “fetus” independent of the woman around it. Its ok to say “the fetus in the petrie dish” if there is such a thing around but from now on I’m going to only say “the woman’s fetus.” Because there is no independent “fetus” in either a physical or an existential sense. I don’t say “the kidney” when I mean “my” kidney–in fact I would never refer to any body part or organ in any person without marking its ownership.
If I go into the hospital for an operation there is some discussion of “the kidney” and its function but when it comes to deciding what is to be done with *my* kidney or my lungs or my limbs the discussion always turns on what is best for me as a integral individual. The kidney doesn’t have any rights and its not discussed as though it did.
Time we cleaned up our language and forced the issue.
aimai
tigtog: Thanks for unearthing even more creepy instances of this weird phenomenon! Isn’t it disturbing? I made a followup post linking here and also to a great article about the politics of fetal imagery.
aimai: Beautifully put!