Survey Says: Women are for Life

This is a fascinating and well-researched article showing the contrast between the actual attitudes of women and the way that "women's interests" are sometimes (though not universally) presented by the press, the academy, and the political left.  Those who have opinions about abortion, "sexual liberation culture," and related issues (and who doesn't?) would do well to ponder carefully this article, because I believe it has a very important contribution to make on these issues.

I believe that the research clearly supports my thesis that the collapse of Christian sexual morality (which means reserving sexual intimacy to the protections of the marriage covenant) is bad for women and children in particular, so that the various "sexual liberations" that were supposed to empower women, have ironically exposed women to deeper loneliness, more manipulation by men, and a culture that sets women up for frustration.  The article begs the question of what a truly woman-respecting culture would look like; what changes in our entertainment industry, fashions, cultural assumptions and norms would be needed for that sort of pro-woman culture to emerge?  I believe it would, in large part, mean a renewed commitment to chastity, marriage & family, and respect for women as whole persons (not just bodies), and all this from men and women alike.

Highlights are presented below:
-------------------------------
In contrast to the rhetoric of a “war on women,” recent polls reveal that the majority of American women support abortion restrictions and regulations. This is unsurprising, since unfettered abortion access hurts women and gives men a sexual advantage...

A Quinnipiac poll found that 60 percent of women supported the twenty-week ban, while an additional 8 percent stated that abortion should never be legal. That represents a full 68 percent of women who would be supportive of the twenty-week ban. Among men, only 50 percent supported the twenty-week ban, and only 6 percent stated that abortion should never be legal. That represents a 12-point gender gap on this issue, with women being much more likely to support abortion restrictions. The poll is hardly an outlier, since a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 71 percent of women favored at least a 20-week ban on abortion, while only 63 percent of men did....

Ironically, it turns out that women are much more supportive of the fictitious “war on women” than men. This seems counterintuitive, at least to those immersed in radical feminist politics. However, when one considers how abortion on demand alters the fundamental sexual dynamics between men and women, it starts to make sense...

While feminists champion this leveling of the sexual playing field, the altered sexual calculus has actually placed women at a significant disadvantage. If women are more willing to engage in sexual activity, men are more than willing to play along—but they are likely to provide very little in return.
No-strings-attached sexual encounters have become the norm for young adults on college campuses, while dating and long-term commitment continue to fall by the wayside. Whom does this benefit?
As more sexually active women enter the marketplace, it is the young men that seem to be reaping the benefits, not women. For example, Regnerus and Uecker found that on college campuses in which women outnumber men (meaning there are more sexually active women in the marketplace), the women had a more negative view of the men on campus, they went on fewer dates, and received less commitment in return for sexual relations. What was meant to be the triumphant sexual liberation of women has turned college campuses into something that resembles a frat boy’s fantasy world. It is a world that leaves women isolated and lonely.

In work done by sociologist Paula England, more than half of college women surveyed reported feeling less respected by men after casual sex. Meanwhile, college men are less interested than women in a relationship both before and after sex. In addition, more women reported highly unsatisfying sexual encounters, often feeling that they were treated as sexual objects by the men involved.

Yet they continued to have casual sex anyway, because when the cost of sex is low, women feel enormous pressure to give in. Many men even expect this—so much so that survey data indicate 3-5 percent of college women are victims of rape or attempted rape every year.

Yet the victimization doesn’t end there. When contraception fails, whether after consensual casual sex or an alcohol-fueled dorm-rape, men turn to abortion as a way to mitigate their responsibility. In fact, more than 60 percent of women who have an abortion report being under pressure to do so. In the majority of cases, it is the male partner who is applying that pressure. Workers at crisis pregnancy centers see this physical intimidation or emotional manipulation routinely.

In one widely read article, the author touts how he manipulated two of his girlfriends into getting abortions...