Men are more than their sperm

The nutjob who gave birth to 8 implanted embryos has been widely criticized and for good reason.

But I've seen no mention of one aspect of the story: the "father."

Heretofore it's been considered a "medical miracle" when a woman gives birth via in vitro fertilization. Indeed, it is a wonderful thing when a medical problem prevents a couple from having children the old fashioned way. For example, a man who is about to undergo chemotherapy may have some of his sperm frozen, enabling he and his wife to use an in vitro fertilization technique after the chemotherapy has reduced his sperm count or essentially sterilized him.

But that's not what we're talking about here. The nutty woman AND the equally nutty M.D. who implanted the embryos were unconcerned with the resultant children being fatherless. So, too, was the guy paid to wank off into a specimen jar. In their scheme, all men are needed for is viable sperm cells.

I'm not a farm animal. At a nearby university research farm bull sperm is harvested "scientifically." An electric prod is pushed into the bull's rectum, an electrical stimulus is applied to the bull's prostate, and a veterinary student catches the ejaculate in a styrofoam cup. Then they leave the bull alone to contemplate his status as a source of sperm.

Raging Bullwinkle is contemplating the status of human men as only a source of sperm in the eyes of some. You might say that some men are perfectly happy with that status, but Raging Bullwinkle does not consider those specimens to be men. Indeed, Raging Bullwinkle does not use the term "fathered children" when those children have experienced paternal abandonment; "sired children" is the more apt phrasing.

Doubtless, those sexists who consider men to be useful only as a source of sperm would call Raging Bullwinkle's viewpoint "regressive." That's the standard ad hominem counter-attack.

But men don't want to oppress women. Men want to be recognized as humans.