From: goid@zooid.guild.ORG (Will Steeves)
Subject: Re: who "benefits" from
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Date: 27 Sep 92 20:49:56 GMT

[Attributes cleaned up.  --CTM]

Muffy writes...
MB> effective.  If she *does* get pregnant, the man can just leave,
MB> so its not all that risky for him.
                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Will Steeves <goid@zooid.guild.org> writes:
WS> Hardly...  I'd say that the possibility of getting hit with a
WS> paternity suit and being forced to support a child whom you may
WS> not want, for 18-24 years is a fairly significant risk.

moselecw@elec.canterbury.ac.nz (C.W. Moseley) writes...
CM> Assuming of course that she is an affluent white woman who
CM> believes that such a court case would be both worthwhile AND
CM> beneficial to her.

Actually, what I *think* you meant was : If *he* is an affluent white
*male* who has sufficient income for her to benefit from such a case.

CM> (or is it different in the USA: an illiterate puerto rican woman
CM> can take a paternity suit against an unemployed black man of no
CM> fixed abode and get something out of it?)

Race is irrelevant.  The issue is one of financial well-being, so
engaging the stereotypes of "illiterate Puerto Ricans" and "unemployed
Black men" will not get us anywhere.  But you *are* correct : You
cannot draw blood from a stone, as it were.

CM> For you personally perhaps this is a real risk you face in daily
CM> life?

Not really, but there are plenty of men who *would* feel this way.
And many women as well.

CM> I _assume_ from your posts that you are a well-off white male?
                                                       ^^^^^^^^^^
My race is Irrelevant.

However, as for whether I am "well off" ... Not really.  I do not own my own
house ; Rent is easy, and feeding ourselves and our daughter is basically all
that we can handle.  We are not *that* well off, in other words.

CM> who has a life plan that would be impeded by having to pay for a
CM> childs upbringing?  And that you would feel morally obliged to
CM> pay? So that yes, there is a real risk of you being in that
CM> position. Even so, the risk for any female partner you have is
CM> greater, as having a child is almost certainly going to wreck her
CM> career plans and cost her a bundle.

Actually, there is always adoption, and yes, that other "a" word.  :-)

So in that sense, I would say that the risks taken by men and women are
IMHO, similar, though *very* different in nature.  But while women have at
least these two options if the child is not wanted, a man does not have any
choices if the child *is* wanted by the mother, save for abandonment, which
is generally only a temporary "solution," especially if you unwittingly leave
a fairly decent trail for the authorities to follow...

---
Will Steeves, goid@zooid.guild.org                      "Neil Hull is GOiD"
ZOOiD BBS, Toronto, Ontario - The Zoo Of Ids            "GOiDS Rule"
(416) 322-7876
---
 * SLMR 2.1a * Scott me up, Beamy.

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