All right, boys, buckle up because it’s about to get a bit political up in here. Throughout the week, people have been talking about the presidential debates and asking who I will be voting for. The question always seems silly when posed. I mean, look at me, I’m a female college student. I have ovaries. My vote is cast. Though I’m sure there are informed female college students who will disagree with my opinion, it seems the majority of my gender feels the same.
Nate Silver, a polling analyst for The New York Times, said that if only women voted, President Barack Obama would be looking at an overwhelming victory, equaling or exceeding his margin over John McCain. If only men voted, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would win, possibly by a similar margin to the one Ronald Reagan realized over Jimmy Carter.
This election could shape up to showcase one of the largest gender gaps ever seen in a presidential election — but why?
I think the disparity between male and female political alignment may amount to a gap in empathy, or rather men not understanding the urgency of what Romney’s enacted political stances will do to women. So, let’s shift gears and talk about what they’ll do to men.
Casual dating, the kindy where one of you eventually breaks and asks the, “So … what are we?” question at 3 a.m. after you’re both a few beers in and tangled in bed and have been engaging in regular sex for the past few weeks, will change under a Romney presidency. Here is why: if birth control is less accessible, then fewer women will be on it. Romney’s plan is to limit access to birth control that women can now purchase with their employer-based insurance. You need only walk into any CVS with a pharmacy to note how many college girls are currently utilizing this right.
Romney’s plan doesn’t stop there, he will then likely appoint justices that will overturn Roe v. Wade and limit abortion at the federal level.
When pregnancy must be seen through to the end, every possible consensual pregnancy-causing encounter becomes less fun and a lot more final. The longer you’re on the dating market, the greater the likelihood is that one day the condom breaks. Welcome to Russian roulette. It won’t be as sexy as it sounds.
If a woman gets pregnant under the Romney administration, she stays pregnant. Congratulations you young stud, you. You are on the hook for child support for the first 18 years of that child’s life. And you were worried about student loans? Pft. That casual dating thing doesn’t sound so good anymore, huh? I’m not even going to go into the decline of the one-night stand, though I’m sure men everywhere aren’t giving its demise enough thought.
So, what if you’re reading this and thinking, “I’m a responsible guy who will only have sex with my wife and will earn the millions of dollars necessary to pay for healthcare for my large brood of children without having to rely on the government? Do I still have to pay for other women’s birth control?”
You will still pay for it. Reducing access to birth control and abortion has never, ever, ever, ever (you got it T-Swift) ever, resulted in foregoing recreational sex. It has only resulted in a greater number of unplanned pregnancies, which will result in unplanned births of children into circumstances where the parents are often unable to support them.
Yes, adoption is a viable option, but lets just take a second to think about the hundreds of thousands of kids currently languishing in the foster system of this country.
Under Romney’s policies, one way or another, you will pay for feeding them, educating them or sheltering them. When one of them has a fever and their mother has no choice but to take them to the emergency room and has no money to pay the bill, you, moral citizen, will be paying it. When the mother can’t pay for the delivery of the child, which is far more expensive than birth control, you’ll pay for that too. As a woman, I care about these policies because I don’t like the idea of anyone making such a personal and difficult decision about my body for me. If we are to equate freedom with America, then surely the freedom of my body should be at an equal level to freedom of speech.
As a man this argument doesn’t apply to you directly, but the consequences of these policies will have a direct impact on how women relate to you. They will have an impact on the women you love and even the ones you may be casually dating. So, when you go to the polls remember, you aren’t casting a vote for yourself, but for your nation.
Arielle Egan is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences and a Fall 2012 columnist for The Daily Free Press. She can be reached at aegan@bu.edu.
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