Wanderlust

And so, and in conclusion…

July 24, 2007 at 10:15 pm elinordye 1 comment

As I approach the end of my trip, I’m starting to think about the big questions – what does this all mean? How will I take this experience and use it after the journey is over? Having talked to so many people about sexuality and reproductive health care, what conclusions will I draw about our culture, about us?

Sometimes it feels like books are put into our lives for a reason, like the universe is saying “THIS is something you need to read right now.” Last Tuesday at the biker hobo camp in Sunset Bay State Park, I met a woman named Heather from Sasketchwan (I love Canadians in general, I think…) who told me I had to read Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn. So on Sunday I’m scoping out my aunt and uncle’s bookshelves, and lo and behold, there’s Ishmael. The premise of the book is that there’s a gorilla, Ishmael, who teaches a man how to save the world. You have to read it for that to make sense, but it’s a really interesting book. It basically breaks people down into two types- leavers and takers. The takers believe that the world belongs to them, and that they have a divine call to master everything on the earth. The leavers believe that they belong to the world, and they are what are commonly referred to as “primitive cultures” – the people who haven’t yet been civilized. What was most interesting to me was the conversations about our cultural mythology – what stories are we enacting? What shared myths do we use to explain ourselves to each other?

Being on the road and out in the world these past few months and talking to people from around the country I’ve become more and more aware of these shared premises, the mythology we learn from the time we’re small, and I came to a realization about how our mythology affects the way our culture thinks about and talks about sexuality.

One of the great myths of our country, the story we’re acting out, is this idea that man must, and will, dominate the earth. How do we do that? By expanding our population! In America this idea of our “manifest destiny” to multiply and fill the vast emptiness of our country is everywhere. Population growth is progress, and population decline is a sign of failure. We produce more food more effectively in order to feed more people and expand until there is nowhere left to expand to. This story, it must be noted, is written by and for white people. People of color are not included in the story, although it impacts everyone who lives in America, and in the world.

In this story, recreational sex – that is, any sex that does not lead to procreation, is a waste of time. Furthermore, the idea that women would choose not to have children, and take contraceptives and have abortions to prevent having children when they don’t want them, directly threatens the story. How on earth is man to dominate the world if (white) women stop having babies?

It seems to me that this story explains a whole lot about the way we look at sexuality in general and how race has created tension within the movement. I had written more about the racial dynamics within the reproductive justice movement and how the dominant story impacts them, but it didn’t say what I meant and so I took it out. I’ll think about this more and come up with a more articulate version of my thoughts.

I know I’m certainly not the first person to think about reproductive justice in the context of our broader cultural myths and rules, but I don’t know that I’ve read or talked to anyone who has written about this particular manifestation. I find that reading what other people think helps me clarify my thoughts and articulate them better. Reading recommendations are always appreciated.

I’m full of ideas, these days, about the world and my place in it. I’m currently located in Garberville, which brings me back to old hazy days. I’ve been sitting pretty on a tailwind that I hope will bring me all the way back to the ocean.

I’ll be back in San Francisco on Sunday, and anyone who’s interested is invited to join me for a victory bike ride from the Ferry Building to somewhere fun. I’ll be on the 2:20 PM ferry, so that would be an excellent time to meet me if you’d like to see just how big my calves have gotten.

Entry filed under: Notes and Errata, On the Road. Tags: .