LadyRhian said:
It's a circular definition, since you claim that sex invariably results in a child, then say that the only reason to have sex is to have a child in the first place. If that's not a circulat definition, I don't know what is. "What is sex? The way to have a child. How do you conceive a child? By having sex!"
That's not circularity. Circular reasoning presents a logical fallacy because both steps of an entailment are required to already to have occurred for the other step to occur, which is impossible:
Jack gets fat because he eats, jack eats because he is fat
I'm strong because I work out, I work out because I'm strong
I murder people because I'm a murderer, I'm a murderer because I murder people
All of these arguments are circular. None explain which step comes first, since both are required to simultaneously be the start point of the entailment. If I must already be a murderer to murder people then how does one become a murderer? If I must already be strong to work out, then how does one become strong if the thing which makes people strong requires one to be strong already?
I'm failing to see how I've run into a circular dependency error. Please show how I've made the above mistake.
LadyRhian said:
But the man made a decision, too- he decided to have sex without using a condom or any other means of contraception. So that makes it equally his decision to have that child- by having procreative sex in the first place. As they say, it takes two to tango. Now, you are saying that his decision to have that procreative sex and make that baby is less of a decision than hers is. If she gets pregnant and has that child, he doesn't have to support it- even though, according to you, it's her fault for choosing to have sex that could result in a baby. Why do men get a cop out? If the man wants the baby- according to you, the woman should be forced to have it just to make him feel better- but if he doesn't want it, despite choosing to have unprotected procreative sex- a choice he made as well... he shouldn't be obligated to support it.
Uh, it's the same the other way around too: if the woman doesn't want the child then as soon as it's born she's rid of it. That's exactly what's going on with the man too, he has to stick around throughout the pregnancy if the woman wants the child and he doesn't and then leave when it's born. I'm not sure where the supposed sexism is here: if one partner wants the child then the other must stick around until birth to facilitate the birth and then leave, regardless of gender. Where's the sexism?
LadyRhian said:
Well, now I sure wish I could be a man in your world- all the power, none of the responsibilities! He has the right to force her to bear the child even if she doesn't want to- because she chose to have procreative non-contraceptive sex, but even though he made the same choice, she has to bear the responsibility of bearing and raising it if he decides he doesn't want it.
That's not my point. That's never been my point. Clearly I've misrepresented my point. If neither partner wants the child and both want it aborted then it's aborted. The actual emotional and physical well-being of living humans trumps the potential emotional and physical well-being of the foetus. My point isn't, and has never been, 'the woman has to have the child even if neither person wants it'. My point is that if either partner wants the child and the other doesn't then both have to stick around until the birth in order to see it born and then they must part ways.
LadyRhian said:
You say, "I'm not arguing in favour of sexists who want to blame women for having a child accidentally, regardless of whose fault it is, please don't cast me into roles for which I haven't argued"- but you also said this- "I don't agree that a man should support the child if it's the woman's desire to keep it, because he's declared no interest in it". But he made that choice to have sex where it was possible to have that child he doesn't want to support- and like it's said- it takes two to tango. Basically, you just invalidated your own words.
No, I haven't. It's your point that sexist. You want to demand more from the man in this situation than the woman. You also want to fix the man into the gender role of 'the provider', why shouldn't the woman continue to provide for the child after it's born, too, if the man says he wants it?
My way of doing it means that the parent who says they want the child has to think seriously about all the difficulties that rearing a child brings. They get support through to birth, because that's necessary in order for the birth to occur (which the other parent agreed to with unsafe sex), but no support after birth. There's no reason why only the man should have to continue supporting the child after birth if he's the parent who doesn't want it, since the woman only has to support the child up to birth. Furthermore, this would completely invalidate my entire argument. The immediate consequence of unprotected sex is a child, which both consent to by partaking in the act, not wage slavery for the rest of your life. That's an added bonus you've thrown in to tip the scales towards benefiting the mother.
If you'd rather we end this here, or take it PMs, then that's fine and I'll respect that decision. I appreciate that not everyone enjoys debating so much as to justify the negative emotions brought about by debating something personal.