Men who want children must at least find women willing to bear them. That seems little enough to ask. And governments that want increased rates of population growth must resort to such humane measures as lowering infant mortality rates, improving health care during pregnancy, distributing the work of child rearing through child care and equal parenthood, and lengthening the productive lives of older people.
Obviously, this ultimate bargaining power on the part of women is exactly what male supremacists fear most. That’s why their authoritarian impulse is so clearly against any sexuality not directed toward family-style procreation (that is, against extramarital sex, homosexuality and lesbianism, as well as contraception and abortion). This understanding helped feminists to understand why the adversaries of such apparently contradictory concerns as contraception and homosexuality are almost always the same. It also helped us to stand up publicly on the side of any consenting, freely chosen sexuality as a rightful form of human expression.
