Thursday, May 20, 2010

Wolves--a free short story

What follows is part of a very short story I wrote a long time ago. It's not kink or erotica, but it might appeal to you if you're into gritty and raw. Email me at barrieabalard [at] gmail [dot] com if you'd like a copy of the entire story. Here's the intro.



"Wolves" by Barrie Abalard
Copyright 2010 by Barrie Abalard. All rights reserved. Copying this to post or distribute without the permission of the author is NOT allowed.
"Homo, Homin, Lupus: Every man is a wolf to every other man."—By Roman playwright Plautus, from his work, Asinaria
Lady Luck was a slut who'd never tumbled for me. The room's tatty furnishings spoke volumes about my inability to score with the universal whore.
Guess she's not into women.
Who would've thought I'd be trapped by a raging blizzard in a North Carolina boarding house? My beater car and I would never make it to the factory tonight. Like I cared. Working in the chicken-processing plant left me slimy, not unlike the time my rat bastard brother threw me in the swamp.
I'd gotten him back good, though. Grampa had whupped his little ass proper for the crime I actually did but framed him for. He still had tear tracks on his face when I vowed to him that I'd do worse next time, if he messed with me again...

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

You Say You Want a Revolution...

The Pill is fifty years old, if not today, then soon. (There's some debate about exactly when the birth control pill's birthday is.) And, boy, did it make a difference in the lives of women.

I first took The Pill in college because I wanted birth control, and an acquaintance volunteered to drive me to the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic. This was back in the dark ages when many doctors would not prescribe The Pill for unmarried women. (I recall going to a gyno in the early Seventies where I had to lie and wear a dime-store wedding band to get birth control and sexual health care. Feh!) I'm extremely happy that such experiences in my youth aren't ones that women younger than me have had to deal with. (Now, aren't you glad a bunch of us old farts protested and carried on and forced various sexual issues?) Before that, I wouldn't have intercourse at all because I knew how unreliable pre-Pill birth control was, and I had no intention of getting pregnant and thereby ending my big plans to Have A Life. (This was pre-Roe v. Wade, so abortions were simply not an option unless you wanted to go the illegal and dangerous route. Note that I am not arguing a position on abortion here, so calm down. Facts are facts.) But obtaining reliable birth control changed not only my life, but the lives of many women around the world. The sexual revolution of the Sixties simply wouldn't have happened without birth control. And I also believe that many of the hard-won freedoms we have as women wouldn't have happened if we hadn't been able to control our bodies' procreation.

Birth control for women has always been a political issue. We owe much to pioneers like Margaret Sanger (who I admit could espouse extreme views not always consistent with my own). Did you know distributing information on birth control was illegal at the beginning of the 20th century? Just telling a woman how to prevent conception (and the options were pretty limited and unreliable back then) could get you arrested. And forget sending such information through the mail--to do so meant you broke federal laws, and in fact Sanger was arrested for doing just that with her paper, Woman Rebel, whose motto was, "No Gods, No Masters."

So, today I am remembering my roots, sort of, and counting myself lucky that I hadn't been born even ten years earlier than I was. My life would have been so different if I had been, and I'm thankful that I was able to live my life pretty much the way I wanted to, even with all the pitfalls and problems. The Pill was part of what made that possible. And I believe that the inroads women made after that--careers and so on--would not have been possible without reliable birth control.

If you know a woman who blazed trails, be sure to thank her on Mothers Day, whether or not she's your--or anyone else's--mother.