Contraception and the Control of the Body | Part 1
Apr 4, 2024
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Exploring the impact of capitalism on transgenderism, Catholic views on contraception, responsible parenthood, relationships post-contraception, Old Testament laws affecting women, social structures on gender perceptions, ethical concerns of conception methods, and the complexities of parenthood and intimacy.
Children should be conceived in and through love, ensuring their origin reflects respect and care.
Symbolism of conceiving a child in marriage signifies deeper meaning beyond new life.
A child's entrance into the world through love shapes their identity and connection to God's creation.
Deep dives
The Dignity of Children Conceived in Love
The podcast explores the importance of children being conceived in and through love, highlighting how each child holds equal dignity as their parents. It emphasizes that the child deserves to be brought into life through love and not through methods like IVF or surrogate mothers, which can separate the child from the significance of being born into a family founded on love and clear identity. The moral rationale behind rejecting such methods lies in affirming the child's right to enter the world through an act of love, ensuring their origin story reflects respect and care.
Symbolism of the Pro-Creative Act
The symbolism of the pro-creative act is discussed, focusing on how the act of conceiving a child not only brings forth new life but also signifies a deeper meaning and purpose within the union of marriage. By emphasizing the significance of the body's symbolism and the sanctity of the pro-creative process, the podcast underscores the importance of bearing children through acts of genuine love and responsibility, rather than through methods that detach the child from their origins and distort the true essence of conception.
Understanding the Child's Entrance Into the World
The narrative of a child's entrance into the world is explored as an origin story that reveals their identity and purpose. It is highlighted that the child's origins, rooted in love and brought to life through a loving union, serve as a fundamental aspect of their being, impacting their sense of self and their understanding of the world. Emphasizing the objective significance of how a child enters the world, the podcast emphasizes the importance of the child's dignity and the narrative of their creation.
Children and God's Creation
The discussion delves into the relationship between children and God's creation, pointing out the intrinsic value of each child as a unique creation willed by God. By elucidating how a child's conception through an act of love mirrors the divine process of creation, the podcast highlights the child's connection to a transcendent reality and the affirmation of their existence as part of God's plan. This perspective underscores the importance of recognizing the profound significance of how children come into being and their inherent dignity as creations of God.
The Importance of Symbolism in Human Relationships
Human relationships are viewed from a symbolic perspective, emphasizing the social nature and symbolic significance of interactions between individuals. The podcast highlights the idea that being human entails representing truths about God through actions and relationships. Symbolism is discussed in the context of using one's body to convey truths about love and existence, emphasizing the importance of familial relationships as a reflection of love's nature and the implications of societal changes on understanding love.
Symbolism of Sex and Technology in Human Relationships
The podcast delves into the symbolism of sex and technology in shaping human relationships. It discusses the impact of technological interventions like contraception and IVF on the symbolism of love, highlighting how these technologies can distort the unconditionality of love and lead to a sense of control and a lack of openness in relationships. The role of arousal in emphasizing vulnerability, humility, and acceptance in relationships, particularly in the context of mutual respect and understanding of each other's dignity, is explored.
Maria and Marc read Humanae Vitae, the Catholic Church's decisive rejection of contraception, as a text which prophesies and makes sense out of the meaninglessness we ascribe to our male and female bodies today.
This episode is part 1 of a conversation on the Control of the Body. Listen to part 2 here:
We don’t have any readings for our introduction, but it may be helpful to give Gender, by Ivan Illich, a read, to get hip to a medieval/pre-industrial vision of Gender. Here’s a pdf: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...
Capitalism
We are reading Silvia Federici’s “The Accumulation of Labor and the Degradation of Women” in her book “Caliban and the Witch,” which is available in our magazine, Issue 4.4: https://newpolity.com/single-issues/i... But if you are POOR or CHEAP here’s a pdf. The essay in question starts on pg. 60: https://files.libcom.org/files/Caliba... This is also a great time to read Karl Polyani’s “The Great Transformation,” which gives a (non gender specific) account of the transition to liberalism/capitalism in Europe. Here’s a pdf: https://inctpped.ie.ufrj.br/spiderweb...
The Loss of the Virgin
We are reading Martin Luther condemning virginity, not because he was the only guy to do it, but because (a) he has a flair for exhortations and (b) we had to pick someone. The point is to understand how what had been an unquestioned symbol of perfection in Christendom is now being characterized as a merely individual calling. The only free source for this exhortation in English appears to be this pretty intense website: https://www.godrules.net/library/luth... If you need an example of previous Christian enthusiasm for virginity, try Gregory of Nyssa “On Virginity”: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/290...
The Beige World
The kids aren’t just bored, they are navigating a society of consumption through the power of efficacious vanity! For a primer on consumerism, we read William Cavanaugh’s “Being Consumed.” https://www.eerdmans.com/978146743829... Then we read Christopher Lasch’s “Culture of Narcissism.” Available wherever books are sold a momentarily at this link: https://thezeitgeistmovement.se/files... Marc mentioned Eberstadt’s “Primal Screams.” Here’s his review: https://humanumreview.com/articles/ma...
