However polite the request
No.
How does the word “anti-vaxxer” marginalize women specifically? There are plenty of male anti-vaxxers, and there’s nothing sex-specific about being an anti-vaxxer, so I’ll thank her not to rope us into her bullshit.
But Steelclaws said it better.
Updating to add:
Great cartoon. And while we’re at it, let’s remember always to use “anti-choice” rather than “pro-life”. Words matter.
Excellent cartoon, and what a self-aware twitter handle that anti-vaxxer has.
How about fuck off, crazymothers1.
What? You mean, believing anecdotal nonsense isn’t a special Wimminz Way?
It’s inaccurate because ‘vaccine risk-aware’ individuals are frequently ex-vaxxers who vaccinated their child and believe their child to have been injured as a result. It’s derogatory because it’s used to label and dismiss their concerns as crazy without understanding or even acknowledgement of their lived experiences. It is dismissive of women because women are primarily the ones who get their kids their shots and then notice a reaction to the vaccine. This experience is routinely dismissed as coincidence or assumed to be an exaggeration of what actually happened. Sound familiar? There is an obvious parallel to the “Me Too” movement – that women’s concerns and experiences are not being listened to.
Beth, I’m claiming bullshit on that one. I used to work for a company that employed 25 health workers and was one of the largest ‘flu vaccinators in the country. Over a ten year period we had two mild adverse reactions requiring treatment and the usual fraction of a percent reporting a localised inflammation and a bit of tenderness. Not one of those nurses considered not vaccinating their own children for a moment. Further, how many anti-vaxxers are there? Now how many of them are actually ex-vaccinators? Now how many of them had children that turned out to be autistic or have some other medical issue? Now how many of them could actually be linked to vaccines? Since autism certainly can’t be, let’s put that aside. The use of the word ‘frequently’ in your first sentance is just plain bullshit.
As for the rest, I’ve known a depressingly large number of men and women who are more than happy to invent a link between an effect and the first cause that pops into their heads. People do that every god damned day for all sorts of things. Recognise that fact and the rest of your argument turns to fluff. Likening this to the ‘me too’ movement is a desperate and inappropriate grab for sympathy and justification. Anyone who is prepared to look at male/female interactions, art, culture, whatever can see sexism and misogyny everywhere. That cannot be said of adverse vaccine reactions.
For what it’s worth, here’s the views of a lawyer who makes a living suing Big Pharma.
Rob, I’m sorry you missed the point of my comment. I said frequently because when I run across people who prefer the term ‘vaccine-risk aware’, they are usually someone who vaccinated their child and believe their child to have been injured as a result. That is not all anti-vaxxers. I did not say they were all correct in their assessment. You can disagree regarding the parallel with the me too movement, but I think it fits. There is a similarity between the treatment of women who reported that their child was adversely affected by vaccines and women who reported sexual harassment prior to the me too movement. Listening to people and acknowledging their experiences does not equate to believing they have accurately assessed what happened. Calling people by their preferred labels rather than something they perceive as an insult or slur is a reasonable courtesy.
If we’re going to talk about “a reasonable courtesy,” let me just say that “I’m sorry you missed the point of my comment” is an absolute CLASSIC of passive-aggressive sneering.
And no, there is no “parallel with the me too movement,” Women reporting rapes and assaults are talking about horribly commonplace (and thus credible) violence committed against them, while women claiming vaccinations caused their children’s autism are confusing chronology with causation, quite a different thing. Just being a woman and being not believed is not enough to be a parallel to Me Too.
Beth, I fear I didn’t miss the point of your comment at all. Either the way it read or the way you intended it to read. Plus what Ophelia said @8.