does a man have a right to *not* know whether or not he fathered a child?

[ulysses]

[Wapsie B]

1. Is this a trick question?

Of course he does.

[ulysses]

2. he has a right to *not* know?

Not meant to be a trick question. Should have added the emphasis.

[Wapsie B]

5. I misread it.

No he doesn't have a right to not know.

[Withywindle]

3. If you spit on the sidewalk, do you have a right to not know if it gave someone TB?

I'm thinking of how NYC used to have ALL these ordinances about spitting, for that same reason. As late as 2001 you could still see a sign at a Delancey Street subway station warning about dire penalties and fines for being caught at it. At the Lower East Side tenement museum, there's an exhibit of a beautiful blue-glass/silver-topped vial, a particularly fine example of what folks of good ethical quality used to contain their fatally-diseased hawkings.

But if you think it's perfectly fine to loose your biohazardous bodily fluids to the wind, then you must realize there might be consequences coming, whether it's the fallout of death or of new life.

If you want to opt out, it's not that difficult - condoms are affordable. I wonder how much that TB cough vial cost back in the day.

[ulysses]

4. nice connection.

:)

[Withywindle]

6. Thanks!

My own personal squick - I think spitting on the sidewalk is FOUL and I still see it several times every day. And every time, I gag a little and almost hurl. :puke: If a tenth of the energy directed against smoking was aimed at that....


But no, in terms of the larger picture I think it's simple - if men don't insist on a condom, they have to acknowledge that they're letting their sperm pass out of their control. So many of them act like they don't know how babies are made! Like they're shocked...SHOCKED...when some woman they had sex with without a condom shows up with a babybump and a request for diaper money.

It's really pretty simple: you don't want to get stuck with that, use a condom (or 2! they DO break sometimes, have a backup).

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Didn't you learn about negatives in teacher school?

Not to mention capital letters. :)

[petronius]

8. People don't have a right to be protected from any information

They can (sometimes) choose to ignore information, or cover their ears and scream "LALALALALALALA" to avoid hearing, but there's no right that requires the rest of the world to keep secrets.

Of course, sometimes the kind thing to do is to not tell people things that will cause problems...