I know I shouldn't read this crap, but really!

I was doing my usual catch up on the usually-mildly-entertaining blog on The Age website Who's Your Daddy? When I see a new entry pop up I usually take a look and as far as The Age blogs go it's a huge improvement on the ugliness of The Sams, who malign us all as examples of their species.

His latest post has attracted a whole bunch of comments. It's about the issue of 'accidental dads'. Men who, unintentionally, become fathers. I think Sacha handles the rather sticky issue with his usual tact and diplomacy. I might not agree with everything he puts forward, but there is no malice in any of it. But then I made the fatal mistake. I scrolled down and started to read the comments. Now, let's ignore the easy targets of the God-botherers and the nonsensical idiots who use their caps lock sporadically and seem to have no concept of grammar. Let's just get to the meat of it...

There are 55 odd comments on the blog (when I last looked). Out of those 55 how many do you suppose are from men (and women) who have, or have friends, or who once heard of some sucker, who was forced into fatherhood by a woman who lied and tricked him into having a baby? I'm too irritated by my first read through, so go find out the figure your self, I can't handle it. All I can say is there are lots. Too many. It reminded me, yet again, that I live in this tiny, comfortable little nook in the world where people are very progressive. And that was before the commenters started raising the point that really, a man should be able to force a woman to give birth to baby if he wants it anyway. I mean, what about his rights? It's unfair it is a one way decision and the man has to suffer for years and years as a consequence of a decision he didn't make.

There are no real surprises, I suppose, except that I can't just let this stuff pass without feeling the weight of how silly it is. There's no other word for it. Here's the comment I left on the site:

Seriously. This is beyond funny. How many women do you really imagine are out there scooping sperm from used condoms and impregnating themselves with it secretly? Do you have any idea how difficult this would be? In terms of logistics, it would need to be done within a very short time of the actual ejeculation of the male for sperm to still be alive, then the difficulty in extracting and impregnating... let alone the statistics which show even if you went through all of that your chances, even on the one day per month that your egg is most ripe for impregnation, is less than one in three!

But yeah, I'm sure there are armies of women out there doing this. And you didn't notice the not-so-subtle process as you lay in bed afterwards. She's on the pill? Wear a condom. She's infertile? Wear a condom. You're drunk/she's drunk? Wear a condom. That is the only way in which you can protect yourself, if you're serious. Too many men are convinced that the question 'are you on the pill' is a form of contraception.

We all have responsibility when we enter into a sexual experience. We understand the risks we are taking. I think too many men become interested in paternity and contraception AFTER they have already been irresponsible. When it is a question of to abort or not abort. That's not the point where your decisions need to be made.

If you counted the amount of men refusing to accept responsibility for their children, financial or otherwise, I have no doubt it would easily overwhelm the amount of babies resulting from women who covertly stole sperm from condoms. Anyone want to argue against that?

I can't wait to see how many men call me a lezzo feminist man hater. But anway, is it just me? Are these arguments silly? I just don't want to face the idea that my position, as outlined about, is radical.