“We talk about how many women were raped last year, not how many men raped women.We talk about how many girls in a school district were harassed last year, not about how many boys harassed girls.  We talk about how many girls in the state of Vermont got pregnant last year, rather than how many boys and men impregnated teenage girls. 

So you can see how the use of passive voice has a political effect.  It shifts the focus off of men and boys and onto girls and women.  Even the term ‘violence against women’ is problematic.  It’s a passive construction; there’s no active agent in the sentence.  It’s a bad thing that happens to women, but when you look at the term ‘violence against women,’ nobody is doing it to them.  It just happens to them.  Men aren’t even a part of it.” - Jackson Katz 

I received this recently and I think there is wisdom In these words.  We need to move from passive victim to active agent.  Suppose instead of focusing on the woman’s rights we focus the man’s responsibilities.    He is responsible  for all medical and childcare bills to enable the woman to complete her education, or return to her job and pursue her life goals. If this means he has to drop out of school, not compete in the olympics so be it.  Enforcing this would be a nightmare. However, we have to change the focus to from the passive victim to the active agent, the male. A woman being denied her choice for an abortion is castrating, and men need to feel equally as castrated. For couples facing this horrible decision together, they need to be supported in what is one of the most heart wrenching and difficult decisions anyone could ever have to make, and this decision is between them and their doctor. It is no one else’s business anymore than decision about taking viagra.