LogFAQs > #965840457

Jen0125 posted...

Point out where I said that comment said by a man would be wrong. Please provide a direct quote.

Jen0125 posted...

But I'm going to call out the asinine nature of men clamoring to control female reproductive rights every time I see it. I don't care if it's positive or negative. It's not your fucking business point blank.

Far-Queue posted...

Saying an opinion is less valid is not dismissing that opinion wholesale. Merely suggesting it carries less weight.

That's a very questionable definition of the word valid:

"valid
/vald/
adjective

1. (of an argument or point) having a sound basis in logic or fact; reasonable or cogent."

Your genitals don't determine how logical or fact-based your arguments are. Period. If someone's opinion on abortion is grounded in rational arguments and sound analysis, it is a valid opinion and that is true regardless of who the speaker is or what is between their legs. This is exactly what the ad hominem logical fallacy is - an argument is only ever wrong based on the content and basis of that argument, not on who is making it.

Now you could argue that a someone's opinion has less weight than someone else's, which is not the same thing as saying it's less valid. That, at least, is a logically sound approach to weighing opposing points of view. Doing that on the basis of what genitals someone has is pretty fuckin' stupid, though.

Again, there are men out there whose arguments we absolutely should be giving greater weight to - not because they are men, but because they have some qualifications or experience that should be given particular note. If a man is the head doctor at an abortion clinic with an M.D. and a specialty in OB/GYN, has 20 years experience and has treated thousands of pregnant women over the course of his career, I am going to give his opinion on, say, the safety, necessity, and ethicality of abortion substantially more weight than that of a woman with no medical background who has never been pregnant or had an abortion. This would be equally true if said doctor was a woman and the layperson was a man.

Again, I don't need to be a cancer survivor to understand that cancer is a shitty disease and the people who have it usually go through hell. My opinions on the necessity of good cancer patient care are not invalidated because I have no firsthand experience with it (the same way the opinions of a woman on abortion aren't invalidated if she has never been pregnant).