I empathise with his frustration, but here are the facts.

💣 Men desire parenting to be freely opt-in, and not coerced. BUT, in most of the world, folks who can get pregnant do not get to freely opt out of pregnancy/parenting, due to intentional legal and moral socialisation. 💣 https://twitter.com/WombShifter007/status/1301748582937227264
💥Patriarchy 💥 will 💥 never 💥

💥💥NEVER💥💥

💥 have💥 true 💥 parental 💥autonomy 💥 for 💥 men 💥

💥💥 while 💥💥

💥 also 💥 refusing 💥 to 💥give 💥women 💥 and 💥 folks 💥 who 💥 can 💥 get 💥 pregnant 💥 true 💥 reproductive 💥 and 💥 sexual 💥 bodily 💥 autonomy 💥
For as long as women and folk who can get pregnant cannot freely opt out of pregnancy, & as long as poverty and welfare are as intentionally governed by misogynistic policy as they are, & resources don't flow to women independent of access via men?
These demands will continue.
The thing is, for as long as a critical mass of men can legally evade parenting responsibilities, and pay no social or cultural penalties, then they truly do not have to care about comprehensive sex ed, SRHR access and shared contraceptive burden.
So this guy can tweet and then he truly has options. He can play games with the court for years, because even rough jurisdictions make so much room for men.
Meanwhile this woman faces a future of being a sole primary caregiver to a child. She does not get to opt out of that.
Not nearly as easily and stigma free as he does, anyway.

If men don't want to be forced to parent, they should be the loudest supporters of comprehensive sex ed, and equal access to SRHR. Biggest champions of conversations about contraception.
And yet here we are.
This is why I said I empathise deeply.
Nobody in the world should be forced to be a parent when they don't want to be, and are not ready to be.
But this is what patriarchy does. It forces these things on us.
This is why we HATED that song "Nereah".
HATED it.
I hope they arrive at a solution that works for them both. 💔
I can't imagine how, if one person is planning to sue for parental support, and the other ones doesn't want this pregnancy.
That's why we need legal, cultural and social solutions that protect everyone.
Not just men.
And, these situations can be complex.
Yes, babies can be come-up plans. Relationship cement to keep other parent in your life (both men and women have done terrible things to ensure this). All this happens.
But the problem is still patriarchal, societal nonsense.
Also.
There are many who begin worried and uncertain about a possible parenting journey, then change their minds and it works out.
The lack of space and care we have for people, especially women, but also men, to negotiate and engage with this uncertainty safely, is tragic.
Ironically, the only space that can allow this man to say that he doesn't want to be forced to be a parent, and find people who have thought hard about how this thought is a fair one?
It's not even patriarchy. Patriarchy legalises very costly, cruel escape.
It is feminism.
What a life we are living.
These things are not easy. Care, kindness and strength to them, and everyone having to think through something of this magnitude.
May your people and communities show up. You do not have to be alone.
/Fin
You can follow @njokingumi.
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