“I even had to explain to the women what ‘man-splaining’ was,” said “Women’s Advocate” Charlie Miller.
Photo by Stephen Lightfoot
In response to the recent debate surrounding Alabama’s abortion law and the subsequent bills that were passed in response to it, UCSD student and self-titled “Women’s Advocate” Charlie Miller held a pro-choice rally on Monday outside of San Diego’s City Hall. Miller was able to gather around 200 women and other male “prochoice heroes” in order to protest the laws being passed that negatively affect individuals with wombs.
The rally began with a speech given by Miller, who reminded the women in the crowd of their grandfathers, great-grandfathers, and other male relatives who fought for their right to vote. Miller then elaborated on his and his brothers’ fight for a woman’s right to bodily autonomy. Miller told protestors, “I don’t care what my male coworkers or my guy friends say about me. I believe you girls should be able to choose whether or not you carry a child to term once you’re pregnant. And with men like me and your husbands and your sons fighting for your rights, I’m sure we will convince the states of Alabama, Georgia, and elsewhere that women are people too.”
Despite Miller’s efforts to portray himself as an ally to women, many who attended the rally felt that Miller was overstepping his boundaries. One woman, Tamara Wright, told reporters, “It’s great and all that Miller supports women’s freedom of choice, but frankly, I don’t give a fuck about his opinion on abortion. He will never be pregnant, let alone get an unwanted pregnancy. He will never be faced with the difficult decision to keep or abort an unwanted child, so his opinion is worth absolutely nothing to me. It’s fine that he has an opinion, but sharing his opinion takes space that a woman can be sharing her opinion in. For example, I was supposed to be the one to give the opening speech, but Miller felt his point-of view was more important and had to be shared.”
In response to Wright’s statement, Miller told reporters, “Women have privileged access to certain experiences, such as rape, sexual assault, or ectopic pregnancy. Just because women have this privilege doesn’t mean men should be left out of the conversation. Frankly, I’m sick of being silenced by women. I have a unique point of view that deserves to be heard and deserves to affect the final outcome of this long-winded debate.”
Miller told reporters that this was not his last rally, and he has more protests lined up for future dates. “Besides abortion, I have strong feelings about other things, too. I’ll be appearing at a Black Lives Matter event as the lead speaker because I think my perspective as a white man will be very enlightening. Next month, I’ll be the keynote speaker at a conference on Jewish Safety in an Anti-Semitic World, and I’m confident my Protestant experiences will be very relatable to them. I look forward to sharing my unique point of view as a cis, straight, white man; and I hope that by sharing my opinions loudly and voluntarily, I am helping disenfranchised people who feel they are being silenced or overlooked.”
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