Every sperm is stolen

There's been a lot of discussion recently, as there seems to be whenever we have a Tory government, about those who are receiving the domestic purposes benefit (DPB), which exists to give sole parents who need state assistance a very modest income to provide for themselves and their children.

Note that the DPB is for those parenting on their own, not just mothers. Yet so much of the dialogue is focused on women, and on some very vile hating on women.

For example, when TVNZ 7's Simon Pound tweeted "You know what I'd like to see? Everytime the DPB is attacked how about attacking the missing deadbeat dads as the problem, not the mums" he inadvertently provoked a Facebook commenter (not Pound) to write on his wall some really misogynistic crap about women, and how we are "sperm stealers."

This Men's Rights Activist has such insight into the female of the species that he reckons not only do we steal sperm, we are also operating under a biological imperative to lie to attractive men about the success rates of contraception. He also believes that we live in a PC Feminist State (that'll explain that gender pay gap then), ladies recycle sperm harvested from blow-jobs to impregnate ourselves (after all, that is the most effective way to get preggers), and "promiscuous behaviour" leads not only to sexually transmitted infections, but also rapes and domestic violence (and Climate Change?).

Our MRA star wants the law to somehow enforce women informing men of their fertility status prior to intercourse so that males can make informed choices about whether to spend their sperm or not. Shame we don't get red bums like baboons do I guess.

The MRA doesn't get away with this crap unchallenged, thankfully. But the reality is that sadly there are people out there who have such a warped view of women, and of those who are on the DPB in particular. This guy would be right at home in many Kiwiblog comment threads for instance.

People, men and women, end up on the DPB for a wide variety of reasons. While no doubt many are there as the result of an unplanned pregnancy with no long-term partner around, others were probably in relationships when they had their child(ren) but aren't now. It actually doesn't matter why someone needs the DPB, what matters is that they get enough to support themselves and their children in their time of need.

Yet again I find myself asking, why oh why do we moralise about this one benefit and no others? Could it be because this is a benefit primarily accessed by women, and worse than that, women who have had S.E.X and aren't married!!11!!

Finally, I would be prepared to bet money that there is not a single mother on the DPB right now who stole sperm honestly donated by a man solely for the purposes of oral sex and willfully misused it to get herself up the duff. It scares me that there is someone out there, and sadly probably more than one person, who believes this kind of rubbish is real.

Thanks to the eagle-eyed reader who emailed me this tip.