Fighting Firestone with Fire

As "the fireball" of the feminist movement, Shulamith Firestone had many strong beliefs that she voiced on behalf of all women, with the overall assumption that every woman wanted the exact same things as she did. I believe she was admired by many women but her argument on the desired method of childbirth falls short. She believed that women were desired merely to provide children and food to the male population, and believed that it would be a relief to women if they could reproduce a child outside of a mother's womb.

http://tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/114393/the-feminist-manifesto

While I have personally never given birth, I can understand Firestone's assumption that "Pregnancy is barbaric" because I too view birth "like shitting a pumpkin." It sounds terrifying and seems to be gruesomely painful. However, that's exactly what these statements are: assumptions. Firestone herself never actually gave birth to a child, so she doesn't know what it's like to give birth and instantly be overwhelmed with an unconditional love for a tiny, alien-looking human being.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant

There are numerous types of women in the world: Women who want children and women who don't. Women who want a child but don't have the ability to have one. Women who have accidental pregnancies. All of these women are individuals. They are people with rights and opinions. Some may think of childbirth in the way Firestone does, but others may consider it a blessing and a beautiful experience of life. Firestone failed to think that not everyone will have the same opinion on any particular subject.

http://www.everywomansoutheast.org/policy/preconception-related-policies

In making the assumption that all women would prefer to create a child outside their womb's, she did exactly what she was fighting to stop: she oppressed women. She created her own "artificial reproduction outside the womb" if you will. She took away the voices and opinions of other women, (which can be represented by) the egg and the sperm, and artificially conceived an idea without the consultation or support of her fellow women she was trying to fight for (the mother's womb). 

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/08/05/oppression-and-intersectionality/

I have no doubt in my mind that there were women who did agree with her and like her idea of reproduction outside the womb. One side of the argument could be that when Shulamith Firestone took away the voice of other women, she devalued them. She showed she wasn't thinking enough of the other women to consider their input. However, the feminist movement needed a lead voice to represent all women, just as our president Barack Obama represents the American people. Without Firestone, the feminist movement would not have succeeded nearly as much as it did.