So funny story guys…I may have used a guy’s name for my online deliberation discussion identity, which could have possibly led to a women ranting at me about considering the feminine perspective of abortion.  Yes, that did happen and I’ve decided to go with it. 

My nickname on the soccer team is Petey because my last name is Peterson, and now it’s beginning to transition to just straight-up Peter.  Therefore, as I was considering what username to put for my interactions on the Time website, I figured I would use Peter instead of my regular name (to keep my identity safe just in case).  Unfortunately, I didn’t consider the rhetorical situation of my online deliberation (gender rights including topics such as abortion).  Therefore, when it came time for people to respond to my prompt on an article discussing abortion, I received some pretty funny responses…

Dear Peter and all men willing to fight for these women

Think with your heart and mind for the woman… all of the women that will have to face that horrible Truth. That it was not just a blob of tissues… It was HER VERY OWN CHILD that she terminated! OUCH!!!!

Obviously that wasn’t the political discussion I was expecting, but it actually turned out to be very interesting.  At first I felt pretty awkward being considered a guy, but then I decided it could be a sort of rhetorical experiment to engage in such a gender-based issue as the opposite gender.  I’m still expressing my viewpoints, but I’m letting my fellow debaters educate me as if I did not have the perspectives and intuitions of a female.  For instance, the statements above are from a woman who tried to get me see the situation from the eyes of a woman, although not in a way I would have anticipated.  The woman’s story and opinion turned out to be different from any opinion I had heard on abortion before.  When she was younger, the woman believed in abortion and experienced one herself.  However, when she got older she came to realize it was a traumatic and emotionally scarring incident that she would never recover from.  In fact, the woman now argues that abortion shouldn’t even be a legal option because the ramifications are so drastic for women who experience it.  I am grateful to this woman for sharing her story because it opened my eyes to a new argument against abortion I had never continued.  I hope my online deliberation continues to inform, educate, and enlighten me.