Look at what arrived early, like an unexpected baby: My new copy of the infamous NCFA Adoption Factbook 3 aka The Adoption Mythbook. that I wrote about a few days ago. That was fast! The book is so explosive that it arrived triple wrapped in a box! Just in case! Though published in 1999, this copy is brand new. Even smells hot off the press. I can’t wait to dive into it and rekindle those happy times when activism was fun.
On page 564 under Barriers to Adoption #8 we find Bastard Nation:
But none of the anti-adoption groups are as purposefully virulent and proudly radical as the tiny, aggressive , and unfortunately named, “Bastard Nation,” spawned by angry adult adopted adults who found each other on the internet on alt.adoption The group, whose members sometimes sometimes claim in media interviews that their sole interest is in getting their original birth certificate alternately say they want to meet their birthmothers, used entirely different language on alt.adoption, a publicly-accessible part of Usenet, where they “jokingly” referred to birthmothers as “birthwhores or birth whores”
Dr. Pierce then claimed that during the Oregon M58 campaign “we” removed 226 (!)”crude insults,” and offensive” and “embarrassing” postings from the newsgroup. That simply is not true and was not possible since alt.adoption was unmoderated, and the only person that could remove a post was the poster. If somebody removed their posts that’s on them. I love the image of Bill pecking through alt,adoption in the middle of the night searching desperately for “offensive “comments and Bastard Nation crudity.
“Meeting birthmothers” has never been a policy of Bastard. Nation. Reunion is a personal, not a political matter. Here is where Dr. Pierce’s diatribe gets really entertaining. The “birthwhore” quote came from birthmother activist Jackie Patrick Fox naming herself “birthwhore” and declaring herself a citizen of Slutvakia.
Bill’s outrage at the label “Bastard Nation” is a real kicker since he had no compunction privately tossing F-bombs around. But this is what politics is all about.
When pariahs meet. Capital University Law School, November 2, 2002. Between us we annoyed liberal do-gooders and social workers in spandex and were banished from their island.
Finally, the upshot is that IRL, Bill liked and respected Bastard Nation because, unlike reform groups, we do what we say we will and stood up to him. He used to tell me, “Keep fighting me”. When he retired from NCFA he joined us on alt.adoption. We accepted him. He thoroughly enjoyed himself and we enjoyed him. Occasionally, he’d drop some “interesting” intel probably to stick it to somebody in the industry.
In case you’re wondering what other anti-adoptionists were cited by Dr. Piece in #8: Concerned United Birthparents (CUB), feminists, “certain” academics. and the Boston Women’s Health Collective/Our Bodies Ourselves for calling adoption a “limbo loss” for mothers. Elsewhere in the chapter: birthfathers. unmarried pregnant women who won’t consider adoption, abortion, ICWA, “untrained social workers,” and “family preservationists” to name a few.
I mentioned in my earlier blog that the Mythbook was funded by various rightwing foundations. Here are some of them:
- Lyne and Harry Bradley Foundation
- FM Kirby Foundation
- Scaife Family Foundation
- Smith Richardson Foundation
____________
(No, it will never be X!)
Stop Safe Haven Baby Boxes Now!
Poke the Bear 2025
Day 14–16 days to go!
