Katherine Boyle

It is a choice.

Not everyone does it.

Only the people who want to.

They might want to do it for economic reasons.

They might want to do it for love of country.

But it is not something that everyone has to do to serve and defend their country.

And if you think about it, throughout human history, that is the first time that a country has said to young men, your purpose on this earth is not to defend where you live.

And it was codified.

It was like, that is not the purpose of manhood.

And then 10 days later, it was only in 2023 when I was writing this piece that I actually even realized this.

10 days later, the female equivalent happened where Roe v. Wade passed from the Supreme Court.

And that had a similar impact on women, where it used to be for all of human history, your purpose on this earth is to have children, is to have a family.

And this was the first time, and in Western society too, a lot of nations copied us after it, but this was the moment that really changed, where 10 days after men were told your purpose is not to serve, women were told your purpose is not to have a family, it's your choice.

And so it completely changes the view of how men view themselves and how women view themselves all in 1973, January, 10 days.

And it's like, I would say there's a lot of people who would say, well, these are all good things.

It's really good that there's choice in America.

Not everyone should have to serve their country.

Men and women shouldn't have to go to war or women shouldn't have to become mothers.

But what we didn't do in that moment is we didn't provide anyone an alternative purpose.

We didn't provide men and women anything that says, actually, the purpose of manhood is this, or actually, the purpose of womanhood is this.