Letters to the Editor
Anonymous_Too
Published Letters: 187 Editor's Choice: 2
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Discomfort
[Read the article: Walk in a brothel, walk out a rapist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"I'm uncomfortable calling anyone who sleeps with a trafficked girl a rapist"
Hmm. She doesn't like him, much less love him. She doesn't even know him. She isn't doing it voluntarily. Most likely, she isn't even getting paid. The guy may be shelling out money, but she won't see a penny of it.
So what would you call it, exactly? And in what universe is it even okay, much less a good idea?
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I'm so glad I'm female!
[Read the article: Reading your way to a Y chromosome]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't need a reading list, dress code, or anything else external to define myself as a woman. I can check my oil without having an identity crisis or worrying about how it will affect my ability to bake bread or comfort my child later. I sure as heck don't need detailed instructions on how to hug my friends! Nothing I read, wear or do (at least that's within my own comfort zone) can ever efeminate me.
Notice that I had to make up the word. There just isn't a female equivalent to "emasculate".
Personally, I think it's the great tragedy of masculinity, that it's something one does, puts on or otherwise assumes, not something one is. Male identity is taken on from the outside, like paint. Having a Y chromosome isn't enough. Having a penis and testicles isn't enough. Being taller, having one's center of gravity in one's chest, having greater muscle mass and more body hair doesn't cut it, either. You have to Do Masculinity, check the website, book, TV show or whatever manual you might decide to follow before you can even get dressed in the morning.
It isn't just tragic. It's also, from this woman's point of view, repulsive. It's hard to get aroused by pity, no matter how much money might be attached to the object of it.
I don't think it's just me, either. I don't think it's coincidence that the "Menaissance" is happening at the same time that singles' events are being called sausage fests because of the disproportionate number of men and men outnumber women by as much as 4 to 1 on the local dating sites.
Maybe this is something men need to work through. I don't know. What I do know is that I'm backing away slowly and getting on with life, as I clearly can't contribute to this in any functional way.
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YOUR CULTURE IN INSIDIOUSLY DESTRUCTIVE TO WOMEN.
[Read the article: Little girls gone wild]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You're dead on target. It's not even insidious anymore. It's overt.
My friends and I are scared for our children, boys and girls. More than ever, I'm seeing families with mass media bans, families that are homeschooling, and families that are buying too much house just to get into a saner school district. A lot of people are trying to get themselves and their kids out because frankly, a lot of Americans hate this stuff.
I grew up with no TV, and it was a radical idea then. Now, not so much. Believe it or not, the more this stuff gets forced down our throats, the more of us are turning away. It's just harder to see us, partly because we're not as visually assaultive and partly because when we do show up, people start slinging mud. Feminist is a common epithet, as are prude and emasculating bitch. There are others, too.
I've learned to consider it a complement. I'm also grateful that I have the legal rights I need to live life on my own terms. If I was forced to give in to this stuff in order to survive, I think I'd slit my wrists.
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Crossover nursing
[Read the article: Hero of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't know many women who would do the same...
I don't know many nursing mothers, former or current, who wouldn't have done it. Your milk lets down when a baby cries, any baby. You'd be aching and drenched, not to mention the fact that letting those babies die would have been far more difficult psychologically than nursing them.
Of course, that woman must have been thirsty as well as hungry! Wow!
My friends and I used to nurse each other's babies. Not frequently, but it wasn't something we had to think much about, either. How do you think we did Date Nights? Breast pumps are horrible, when they actually work.
It's not something we talked about much because mere breastfeeding is a bit of a taboo, but it wasn't a difficult thing to do.