I also don't believe for a second that those men don't know full well what FGM really is and what it really does. They keep the practice going from knowledge that it works like a charm, not ignorance.

As ignorant as a lot of men (and women) are about the female reproductive system, even in our own relatively well-educated country, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Sudanese men are ignorant of the truth of the matter. It's not as if countries like Sudan have progressive sex education policies in place. A lot of these men have probably not seen a healthy, intact female since early childhood family bath times.

The whole point of FGM is to keep women faithful to their husbands by removing their physical desire for sex.

Really? That's the whole point? Strangely, I seem to have the impression that in the majority of cases, women are doing this to younger women, an I've seen very little indicating that the men are forcing the situation.

Women must see some personal advantage in doing this. It is possible that in a polygamous society, destroying a young woman's sexuality might protect the household status of an older first wife, as well as that of her children.

of their experienced people and their "proven" methods and their "overperformance", why was the campaign manager just replaced? I don't know if HRC is as teflon-coated as her husband, and the thought of what the Repubs would try to do to her upon her election scares me even more than the thought of what they'd undoubtedly pull during the campaign.

Whether you continue therapy or not (no, it's not the answer to everything), do go look for a good yoga teacher in your area (someone who approaches yoga in the spirit of fun; it doesn't sound like you need any more "heavy", perfectionistic BS than you already have). It really will help to put you back into your body (into the "here and now"), which will increase your energy level and alleviate a lot of those feelings of despair and alienation.

BS does not, in fact, reside on Mars. I think he's mentioned before that he lives in Austin. Though I think he must be sitting out in one of the goofy suburban wastelands around Austin. If he really lived in town, he'd know there are plenty of women here who like greenie men who ride bikes to work.

Though perhaps he does know that, and has met a few, and they all had the wrong color hair or chunky ankles or some other atrocious personal flaw.

Still no edit feature in here, eh?

Maybe he could leave off attacking the relatively few number of Ferrari drivers on the road and join the dogpile on the drivers of all those roadhogging, visibility-reducing, smog-spewing urban tanks a lot of these women (and men) are tooling around in? Or maybe those haven't become such a scourge in Britain yet.

This is like blaming fois gras for the obesity epidemic.

You do not want a cold fish in bed, why should I?

Then cease your wistful panting after the 18-year-olds and find yourself a grownup woman with that twinkle of lust in her eye, silly! That'll get you some hot and mammalian, I promise you that.

At 35, I'm starting to notice some of what the LW is talking about. In some ways I kind of like it though. It means I can go about my business a little more privately. No one is trailing me around the grocery store trying to get up the nerve to ask for my number, it's less likely that when I'm swimming or at the gym or yoga class that someone is trying very hard to position himself in a place where he can get a quick peek at things I'd really rather he didn't. It's kind of a relief. I'm naturally kind of introverted and never enjoyed that feeling I would get sometimes that I had an audience when I was just trying to go about my daily business.

And as far as being able to enjoy your body as it ages and things begin to sag a bit, sports/fitness activities really seem to help change to focus of appreciation from the aesthetics of your body to its function. And it's the function of a youthful body the exercise will help preserve more anyway, something you'll be really grateful for at 70 or 80 when many of your sedentary friends will be lining up for walkers and wheelchairs.

that equates their political beliefs with their romantic taste

Well, pollsters have been doing this with regard to women's votes for male candidates for many election cycles now, and isn't turnabout fair play? Even if it is utter nonsense anyway?

let's ask death row prisoners if they think the death penalty is excessive

The death PENALTY is exercised against people who have actually been tried in open court and CONVICTED of something.

INTERROGATION PROCEDURES are used against people who might or might not have done anything at all, and in the cases at issue here, don't even necessarily know what they're suspected of (you do recall that habeus corpus suspension, right?) and have had no opportunity to present their own evidence and allow their entire cases to be weighed by anyone in anything approaching and epistemically responsible manner. The comparison aeschylus is trying to make is absolutely ridiculous.

I don't like this term. It's not even really that anatomically accurate. What most people are trying to refer to is the whole female genital region, right? "Vagina" just refers to the orifice.

So several years ago, I thought to myself "isn't there nice slang term that could be used to refer to the whole shebang?" So of course, I have been encouraging people to call it a "shebang" ever since. It's not too sickeningly cutesy, hasn't been hijacked as a derogatory term, and there are appropriate (and slangy/punny) connotations on multiple levels.