Letters to the Editor
Leeandra Nolting
Published Letters: 177 Editor's Choice: 10
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it happens to "nice" girls too...
[Read the article: Shaming Jamie Lynn Spears]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We know how babies are made. For all we know, this could have happened because Jamie Lynn and her boyfriend were stupid and/or immoral ONCE.
I have two cousins who got pregnant while in high school--one at 16, one at 17. Both were nice, smart girls from good, stable, churchgoing-but-not-fundie middle-class families. Both went to Catholic grade school and then to an all-girls Catholic high school. I don't know the details of either conception. I don't know for sure about the older girl (since I was five years old when it happened) but the younger was definitely well aware of different kinds of contraception. Both kept and raised the babies with tons of family support.
Jamie Lynn Spears doesn't deserve to be crucified and vilified for this any more than any other 16-year-old who fucked up. She's a "celebrity," but she's still an ordinary 16-year-old.
For the "but how will I explain it to my daughters?" parents...sheesh. Talk about your family's values. Talk about how to avoid becoming pregnant. Talk about how if they do screw up and become pregnant, they can tell you without you coming down on them like a ton of bricks.
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tom brady vs. jamie lynn spears
[Read the article: Shaming Jamie Lynn Spears]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Tom Brady is in his thirties and walked out on his pregnant girlfriend in order to date a supermodel.
The thirty-something pregnant girlfriend, Bridget Whatshername, (if what I've heard is true) got pregnant deliberately in the hopes of holding onto him.
Ummm...the only thing those two seem to have going for them over Ms. Spears and her boyfriend is age, not maturity, wisdom, or morality. Jamie Lynn Spears and her boyfriend at least WANT to do the right thing, even if they are hopelessly naive about what it entails.
I'm more willing to cut 16- and 18-year-olds some slack for making stupid mistakes than 30-year-olds for doing the same.
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I don't know...
[Read the article: Women are "worst drivers"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...I'm a straight woman, and I kick my boyfriend's ass at navigating. He is famous for taking/attempting to take Broad St. anywhere in the city (New Orleans), regardless of whether or not it's the best way or if it will even get us where we're going.
We were in England not too long ago, the land of not only driving on the left, but also of NO STRAIGHT ROADS. We had a rental car with no satellite navigation system. We also had no map. He drove, but I was in charge of navigating. I had spent time in England seven years before, but never drove when I was there (took the train instead). We got from Stockport to York to Nottingham to Grantham to Lincoln to Luton (as well as to all sorts of places between and inside those cities) by my direction. (I drew the line at trying to drive in/navigate London streets.)
As to which sex on the whole drives better, I'd take a look at the insurance tables...
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It's just a doll...
[Read the article: Real! Live! American girls!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]AG dolls are too damn expensive, but they're well made, and I think you'd have to be seriously paranoid to see any sort of creepiness to a little girl wanting one. They are dolls that look like little girls, made to be played with by little girls.
Many, though not all, little girls (and little boys) like to play with dolls. It's normal. They've been doing it in pretty much all cultures since the stone age. If you don't believe me, go to the British Museum and see the Greek/Roman/Egyptian/Ancient Chinese etc. toys.
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I, too, do not like the pronoun shift...
[Read the article: It's my abortion, too!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...when couples say things like "We're pregnant." I know it's a joint thing yada yada yada, but it's completely inaccuarate. Only the WOMAN is pregnant. Only woman can GET pregnant.
Besides, you can always say "We're having a baby" instead.
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I'm inclined to agree with the "maternity leave"...
[Read the article: Maternity leave ... from math class?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't want to "encourage" teen pregnancy, but expecting the girls back in school the day after they are released from the hospital is ridiculous. Especially since hospitals don't keep you that long after you've had a baby nowadays.
Yeah, three or four days after becoming a mother, your hormones are going crazy, and your milk is coming in...yep, that's exactly when you need to be sitting on your stitches on a wooden lecture hall chair seven hours a day, because you are SOOOO going to be able to pay attention to algebra.
And what of the girls who had C-sections? I thought the recovery time for those was six weeks or something thereabouts.
"But they should think about the consequences before opening their legs..." Of course they should. But this is the wrong way to "punish" them. Kids get hurt in stupid-ass car accidents all the time, and they are allowed medical leave to recover from their injuries. They get to do the work from home.
Let the girls do the work from home if they want. Encouraging them to complete their educations is going to make their lives better, their babies' lives better (why should we punish a little baby for his parents' being too young?), and overall, it will be less costly to society in the long run.
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anecdotally, Jane Goodall raised her son among the chimps...
[Read the article: Trading preschool for passports]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...and by all accounts he turned out pretty well-adjusted.
A lot of the letters in response to this sound like sour grapes to me. Yes, this writer has financial means that most mothers do not. Yes, a lot of writers for Salon seem to be white and upper-middle class.
But this article was about HER PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, and her personal experience wasn't trying to make ends meet while mothering her young children and feeling trapped; it was merely mothering her young children and feeling trapped.
Go for it. It's not forever. If it doesn't work out, you can go home again.