Letters to the Editor
Sandra M
Published Letters: 577 Editor's Choice: 139
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When Political Correctness Attacks
[Read the article: Porky pregnancies or body dysmorphia?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The picture of a very thin pregnant woman illustrating the dangers of obesity during gestation is a beautiful example of PC run amok. I'm sure the editors considered putting a photo of an *actually* obese woman..but then gave up in fear of all the backlash. Where does one draw the line in depicting obesity anyway? If you put a picture of woman 30% overweight in the story, most of the female readership will write in with derisive comments about 'the average woman is a size 10' (never mind that the average woman is overweight).
Of course now there will be a backlash against using the thin pregnant woman - because after all, her thinness is representing an unrealistic expectation about female body size and image.
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Friends shouldn't prescribe the acceptable ways for you to be happy
[Read the article: My queer radical feminist peers are aghast that I want to marry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I totally understand the pressure and 'social suicide' the LW thinks her marriage will mean within her coterie. I got married at 22 and faced the exact same thing. My professor of women's studies actually stopped speaking to me. Ah, irony.
Just as I don't understand fundamentalist Christians avocating hate in the name of Jesus, I don't understand uber-liberals intolerance of anything that runs contrary to what makes them feel good to be tolerant of. You know the type - marching for the rights of gays but hating openly gay Republicans, for example. We want you to be free to live as you wish -- but only if you agree with us!
True friends are happy for their friends' happiness. Use the experience to help you sort the wheat from the chaff in your social circle. As for snappy comebacks -
I remember that lots of people said to me, "I just never imagined YOU getting married! And so young!" I refused to take the bait, just gave the same answer: Yeah, well, you have a pretty limited imagination.
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Where is her respsonsibility in all of this?
[Read the article: The FDA got me pregnant]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That doesn't mean she - all of us - shouldn't have access to the abortion pill. But to frame her quandry so that she conveniently evades all responsibility for the pregnancy is idiotic and does all women a disservice.
I believe abortion should be legal, safe, easy to obtain and inexpensive. But I also believe that the termination of pregnancy is a wee bit more major than digging wax out of your ear. Having access to abortion doesn't mean that women are checking all sense of responsible planning and management of their sex lives at the abortion clinic door.
I think broadsheet needs to rethink it's answer to the question "Does lack of emergency contraception cause abortion?" The answer is no - being too rushed to put in your diaphragm though you are well aware you and your husband do not, repeat do NOT, want another child caused this abortion. Of course she should have had access to Plan B. But to 'blame' politicos for finding herself in the situation she found herself in is more than a little disingenuous.
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Is There No Escape From The Tyranny of Being Sexy?
[Read the article: Sexy maternity]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]They already tell us to practice our kegels while we are peeing...is there no place a woman is safe to just...be? Why, exactly, must a pregnant woman be sexy? It's a funny world when the madonna/whore dichotomy is being tipped ever more lasciviously onto the whore side -- even for expectant mothers. I'm not saying pregnant women need to look frumpty or unpretty- can't they just be normal pregnant women?
Even Angelina Jolie isn't Angelina Jolie. Does anyone really think that cover of People magazine wasn't done with a half dozen hair and makeup and lighting and photography experts? I mean, come on.
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The test at the doctor is IDENTICAL to the test at the drugstore
[Read the article: Wanna wrestle? First take a pregnancy test]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When I wanted to confirm my home pregnancy kit at the doctor, she actually turned me down -- said there was no need to incur the additional cost as she would be using the same test I'd already used, with positive results, twice.
The new rule is a violation of privacy and sex discrimination. It is between an athlete and her doctor to decide what level of activity is acceptable for the athlete and the fetus. If this rule is enforced, it is just one step away from telling pro wrestlers they can no longer do their jobs because of their pregnancy - which is no more fair than if City Hall fired a woman for being pregnant.
The level of a woman's fitness has a lot to do with the amount of actitivity she can safely sustain during pregnancy. I know a woman who ran a 100 mile race at 6 months along. She does 4 or 5 of them a year and the race represented no unusual strain on her body...she was fine, the baby was born exactly on his due date and weighed 9 pounds and was screamingly healthy. Another woman might have trouble walking 100 miles over the entire course of her gestation if she had a poor level of fitness prior to getting pregnant.
If the ruling body is worried about liability they should simply have the wrestler sign a waiver saying she won't hold the league lliable for an injuries to her or a developing fetus sustained during practices or matches.
Why not have male wrestlers take a test to demonstrate how lively their sperm are? If there is a decrease from one test to another, better suspend them! Also have them answer a questionnaire about whether they have had children or plan to have children in the near future. After all, men who have children might ruin their money earning potential, and men who plan to have children might ruin their sperm-making potential - we know pot and alcohol and age affect a man's sperm count and quality, so getting the crap beat regularly beat out of them is likely to be an issue for the unborn child as well.