Letters to the Editor
mslaura
Published Letters: 23 Editor's Choice: 4
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This broad loves the Broadsheet
[Read the article: Introducing Salon's cheeky new women's blog]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Oh get over it, all you freakin' whiners out there. You don't get it at all. Broadsheet is not a pink ghetto or any such crap. It's a fancier version of the funny and interesting news snippets that my girlfriends and I send to one another. My smart girlfriends, that is. The not-so-smart ones just send chain letters. ;-)
I think that Broadsheet is a great idea, and very cleverly executed. I have enjoyed each and every one of the blog posts so far, from the political to the weird.
As for the accusations that Broadsheet is marginalizing women...ugh. Hasn't anyone noticed that Broadsheet is in *addition* to the regular Salon stories, and not replacing them? If you don't like it, don't read it. All the usual stuff is still on the Salon site, it hasn't gone away.
Ladies, I salute you. Keep up the good work, the world needs more smart articulate women telling it like it is!
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So what did they do before pads existed?
[Read the article: Period pain in Zimbabwe]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not trying to minimize the suffering, but what did Zimbabwean women do before modern menstrual pads existed? (And I'm also not sure how using tree bark externally to absorb blood would cause a vaginal infection.)
I'm asking the question because I wondered what mothers did before disposable diapers existed, or what they did in places where there's not enough fresh water available to rinse out cloth diapers (a very water-intensive process).
The answer led me to elimination communication (as it is known in modern times), aka the ancient practice of communicating with and pottying infants and not leaving them to pee/poop in their garments. I've successfully done it with my son, to our mutual benefit, and he has been out of diapers since 16 months.
Sort of unrelated, but the same kind of questioning applies. What did these women use before, and why are they now dependent on modern disposable pads, thereby causing large amounts of non-recyclable trash to enter their communities?
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What? Girdles rock!
[Read the article: Corset comeback]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Oh come now. Girdles serve a definite purpose, and corsets are not necessarily the organ-smushing, faint-inducing contraptions they once were.
I used to have a small waist, and very strong abs. Never had a day of back pain in my life. I lifted heavy weights, and toted them like feathers.
Then I got pregnant. I gained 70 pounds (yes, I lost it afterwards), and my son was a BIG baby who stuck right out front. My abs split neatly in half right down the middle of my body, with a 3 inch gap in between them.
THEN I had an emergency C-section, so they were cut in half the other way too. Talk about a mess. My poor abs were thoroughly destroyed, a complete wreck. Where once my core had been a mighty firmament, the anchor of my strength, now it was a lumpy pooch sticking out in front of me, scarred and sad.
Plus oh LORD how my back ached. With no support from up front, my back started to give out under the strain of lifting and carrying my ever-growing bundle of joy.
I was macho at first and did crunches and all kinds of things to try to fix it. Then I read Julie Tupler's "Lose Your Mummy Tummy" (stupid name, great book) and discovered that I had been doing everything all wrong.
What I needed to do was to support my abs and hold them together, while strengthening the inner muscles that go around my core and provide a natural girdle of muscle. Until my natural girdle of muscle could be knitted back together though, I needed help just holding my internal organs in so that they didn't pooch out of my lower belly and put even MORE strain on my back.
Enter my girdle. I got a "waist cincher" from a corset shop online. It's not extreme, but it's very supportive, with hook and eye closures. It's black, I think it's even sexy! (My husband couldn't care less ;-)
My back is now well-supported. I can bend and lift with no pain and without feeling like my guts are going to spill out the front of my body. My ab separation is not constantly being torn open again and again, so it's actually healing now. My pooch is going away.
The girdle is not some new tool of the patriarchy. It's a very old garment, meant to support women in what becomes a very weak area after childbirth. I see new moms all the time in my line of work, and they all bewail their weakened, poochy, middles. It's not just that it looks bad, it's literally *crippling* to have your abs torn in half, which is what happens to 95% of pregnant women.
So give the corset-bashing a rest. If more women wore girdles after having a baby, they'd feel better and regain their core strength sooner. Instead, why not write an article on Julie Tupler and what she's doing to educate pregnant women and new moms about their bodies? I'm a bio major and I had no clue about post-partum ab care and general new mom ergonomics. My doctor told me I needed surgery and there was nothing I could do. Ass.