Letters to the Editor
Juliebird
Published Letters: 2091 Editor's Choice: 107
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De Nile
[Read the article: Fearful fathers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Some are sadistic, yes, but not all. They guy who got me wasn't. He was actually very romantic toward his victims ..."
This response actually worries me about your state of health. (I'm not trying to be insulting or derrogatory, but I'm concerned about how you rationalize your own experience). Many non-violent molesters are very seductive. And that's a whole different cat-and-mouse power game. Kids can be easily "seduced" (let me paraphrase Valmont from "Dangerous LIasons": "She knows nothing, she's seen nothing. She's bound to be curious. She'll be on her back before I've opened the first buncgh of flowers.") because sexual contact feels good. And if "romance" is involved, that usually involves flattery, a false sense of the victim being in control ("Look what you do to me. I can't help myself around you," etc.) which can be quite appealing. And then there's the bonus points of the molester being able to say "s/he wanted it. S/he asked for more." Jackpot! The victim is "at fault!" (in the mind of the perp, and sadly, often in the mind of the victim).
But to say that there's no power/coersion issue going on? To deny that this is a form of brainwashing? Indicates to me that you are *not* healed.
Sexual activity with a prepubescent child of any kind is, by most reasonable people's definitions, an act of sadism. The physical damage can be minor, or nonexistent, but the harm to the pscyhe is great, even if the perp is feeling "romantic."
Seducing children, instead of adults, is an act of power and aggression, even if the perp is "non-viloent."
I'll end with quoting Dennis Miller, from a long-ago HBO show:
"Look. If you ever find yourself wanting to f%&k a child, just kill yourself. Because that's the best you can do. Just lean into the pitch, and take one for the team." Extreme? Yes? But, given all the information that's been shared here, it's hard not to agre with the sentiment.
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@invisible anonymous
[Read the article: Fearful fathers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I thought AKA Smith expressed my sentiments to your original post more eloquently than I could: you did the right thing. My heart aches for you and for your daughter. I hope she and you are both healing from this nightmarish experience. Your ex- sounds like a true sociopath: I hope there is a special circle in hell for him.
I'm not sure (becuase of your anonymous status, which I understand why you used) what other posts you may be referring to.
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@invisible anonymous
[Read the article: Fearful fathers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I thought AKA Smith expressed my sentiments to your original post more eloquently than I could: you did the right thing. My heart aches for you and for your daughter. I hope she and you are both healing from this nightmarish experience. Your ex- sounds like a true sociopath: I hope there is a special circle in hell for him.
I'm not sure (becuase of your anonymous status, which I understand why you used) what other posts you may be referring to.
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again, let me explain
[Read the article: Bill Maher: "Don't show me your tits!" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]1. Breast-feeding is not the same as sex, masturbating or excreting urine and feces.
2. Many babies refuse to be covred up when eating. (What adult would eat with a blanket over their head?
3. Most nursing moms know how to breastfeed discreetly without covering up from a blanket. In my experience of nursing 2 babies, average time of exposed boobage was <5 seconds. Drunks at the Appleby's bar are far more distracting than me in a booth nursing.
While I often think Bill Maher is funny, (and I have defended his misquote regarding Dick Cheny and death), I am disappoineted in his attitude here. He says that nursing moms are doing it for attention. That attitude is sophomoric.
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another side
[Read the article: Where have all the black models gone?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Let's face it, high-fashion runway models do not represent "real" women in any way. They are young (what average 18-yo wears a $5k designer suit?), they are unusually tall, ridiculously thin, and often strikingly beautiful in way that is atypical (Iman's long neck, Cindy Crawford's stragetically place mole, Twiggy's gamine-ness, etc.). The models have to torture themselves to stay model-sized (according to my good friend and former model, who gave it up because she was a "plus-sized model" at 6' and 130 pounds. She said she'd have to become a serious drug to stay marketable). Then add the often ridiculous hair and makeup (heroine chic? Glamour Goth? Cyndi Lauper meets Theda Barra? yeesh.) and the silly walks (I always expect to see John Cleese sashay down the runway). And the models in the magazines? Airbrushed, scit-exed beyond any proportion DaVinci would recognize (let alone admire) as human, and retouched to unatainable perfection.
And we're worried that they're too white?
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Gradysu you are missing the point
[Read the article: Bill Maher: "Don't show me your tits!" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Yes, breastfeeding is natural. So are peeing and pooping. There are bathrooms available for all three of these functions."
No. Breastfeeding is *not* *not* *not* anything at all like urinating or defecating.
It is completely *inappropriate* for anybody to eat where people shit.
And, I think several posters are missing Bill Maher's own narcissism in his commentary. He's jealous: he wishes he could masturbate in public (well, not really, I'm sure, but that's one of his punchlines), so any woman who nurses in public must therefore be must also be denied fondling her own erogenous zones.
It's so far off the mark, and, truth be told, makes Bill Maher sound like a whiny toddler in need of a nap. "But it's not faaaaaaaaiiiirrrr! I want to touch myyyyyyyyself too! Why does sheeeeeeee get to?! Waaaaaaaa!"
Because, nursing a baby is not at all the same as masturbating either.
People, nursing a baby is *exactly* like feeding a baby a bottle. Except the food is of higher quality than formula and the container is kept inside mom's bra. It's not about excretion. It's not about sex. And for Pete's sake, it's not about you.
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stilletto
[Read the article: Bill Maher: "Don't show me your tits!" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]the day your semen can provide 20 calories per ounce of perfectly balanced fat, protein and sugar for a human being aged 0-36 mos
the day your semen is the AAP recommended nutrition for babies
the day your ejaculate can protect your child from viral and bacterial infection
the day your penis will soothe your fussy child to sleep, or ease the pain after a shot, or calm a child in terror
be my guest.
Until then, see a shrink.