Letters to the Editor
Juliebird
Published Letters: 2077 Editor's Choice: 107
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feminism comes full circle?
[Read the article: Fondling Stephen Colbert]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree with others who posted that Jane Fonda was "invading andconquering" and that Steven Colbert was genuinely uncomfortable.
What I'm not sure abouit is her motive: she said it was because of him speaking about his Jane Fonda fantasies ona n eariler show: was she flattered by those fantasies, or outraged?
If the former, then I am a little embarassed for her. Maybe she'd had too many cocktails before the interview (though she didn't seem tipsy). Or is she an aging starlet who is clinging to the last of her sexa ppeal glory days? LIke Liz Taylor on Letterman, plaintively asking the public at large for a date "I just want someone who will take me to dinner ..."
If it's the latter, then this was a brilliant way of saying "Don't trifle with me, Darlin'." A taste of Colbert's own medicine: you objectify me, then I objectify you, and how does it feel? Without becoming a shrill, man-hating screed. (Not that I think Colbert is a misogynist animal who treats all women like meat. I adore him. And I haven't seen his fantasy bit, but his persona does thrive on making his guests uncomfortable.)
Or maybe this was a male/female display of practical joking? Like Brad Pitt and Grorge Clooney. A perhaps unspoken dare on how far can we go before one of us breaks character? In which case, I hope these two have reached a truce (because I can't imagine what the next step in that chess atch would be, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to see it).
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If it quacks like a duck ...
[Read the article: Does sex through fraud constitute rape?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am assuming the woman is truthful when she says she thought Alvin was Duane (there's no way to prove otherwise, and if she's lying, the whole case is moot).
And while I agree with some posters who see skeptical: didn't she know? How couldshe be so gullible? etc. I can also see someone sleeping so deeply, being roused at a weird point in their sleep cycle, that the slippage between reality and dreamland is completely unclear. I'm a very deep sleeper: while sleeping, I've had conversations with my husband, gotten up to let my pets in or out of the room, even gotten up to comfort my crying children and gone back to bed, all without conscious memory of the events. And while my sex life if none of your business, I can certainly believe waking up to pleasant sensations and, well, rolling with it, without giving it too much thought. Our super egos are tune out so we can sleep, and dream.
When one is a sleep, one is in an altered state of consciousness, much like when one is drunk or high. Alvin took advantage of the woman's altered state of consciousness to have sex with her, when presumably she would otherwise have been unwilling.
So, if he had slipped something in her drink, or given her many drinks, and then had sex with her, even if she hadn't fought back, would that have counted as rape? (It counts in my book, but I don't know abot Massachusetts law books). If the answer is yes, than Alvin is still a rapist in this instance.
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seems to me
[Read the article: "Eugenics" or freedom of choice?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that if you planned to keep the pregnancy no matter what, you probably would not want the testing. And conversely, if you didn't want to raise a child with Down Syndrome, or profound habndicaps, or if you wanted to be able to make cesisions about extra medical care as aearly as possible, you would.
I chose not to do genetic screeniung tests of amniocentisis for either of my pregnancies: we were low-risk for genetic defects like CF and TaySach's, and if we had a baby with Down Syndrome, we planned to love and parent it. If we'd gotten a positive resut for Down Syndrome, we would have spentthe rest of the pregnancy worrying about what to do in terms of medical care, education, mental health care (for us!), etc.
My friend is Jewish, and is a carrier for TaySach's. She opted for early screening. The happy results allowed her to enjoy her pregnancy.
This is the beauty ofchoice.