Letters to the Editor
Juliebird
Published Letters: 1724 Editor's Choice: 103
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I don't get it
[Read the article: Extreme childbirth]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It just seems anti-instinctual to go do this alone. We are not cats. We have a rich history (that crosses geographical, racial, religiousand class barriers) of women assisting other women in childbirthing. It's a moment (of hour, or day, depending!) to strengthen community between women. And what is so disempowering about saying "I'm tired. Could you please rub my back while I push this baby out?" What is so weak about wanting to hold someome's hand through one of the most mysterious processes our bodies have?
As for the "pain is all in your head" part. That's just silly. Ther uterus is a muscle. It contracts to expel a child. Any long, sustained, repeated contractions of muscles are painful (crunches anyone? bicep curls? now do 1000 reps over 8 hours and tell me it doesn't "hurt"). Never mind that babies can sometimes press against the spine (back labor) or get caught in the pelvis, or tear the *delicate* skin of the perineum on their way out. All of these things impact nerves which sends messages of "ouch!" to the brain.
Is childbirth as "painful" as a compound fracture of the femur? As donating mone marrow? Probably not. Labor, after all, is something the female body has been designed to withstand. But, here's nothing unfeminine about honestly admiting that childbirth is no pedicure!
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another facet
[Read the article: Extreme childbirth]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There's also legal liability to consider. If something goes wrong, who's there to witness that it was an accident, an unforseen complication, etc, instead of criminal negligence or outright infanticide? (What, other than intent, separates freebirthing from those horror stories about teens giving birth in the school bathrooms and dumpng the babies in the trash?) An extreme examplem to be sure, but with a zealous DA and a freebirthed baby, say, strangled by the umbilical cord (a not uncommon scenario, that can be easily fied in a hospital setting, but can be fatal if not corrected before the baby is delivered), a woman could find herself in serious legal jeopardy. (Who can prove no one strangled the baby after birth?)
Were I to lose a baby in childbirth, I'd be out of my mind with grief. To face criminal charges as well would make me suicidal. A medically trained, inpartial party (whether it's a doctor, midwife or doula) is not only important medical protection, but legal protection as well.
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What will it take
[Read the article: Where are the denials?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]to get Gonzales, Wolfowitz and Rove to resign? At this point, I fear they could be having a menage a trois wile watching underage porn and beating puppies with spent nuclear fuel rods and they would *still* say "We want our medals of freedom."
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Haven't seen it yet,
[Read the article: "Shrek the Third"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But I have to remind people of the message of the first 2 movies that is getting forgotten here: it ain't about the surface, babycakes. Shrek and Shrek 2 both offered a refreshing alternative to Disneyfied fairy tale pefection of Beautiful Princess and Prince Charming. As a mother of daughters, I appreciated this central theme more than the pop-culture references. Fiona worries about her Orge looks, but Shrek reminds her that she is beautiful inside and out. Big splashy gestures don't mean as much as feeling "at home" with someone. I think Shrek 2 is at least as good as the original, in terms of delivering this message. Shrek risks his very ofreness to keep Fiona's love, but she'd rather stay with the Ogre she married. "Beautiful" people can me ugly on the inside, "good" people can make mistakes (and still be redeemed), and you don't have to be "good" all the time to be perfectly human (ogreish?).
And I like the slightly bitter (as opposed to nauseatingly Super Sweet) edge as well: Happily Ever After doesn't mean you can't be grouchy sometimes, and even people who are in love can argue (and then make up).
I hope that this core remains in the latest installment of the Shrek franchise, though there are few movie franchises that consistently deliver time after time.
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It's about time
[Read the article: Dems abstain from abstinence-only funding]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank goodness a story about DC that shows progress!
Thanks to our constitutional right to freely practice religion without governmental prosecution, anyone is free to teach "abstinence only" in their own homes. (And what a teachable moment: Your kid: "Mom, you say abstinence only, but my teacher says condoms prevent babies and AIDS. I'm confused." You" "Well, your teacher is not wrong. But in our family, we save ourselves for marriage because it's what God expects of us. Let me explain ....")
In the meantime, our children will get educated on how to protect themselves from disease and unwanted pregnancies.
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Isn't it a problem for both genders
[Read the article: Big trouble in rural China]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]when young women (often mothers) kill themselves at atypically high rates? Is that necessarily misandrogny?
And is it any wonder, when females are told that they are "worthless" from birth, that many of them would feel suicidal?
Isn't that worth remedying?
In the US, I believe (sorry no stats on this at the moment) successful suicide rates are highest among teenaged males (complicated by risky behaviors in this same group which might actually be passive suicide attempts). And I believe there is a strong social concern about this phenemonon.