I have tried several forms of oral contraceptive, as a smoker and eventually as an ex-smoker and they all made me a crazed asshole. So I tried the ring and it made me suicidal. Awesome. So I recently had a non-hormonal IUD put in...and it's the best thing that's ever happened to me, my emotions, and my sex life. I can't speak highly enough about it, it absolutely baffles me why any woman would still take hormonal contraceptives (and I say this as someone with PMDD who tried Yaz and saw very little improvement). No, I don't work for ParaGuard or any pharmaceutical company, I'm simply a girl with touchy hormones who can't understand why women still pump themselves full of those crazy hormone filled pills (or patches or rings). Of course there are a few minimal risks, but I'd rather risk a pierced ovary than stroke-out in my thirties. that's my $.02!

I quit smoking by not quitting. I just slowed down. I didn't make an announcement (something that regularly deflated my attempts to quit in the past) and I didn't beat myself up over cheating. I just systematically cut one cigarette out of my daily routine (which was a pack a day) every two weeks until I was down to none. I'd allow myself to cheat and have a cigarette if I wanted to, as long as I acknowledged that one slip was not cause to give up. Now, I have completely lost all taste for cigarettes, and even throw up if I try to smoke one. Good luck with quitting! If my method doesn't work for you, try hypnosis. I have an ex-chain-smoking aunt who swears that's what did it for her (she'd been smoking 30 years when she quit, I'd only been smoking for five).

Circle 1: Y N

xoxox

GW

But why would you expect anything from a Bret Easton Ellis adaptation but pure unrelenting debauchery? Has the man every created a character that's likeable? I might not have lived like the characters in "Rules of Attraction" but that movie completely defines the over-entitled slut bags that were my classmates as a liberal arts undergrad (I think that book took place in the 80's, I was an '03 grad and the themes were all still relevant). Similarly, while not everyone in the 80s were coke-snorting Hollywood types, I believe Ellis was painting a portrait of those types because they were the most prevalent in his peripherals at the time. Not to defend a movie that I've never seen, but as an avid BEE fan, I wanted to pipe up. As you mentioned at the start of your review, it sounds to me that the problem here is the movie adaptation comes too long after its relevance.

I wrote an OS blog about this the other day:

http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=84143

The long and short of it is that I don't have beef with people exchanging money for sex as long as it's consensual, but I don't for a minute think putting a price tag on virginity makes it less of a big deal. I think it actually further propagates the idea that virginity is some great prize, which is not something I believe in. It's just a membrane. It's great that she realizes that and is selling it on her own terms, but I think it (or at least the media hype around the auction) continues to send a shady message about cherry-popping. That's my $.02.

I just wrote about this very topic on my OS blog (http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=75885)

personally, yes, I think it is irresponsible to have mass amounts of children- a CostoClan if you will. If you want a litter of children, there are plenty already born that need love so you should adopt. HOWEVER- as I'm a supporter of reproductive rights, I must admit that goes both ways. If you can have the right to abortion, you must, in turn, have the right to breed. But another HOWEVER- I think more women could do so much more sensibly.

The beast that just popped out eight kids to add to her pre-existing six is insane to me. If it were a natural occurrence I might feel for her, but she went out of her way to put those babies in her and now she has a publicist so she can whore them out. Oh that's VERY considerate of her children's well-being. And don't get me started on the lady with the clown-car vagina that has eighteen+ kids. That's a sickness to me, like hording trash or adopting puppies and returning them once they stop being cute. I don't know if it's a mental illness or an addiction to the physical attributes of pregnancy, but it's not sane.

Most importantly, what kind of message does it send to the other children- they don't give you enough joy so you have to keep popping out new ones? I also don't think it's fair for the older children to be forced into a position of raising the younger siblings while mom and dad or busy at the baby mill. I have a brother ten years younger than me and even though I helped care for him I value the fact that I am his sister, and was never put in the position to act as a mother-figure. If these women love children so much, they should consider the ones they already have before spitting out more.

In a nutshell-I don't believe the law should dictate how many kids you have, but common sense should.