Folks, I did the whole natural childbirth thing,

but hey - I have great insurance, an advanced education,

took birthing classes, and read like crazy, with my husband in full support. Shopped for doctors who matched our feelings on the process, and considered midwives...

Great, but I also use to volunteer with the foster care system, and would see moms with no insurance, very little education, and scared go into the hospital to deliever, in every case the woman would have liked an epidural anesthesia - because she hadn't had childbirthing classes, and pain management training, and didn't know what was about to happen to her. But since she was there on the public dime, she didn't get an epidural, one woman delievered an 11 pound baby... just thinking about it makes me hurt. Yes, I did natural, but if my baby was 11 pounds, thank you very much, I'd have gone for the full drug option. Those women were in pain, and they didn't enjoy the process, like I did, or other women on this list talking about their experiances. Because the drug free options takes preparation - you don't decide to do it the day of your delievery.

My point this natural vs drug assisted birth process is only a middle class choice. The people who would most likely be helped by the drugs, are the ones who can't afford the option, its just cruel. PS alot of women who birth in US prisons, are not given the option either - and there have been law suits filed on that topic.

As for the natural childbirth options, there are alot of good reasons, and American Medical Assoc studies on it, and if a real doctor can't read up on the studies and understand the benefits of a drug free birth option.. no doubt he can't figure out why some women would breast feed when they can just buy the stuff!!! Hey maybe this guy shouldn't be in the baby delievery business? If he can't keep current with current medical knowledge and practices in his field.

Pregnancy is not an illness, but a natural state - not something that needs to be cured.

- Not Assuming Anything is correct, it might be mom's porn.

Come on, women's porn is boring, and porn for men is degrading, and nothing I want to see - but gay porn is sexy. And I bet lots of women look at, after all the guys never look that good in conventional porn, or real life.

In college I knew lots of girls who were hit by their dates, or boyfriends. And lets face it death by domestic partner kills more women between 15 and 30 than any illness or cancer. What if your college girl doesn't feel like pressing charges for being slapped, but wants to warn other women that he likes to hit?

Lots of date rapes where women don't want to press charges, but hey doesnt' she have an obiligation to let other women know he is dangerous?

He gave her an STD?! Doesn't she have the right to share where she got it from?

He got her pregnant and ran, doesn't she have to right to warn other women?

Lot of women don't press charges, but should, but hey if they did they'd over run the courts, and the convention rate is in the single digits, because usually there our no witnesses, and its his word against hers - and she is scared. This maybe her only outlet or the only thing she feels she can do.

As for the guy sueing, he should be careful, the woman who posted might get mad over the suit, and if it is true - drag him into court, its not legal to expose a person to an incurable diesese without letting them know before hand. She has a better case then he does (lots more money involved) if he did give her herpes. As a lawyer he should be grateful she only posted on a website, now he has given her a reason to get her own lawyer to sue for medical damages, and emotional suffering of her own.

"Why Gender Matters," which argues for the biological need for boys to practice "pursuing and killing prey," and girls to "practice taking care of babies.""

This is about the deep south going more and more Taliban - next will be a dress code - for girls. And if they are just going to take care of babies, why do they need an education? When times are uncertain and changing, there is always a group of people who want to go back to a mythical time where everything was just the way it suppose to be. The golden age never existed, the deep south stereotypes of gender are damaging to both genders, and keeps everyone from ever seeing a child as an individual, but someone who must always be looked at through gender glasses.

What about the part, were it says if a boy likes reading, punish him, and push him into sports - there is a deep distrust of education going on now in the religious south, education is being viewed as an enemy of morality. This is just another version of that way of thinking. After all education teaches equality of gender, races, evolution, sex ed … and a lot of modern technology has the feel of magic to it, since the average person doesn’t know how it works. There is a feeling of a loss of control of ones environment, so coming down hard on female sexuality gives the males a sense of control, that they have lost in their daily lives.

Folks are losing earning power, even if they have a job, the world is a scary place, and the only thing that makes them safe, is dictating morality to the rest of us, and feeling morally superior.