Letters to the Editor
NicoleShield
Published Letters: 130 Editor's Choice: 5
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This drug should NOT be over the counter
[Read the article: Dr. Pill to the rescue]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've taken the morning after pill, and basically the cramps are so bad it feels like someone is shoving a fist up your uterus and squeezing hard. It is like PMS times ten. It hurts a lot. I think it should be legal, but not over the counter. People should consult with a doc. first. This is real medication, not aspirin.
Not everyone will have had the reaction I did, (which was inconvenient and painful, but not fatal) but it is a hardcore enough medication to warrant a doctor's visit.
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Why are only traditionally male accomplishments considered valuable?
[Read the article: The stay-at-home mystique]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It is interesting in our culture, that anything that men traditionally do is given a higher value than what women traditionally do. So in the feminist ways of the 70s, women, who were feeling devalued, decided to do what men were doing, in the hopes of gaining more status. Which they did, to a certain extent.
The catch is, however, that when women enter a profession, salaries go down. Why do we not pay teachers much? Is it because teaching is a less valuable job than other jobs requiring a Master's degree? No, it is because it is a primarily female profession. Pediatricians do not earn as much as other doctors... when more and more women started being pediatricians, salaries went down. Any career that women enter into loses status. If we woke up tomorrow, and 80% of rocket scientists were women, would society then say, "Wow, most rocket scientists are women, that means women are smart!"? Not at all... we'd say, "Rocket science, that's for girls" in a condescending tone and then we'd brush it off and it would lose status.
We need to start giving women respect and status where they are. As long as status means "doing what men do", then women will never gain it, because as soon as more than a few women enter a field, it will lose its vultural value. We need to re-think our definitions of what is valuable, and stop only assigning high value to things that are traditionally male.
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I love the combination of Christian and other mythologies
[Read the article: The Jesus symbol, the witch and the wardrobe]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I love mythology.
I read the Narnia books several times, starting in second grade, before I deciphered the Christian mythology in sixth or seventh grade. I remember when I figured it out, that Aslan was Jesus, that Edmund was Judas, that the Stone Table was the Cross, that Lucy and Susan were the Maries to whom he first appeared, and how delighted I was to figure it out.
I love the references to Father Time, and the Dryads and Neiads. I love the way the Narnia books take the best of the Greeks, Romans, Norse and Christian stories, with a touch of Arabian Nights (the message there is rather racist, but even so, I love the descriptions of Aravis and Lasaraleen and their poetic ways of speaking and their story-telling). There's even the sort of dark, technology-driven cold world in "The Last Battle".
The Christian message is central and clear, but I do not think that is a bad thing, any more than a book about Troy or any other myth is a bad thing. The Christ story is one of the many beautiful stories of our culture. I think the Narnia books are great.
I don't see why people get so upset at any mention of Christianity. Christianity doesn't mean random psychos who bomb clinics, there's a lot more to it than that. I think it is a wonderful story.
By the way, I'm only culturally Christian. Spiritually, I'm Wiccan. But that doesn't mean I have to go out on a rampage against all things Christian. I can appreciate that pantheon and mythology as much as any other.
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Opting Out has flaws
[Read the article: A man's right to choose, take three]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]OK... abortion and labor are both medical procedures, and no one but the woman should have a say in what sorts of medical procedures her body will undergo, unless she is comatose or otherwise unable to decide.
But yes, men shouldn't be forced to be fathers either. What sort of options could we have?
The opt out option is one. He should, in the first trimester (within the framework that a woman would have to choose) be able to "opt out", and declare that he will not have any contact for the child, or support the child. He will have no rights or claim to the child. He needs to do this while the women can still have an abortion based on that decision.
The problem is, if the woman aborts, there is no baby to take care of, but if the man opts out and the woman has the baby, then there is going to be this kid who will probably end up in povery, on the taxpayer's dollar.
A possible solution would be for the father to give his half of the baby up for adoption... that is, he could opt out if he could find someone else willing to take on his role. But that isn't the same as the abortion "poof! no baby" situation.
I think as technology advances, these questions will resolve themselves. Maybe some day, the woman will be able to have the fetus removed from her uterus without having to kill it, and it can be grown in an artificial womb, in which case the father can be given custody, and the mother can pay child support, or, it can be killed if both parents choose.
Until we find a way to make babies not rely on uteruses, the system will not be fair. Either men or women will get the short end.
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I'm missing something, I guess, but...
[Read the article: Apple juice, straight up?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... aren't most bars 21+?
They should card the babies.