Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 139 Editor's Choice: 12
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Both men are doctors, but still.
[Read the article: Gynecologist from hell]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I read about these two guys. The brother happens to be a doctor as well, so he may not be able to be prosecuted as "impersonating a doctor". But he's a GP, not a gynecologist, and besides, he still wasn't the doctor that the patients thought they were seeing. Besides the whole sexual assault thing. Creepy no matter how you look at it.
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Still a question about breastfeeding, anyway
[Read the article: Breast is best in Massachusetts]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One thing that gives me pause about all the "breast is best" campaign is that none (or very very few) of the studies ever make clear whether their claims about breast milk are about the milk itself (so including pumped milk fed to the infant by someone besides the mother) or about milk fed directly from the breast, including the intimacy and bonding that comes from that process. So many breastfeeding warriors tout the "no bottles to sterilize" benefit in the same sentence with "you can pump at work". You can't have that one both ways!
I would really like to see a study where they fully compare the whole spectrum of breastfeeding vs bottled-breast-milk vs formula feeding. Such a study should include number of minutes spent during each feeding, who performed the feeding, how "close" did they feel to the baby during that time, what else were they thinking/doing during that time, etc. I feel that if these factors were taken into consideration, we would find a clearer link to what portion of childhood illnesses might be prevented by the immunity in breast milk, and what portion might be prevented by the reduced stress felt by the baby due to being held by a loving caregiver during the process, whether they're being fed from a breast or a bottle, and what that bottle contains.
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Parallel studies needed
[Read the article: Wanted, unwanted babies?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I hope that someone's doing a parallel study, which would be the number of women injured or killed by back-alley, illegal abortions and whether this number is increasing or decreasing. And another study of the number of children in foster care due to abuse and neglect by the parents that never wanted them in the first place.
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Trevor got it right
[Read the article: "Brokeback Mountain"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think Trevor pegged this one on the nose. This movie doesn't underestimate the audience. But apparently it OVERestimates Ms. Zacharek. The first time I saw it, I also thought that it portrayed Jack's love for Ennis a lot clearer than Ennis's love for Jack. But then I thought back to all the little episodes that show it: playful wrestling on the hillside, laughing; the anguish and near-vomiting when they part; the kiss when they reunite the first time (Ennis started it); the list goes on. There was no need to add a big declaration of love. In fact, that would have completely changed the story. The best storytellers SHOW the story, they don't tell it.
PS, I've seen this movie twice already. In less than a week. And I have never, ever done that. I don't remember if I have ever seen the same movie twice in a theater in the first place, and I'm certain that it's never happened twice in the same week. What's more, I never felt a desire to look at my watch during the entire 134 minutes, either time. This is a wonderful movie.
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Wrong person doing the name-calling
[Read the article: Bitches but no dicks]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Brightstar, in my experience it's very seldom women calling men "sissies", "fags", "pussies", etc. It's other men. It's not (generally) your friend's mom saying "You throw like a girl." It's (usually) your male Little League coach. It's not your mom berating you as a sissy when you don't like sports; it's your dad.
Also, to Lefty, who suggested that we just shut up and fix the wiki entry for "men", and Sam LG, who puts it all down to the wiki writers being geeks with Asperger's. Why should women have to go around cleaning up after these geeky Asperger's men with no socialization, instead of trying to instruct them to treat men and women equally in the first place? Teach a person to fish, etc. By the same stereotype, I doubt that geeky Asperger's sufferers are likely to be running around complaining about bitches and ho's, not knowing any themselves, correct? In fact, I'd say that geeks are more likely to NOT use those terms; any girls these guys do know are likely to be into computers, right, and would likely deck anyone that called them a ho. I know I would.
I'm not trying to be shrill. I'm just pointing out that this particular blog has, as its mission, to shine the light on the feminist perspective that maybe non-feminists wouldn't notice.
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This could be a good thing.
[Read the article: Indian society still doesn't think much of girls]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think this policy could be a good thing for promoting the equal treatment of women or diversity or both. Pretty soon all those over-abundance of men for the fewer available women will have an effect. Either girls will start to become more valuable due to scarcity. Perhaps those girls in rural families will be able to "marry up". Or, women's position in society will change - she will no longer be required to leave home to join her husband's family. Or we'll start seeing true polygamy rather than just polygyny - we'll see WOMEN with multiple husbands, instead of the other way around. Or finally, Indian families will have to broaden their horizons and allow their husbands to marry women of other races.
Yeah, it's kinda sad. But I'm sure it will be self-correcting, eventually.