Letters to the Editor
smallfox
Published Letters: 111 Editor's Choice: 8
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really Smurf?
[Read the article: Equal opportunity unemployment]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I find the assertion that not many married women would find themselves in the position of supporting a spouse odd to say the least. It was exceedingly common in the previous generation for women who married in their early 20s to work and support a spouse through graduate/medical/business/law school. It was an investment for the unit; presumably the man was not working or minimally working in order to obtain a better job and better pay to support the family at a later date. It didn't always work out this way, but it's been a common role for women, and it still is for many. The main difference is, it seems like, men often get a head start by doing this post-BA schooling immediately in their early-20s, while many women have children and postpone getting an advanced degree until their children are older.
And as for still-lingering gender roles, this has less to do with why it is more "acceptable" for women to quit their marginally beneficial jobs, and a lot more to do with why it is more economically advantageous for the wife to quit her job in the first place (in other words, the husband is making more.) In situations in which the wife makes more than the husband, and the second job brings little if any additional income, the husband almost always becomes the homemaker/primary caregiver. This is just still unfortunately uncommon.
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...
[Read the article: Not another teen video game]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Tie-in video games have a history of inspidness reaching all the way back to E.T. for the Atari. Whomever these games are targeted at, they will be awful. That said, I'm otherwise all for games with "female" appeal. I like video games, but have no desire whatsoever to sink innumberable hours into Final Fantasy, or World of Warcraft. I have much better things to do. An hour or two spent in urban planning with SimCity, though, or in laid back competitive games in which the point is not to violently eviscerate my opponents (Mario Kart, the new Boom Blox – I am a fan) is a great way to spend some time. I have no moral qualms with the gory, pixilated guts of Bioshock or what have you, but I find real-time shooting and combat games extremely hard to play and therefore no fun at all. Maybe that makes me a stereotypical girl, but you like what you like, and I'll take puzzle games or turn-based games over GTA any day.
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frigidity
[Read the article: "WTF" of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]causes loose vagina? Really? That's... surprising. Good to know.
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Oh, please!
[Read the article: Press release of the day: Our show harms kids!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I know nothing of this show other than the one, 15-sec promo I've seen for it, but OBVIOUSLY this show does not involve ploping infants down with unprepared teenagers and telling them to go to town. In today's litigious society, with as big a pot of money to go after as NBC? The idea is patently laughable. Not to mention, most parents of infants and toddlers would never agree to such a thing even apart from the potential for lawsuits. There is no way the infants are not under round the clock surveillance, with parents and NBC staff and/or child psychologists and/or nurses capable of attending to them immediately.
It's a heck of a lot safer than normal babysitting, and nobody ever wails about the severe emotional abuse inflicted upon a toddler when you leave it with a grandparent or babysitter for a weekend.
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On a good day
[Read the article: Man on the street (in stilettos)]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm 5'3", but there's no amount of height benefit that would make high heels worth it. They're godawful, and they destroy the tendons in your legs, making it extremely painful to go back to flats. Any man who bitches about women not wearing high heels often enough doesn't deserve to have any women around to bitch at.
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Look at it this way:
[Read the article: Respect the Web geek's cock!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]odds are good these men and women deserve each other.
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It's amazing how many people
[Read the article: So it's come to this, too: Ova for cash]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]think there's no difference between adopting and birthing an IVF baby. Since the position is one of moral righteousness, I assume when you say "adopt a child" you really mean "adopt an older child, who's been in and out of foster care, or at the very, very least, a black child." After all, there are *never* enough healthy white babies to meet demand, so wanting one of those when black children and older children are still in care is downright immoral. Nevermind the consideration that some parents may in fact want a child that resembles their background (and in the U.S. that's generally going to mean white) and others may not be capable of committing to an older child or one with behavioral or emotional problems.
I have no children, but I have had a few older pets from "foster" care or the shelter system. Same thing. The pets I've raised from weaning have been happy and well-adjusted. Every pet I've gotten as 1+ year old has had emotional and behavioral problems, ranging from severe separation anxiety to poor socialization and biting. That doesn't mean I don't love them, but it does mean that I fully respect someone who's not willing to commit to that risk and wants to raise a well-adjusted puppy or kitten. By extension I understand the concern with children, since that investment and emotional committment is massively more huge.
...But would I sell my eggs? Probably not. For testing/stem cells, maybe, but not to make a fetus for implantion. That'd just weird me out, personally, a little too much.
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Double blind study -- not hard at all
[Read the article: Another thing I need like a hole in my head]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Tell group A that it's an experimental weight loss treatment and tell group B it's an experimental treatment for joint pain (or acne, or eczema, or...) You can work another/control group in there however you want, but either way, ask all groups about all potential side effects ("Did you notice any changes in your skin?" "Did you suffer headaches?" "Did you suffer a decrease in appetite?")
Any half-thought-out study would reveal the obvious: this is B.S.