Letters to the Editor
smallfox
Published Letters: 111 Editor's Choice: 8
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Durian -
[Read the article: Why they stunted their daughter's growth]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I do think there's more of value in a chimp than a human with an IQ of 20 (that human has no inherent value; only value because of people who care for him/her) but you can't euthanize either. Because of their closeness to humans and intelligence, they're the only research animals that aren't euthanized when they're not used for research. So yeah -- if the government builds retirement facilities for chimps ordered, but not used, for research because euthanizing them is unconscionable, then using them for most forms of research should probably be unconscionable, too. It is occasionally necessary to kill people just as its occasionally necessary to kill chimps, but the threshold is too low for the animal.
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DeeMac-
[Read the article: Sweet Valley High goes on a diet]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Men's pants are vanity-sized now, too. The "waist size" is several inches smaller than the actual waist (men tend not to know this; point it out with a tape measure and they get just as quietly distraught as women do when they have to buy double-diget sizes). Sizes between brands seem to be more consistant than they are in women's clothes, though, where young adult sizes have shrunk and adult/older women sizes have ballooned exponentially. Europe is attempting to move to a centimeter-based sizing system that would be completely consistant across brands. I wish they would adopt that standard here.
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whining men --
[Read the article: Planned Parenthood's condoms for women]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How about we split latex duties when you split the odds of getting pregnant and level the odds of contracting STIs or develop a hormone-based male birth control that causes weight gain, mood swings, and chronically tender, swollen testicles? ...No? Didn't think so. If sex with a condom is THAT bad, why bother? You won't get latex-free love without monogamy, and you won't get monogamy without a commitment and a relationship. If condom-free sex is your ultimate goal, why don't you doggedly pursue marriage?
Also the pill is far from roses and kittens. Due to various personal issues between me & my partner, it's currently the only option (apparently I can't get an IUD in the states unless I've had a baby or an abortion ...but aren't those exactly what I want an IUD to prevent?) and it's god-awful. In fact I'm currently at the outpatient pharmacy waiting for another prescription for another, different type of pill that will probably have all the same awful, hormonal side effects as the others.
So really, thank your lucky stars that a minor "loss of sensation" is all you risk and suffer, and if it's so indescribably bad, get friendly with your right hand and stop harping on women about your responsibilities.
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Dicks in this thread should also bear in mind
[Read the article: Planned Parenthood's condoms for women]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that condoms effect how sex feels for women, too. It effects lubrication and friction and is a lot less forgiving than skin-on-skin when it comes to the chaffing effects of less-than-optimal lubrication -- and believe me, this is nearly always worse for us than it is for you. But please, feel free to whine about how much it decreases sensitivity for you, and how noble you are to "negotiate" with your partners when they suffer the side effects of hormonal birth control. (Vasdectomy and monogamous marriage, I assume?)
There's no free lunch! Any form of birth control either reduces sensation (for both parties), causes hormonal side effects (and if not immediate side effects, increased risk of blood clots, etc), risks STI or has a higher failure rate for pregnancy prevention. ...There's no magical form of bc that is blissful for all parties, and the fact that you seem so put out by a *non-medical*, *non-hormonal* barrier method that is the ONLY reliable STI prevention method outside of abstinence merely suggests that nobody should have sex with you, ever, because you lack basic human consideration for your partner. God knows I wouldn't, and anybody would be stupid to skip condom sex before getting tested and weighing the risks and benefits of hormonal contraception in that specific relationship.
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He is a man.
[Read the article: MSNBC on the "pregnant man": "I'm gonna be sick"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Man" is a gender word, not a sex word. This person's sex is biologically female, but his gender is male. Plenty of people have ambiguous genitalia or no functional reproductive organs, does that make them not the gender which they identify as? What about women who look female, but when they never menstruate are discovered to be genetically male? Are they no longer women because they're genetically XY? Masculinity and maleness are social constructs that force an unnatural, absolute dichotomy between female and male, when in fact gender is a spectrum influenced by culture, biology, and physical appearance.
This person has been taking testosterone, effectively giving themselves a male brain, and taken steps to appear and present himself as male. He elected to keep his reproductive freedom, perhaps fearing that he would be denied the chance to adopt because of trans- and homophobia. Or perhaps he had personal, medical reasons. Reconstructive or reassignment surgery is far from perfect, and can have a huge, crippling effect on sexual function. If he decided he would rather keep his functional nerve endings and adapt his sex life with a strap-on or any other way to have 'male' sex than that's *entirely* his own business, not yours or mine. If he feels fully masculine by taking testosterone and getting his breasts removed, that represents a huge, serious commitment to his gender identity and needs to be respected as such.
If the idea of someone become a "true" man or woman without genital reassignment but with hormones and appearance is so incomprehensible, download the This American Life from late Feb, which features a first-person account of a woman who transitioned, and the way testosterone effected her behavior and thoughts.