Letters to the Editor
smallfox
Published Letters: 111 Editor's Choice: 8
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It seems like over kill
[Read the article: The birds, the bees, the sperm donors...]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]to talk about sex "from birth" but when the kid's old enough to ask and actually pay attention and listen to the answer, that's a good age. I remember I learned about the biological mechanics very early from biology books, but didn't get the sperm 'n' eggs directly connected to the sex act until I was about 6.
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@ Linney
[Read the article: The evil future is now: Semen detection kits]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't care what the Daily Mail thinks, that's utter B.S. We had a confirmed (yes, confirmed, police, lab test, whole deal) case of date-rape drugging at my school. They knew something was up when a man got sick and passed out, as apparently the would-be rapist didn't have particularly good aim. A friend of mine was also drugged, got really ill and passed out after one beer. She also went the hospital (after the sexual assault) and tested positive.
It absolutely happens, and placing the blame on women for "binge drinking" is grossly irresponsible and denies the fact that people *are* being victimized without having made "bad judgment calls."
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Yes, let's all major in business. That's definitely a well-rounded education.
[Read the article: Women's studies, still alive and fist-shaking]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A lot of you have some pretty strong opinions about something you know nothing about. But then, that's a proven state of humanity -- people are confident in vast disproportion to what they actually know. (I first read about this psychology experiment in a women's study course, but it's come up again in my current studies.)
"women's studies" is often a wide-reaching catch-all for sociology, literature, religion, and other vast issues. Womens' positions in society is important because women have and raise babies, and have been traditionally the subjugated sex. There *are* "men's studies", and I've read numerous books about the evolving roles of men's jobs (the medicalization of birth, for instance, is as much a "men's studies" subject as women's) but *of course* nearly all studies are mens' studies -- for eons men wrote the books, painted the paintings, did the research, waged the wars, and ran the governments and religions. We all ready study all of that, and 99% of it is written by and for men.
At any rate, I majored in English and Italian literature (and took courses in women's studies, including a few "female writers of _____" courses that were amazing). Neither of these is considered useful. During my first interview after college, I was told by the CEO of the company that "nobody hires English majors." When the narrowminded business- and money-making community have such a depressing, anti-academic stance, it's no wonder that people go ahead and major in philosophy, women's studies, etc. Liberal arts, any of them, are not considered valuable anymore. (And I beg to differ, anyway -- I've read the type of writing that business and science students often produce. The world needs liberal arts majors to keep the coherent sentence from going extinct.)
...So I went to law school, where I can take philosophy courses in addition to law and still be fully employable, though I'm entering a field with a strong anti-mother bias.
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you're right, BS -
[Read the article: Women's studies, still alive and fist-shaking]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]women haven't really contributed THAT much over the course of history. Just like black people, right? I mean, being denied education and civil rights shouldn't be a barrier to solving "big problems"! Women and black people were just lazy and stupid prior to emancipation/ suffrage/ Equal Rights amendments and haven't tried very hard to catch up to the hundreds of years of white heteropatriachy's bold achievements.
...Though, to throw a little wrench in your argument, men have failed to solve the one problem you, personally, find MOST important in the whole wide world -- the collective efforts of you billions of men, and y'all STILL don't have uteri and "full reproductive freedom." You should get on that if you XYs are so brilliant.
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lonewolfy -
[Read the article: It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Abortion Man!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]in theory, fine, but could never be enforced in real life. You can't contract away the rights of a third party without their consent, and a living infant has the right of support of both its parents. For whatever reason, any consensual sexual activity cannot have an opt-out clause for impregnation; it's not the same as getting a sperm donor. You could sign the agreement, but if she sued for child support, you'd have to pay either way because it's about what's best for the child, not whatever the parents agreed to ahead of time. And that's totally legitimate, as your rights end where another's begin.
I fail to see what all the XY bitching is about. Don't want to risk pregnancy? How about oral sex? (You'll get it if you give it.) Use a condom with spermacide? Get a vasectomy? You lose some control, but only *after* the fact. You have every right and opportunity to 100% prevent it, and to say 'no' if your partner's not willing to. (Saying no and taking responsibility! What a concept!)
Otherwise, I also found this grossly offensive, and I find very little offensive.
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@ tina
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Since this thread is big on words, shit-smearing is a trait shared by worthless artists and retarded children, not learning-disordered children. A learning disorder is just that -- something that impedes normal learning in an otherwise normal person, like dyslexia. Dyslexics don't make a habit of behaving like the severely mentally retarded.