Letters to the Editor
Allene Swienckowski
Published Letters: 191 Editor's Choice: 10
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"Down There"
[Read the article: "Speak up for down there"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Please, please keep saying it!!! Although women from generation were never quite as comfortbale with "down there" as young women are today, there are still legions of women being rasied to be ashamed of their, to use the old vernacular, privates. Once agin, ignorance is not bliss and if women have insensitive doctots who make them feel self-conscious or dirty, then it's time to look for a new doctor.
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Sex Crazed Babies
[Read the article: Little girls gone wild]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have two daughters. They are thirteen years apart in age. My oldest grew-up a dyed in the wool tom boy and the youngest has always been a girlie girl. Neither one og my girls opted to "dress sexy" until the were over 18 and even when they dress sexy, both adhere to the classical beauty that was established by film sirens in the 1940's and the 1950.'s.
The push to sexualize young girls, or young boys for that matter, is a very dangerous thing. I have observed young mothers buying their pre-pubescent little darlings unbelievably short mini-skirts and stomach baring tops so that their daughters are dressed like the other popular girls on campus. It's all very trendy and I can't help but to imagine how the kids really feel being exposed?
Way, way back in the day, I was a voluptuous twelve year old. I can't tell you how much I dreaded walking down the street for fear of the grown men who would stop and try to pick me up or simply get out of their cars to talk to me. I learned to hate my body. My husband didn;t see me nude until after we were married five years and even today, after forty-two years, it is still uncomfortable for me to be nude in front of anybody.
So, my guess is that this younger generation of young girls will have a whole host of psychological issues regarding their bodies and their sexuality. Hopefully someone, as in moms and dads, wake-up and realize that their children need to experience a secure childhood before exposing them to the wonders or the fears of sexuality.
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What will Bush Be Remembered For?
[Read the article: What will Bush be remembered for?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]He will be remembered as the made that took away Americans freedoms while waging an illegal war. He has undermined democracy in a manner that no other president has ever attemtped, not even Nixon! As oil spirals ever upward and the American economy is in shambles, the Bush man makes appearances on news shows and talks about nothing of substance. We all better pray that this administration doesn't try to maintain its hold on our throats by declaring a state of emergency before the 2008 elections!
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Mothers and Daughters
[Read the article: The mother-daughter wars]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I believe that most women have complicated relationships with their mothers, that is, if they're honest. Being a mother,that is, a nurturing, understanding, all embracing person that provides emotional, intellectual and spiritual nourishment is a tall order for almost anyone. And because we are raised to believe that our mothers are supposed to be all-giving and understanding and when our quite human mother is quite a bit less than the ideal, we naturally experience pain and pangs of abandonment. If we were truthful, we each would admit that no one person is equipped to give everything that is necessary or needed to properly nuture a human being into a fully secure human being.
We are each fragile in ways that we don't wish expose to ourselves, much less the people in our lives. I have managed to raise two daughters and a son and each of them has the residual of some either real or imagined slight lodged in the psyches that exists because of me being their mother.Despite the fact that I was at the time unaware of said slight, that specific slight measured against everything else that I tried to do for them still manages to linger in the recesses of our unexamined relationships.
I like many women was betrayed by my mother simply because she wa sincapable of giving me the type of love and care I thought I deserved. And after many years of therapy and being told by people with a lot more education and understanding of the human condition than I could ever have - I still wake up some days feeling cheated. My mother was a beautiful talented woman. Her beauty and her ability affect people, especially men is something that I have always shrank from and I choose to be an "intellectual" woman rather than the type of woman my mother was back in the 1950's and 1960's. The point is, the enigma that was my mother is also the owman who never had quite enough time to tell me that I was good enough for her. My mother fought battles that I am wholly unaware of, and yet I still wanted her to be there for me.
And maybe that is the distance that exists between Alice Walker and her daughter. Sometimes, our best is not just enough!
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Role Models
[Read the article: Outrage of the day: Children's salon boom]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm way past the age of being able to relate to the concerns of young mothers and their little girls - but - hold on a minute. Have things really changed so much that little girls don't learn what it means to be a grown-up from their mommies? If their moms are primping and applying amke-up and wearing high heels, then their little girls will identify with these activities as being adult. If their moms are astrobauts or scientists or even teachers correcting papers or making tests, then these are the habits that little girls will try to imitate. Duh!
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Whew!
[Read the article: The "angry white women" problem]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Glad to know that there isn't a contention of angry white females! If only everyone could make-up their minds about issues based on who they are rather than what other people perceive them to be would be so, so refreshing!