Letters to the Editor
JennyLynnF
Published Letters: 29 Editor's Choice: 2
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No one has to break the bank for a wedding.
[Read the article: The marriage industrial complex]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To me, the most feminist, anti-capitalist act a person can commit upon marriage is to refuse to go into debt just to look like an expensive token for a day. What a waste of resources and money just to put on a big show that has nothing to do with marriage or family.
When I married 7 years ago, I spent about five hundred dollars total, includes the price of our honeymoon dinner and tickets to a movie afterward. I bought my dress second-hand and my husband already had a suit. We were married by a justice of the peace, at my grandmothers condominium, in front of about 12 people and had a reception on premises afterward. I am happy I did it that way, and happier still that we didn't have any big loans to pay off afterward. I still don't see the appeal of borrowing money one doesn't have just to appear to have money in front of friends who have to also borrow money to appear that they too are well-off. Why is it so important to appear well-off? Should I worry that people might think we are poor for not having a fancy wedding? We are! Do people look down on poor people? Why? Isn't that the bigger problem here? Whatever happened to America the land of unpretentious equal opportunity?
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American Bondage fantasies and the Sexy Blonde Bottom
[Read the article: We'll always hate Paris]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I just can't get all worked up over Paris Hilton. I don't care if she is in jail or out of jail or how long she stays there. As Cintra Wilson points out, Hilton is the easy target because of what she symbolizes to most Americans. However, most Americans are too afraid to go after the big bullies, the ones with control over guns and paychecks and healthcare, and many don't ever plan to confront these real bullies - even if they had the opportunity -anyway. Paris Hilton is just a fun scapegoat, just like it was fun to see justice denied Nicole Simpson. To many, she represents the white woman that falsely screamed "rape" and unfairly put a black man behind bars. Except of course, she was murdered, and OJ Simpson really did do it. No matter to some, because in their minds justice was served in a symbolic sort of way. Of course, the public isn't going to go after the white men dishing up the real oppression - the Dick Cheneys and Ralph Reeds and David Dukes because that would be too scary. So hey, take your hate out on another hapless blond white woman, because her willingness to be a gussied up pawn in the white man's game makes her easy to hate. Plus, she doesn't really have the power to hit anyone back, right?
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You always have an invitation at my house, Cary
[Read the article: I want a perfect wedding, but my in-laws are trashy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks Cary! I am a fellow somebody who screwed up royally in my late teens and early twenties. Although I have spent the last 15 years turning my life around and making up for past mistakes, I still carry the "scarlet letter" stigma of my early adulthood. At public family events I am still scorned, whispered about and marginalized by family and family friends, even though I have done nothing gossip worthy in more than a decade. My children have suffered somewhat from this stigma as well, so those of you looking to exclude the black sheep should know that your snubbing also hurts innocent people. I too wish that some true princesses would appear at these functions, whose only goal would be to see everyone feeling as those they were the part of the "in crowd."
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Gay. Yay.
[Read the article: Dumbledore? Gay. J.K. Rowling? Chatty.]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I do like a certain amount of information left unrevealed and up to the reader's imagination in works of fiction. However, I am glad that Rowling established unequivocally that Dumbledore is gay. Particularly for teenagers struggling with sexual identity and those who might come from homophobic families, the fact that one of the major protagonists of the Harry Potter series is gay might help legitimize their own questioning and also break down stereotypes and fears about homosexuals. Especially since she is writing primarily for the emerging generation, this effort to address homosexuality gets a big thumbs up from this reader.
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What about the girls?
[Read the article: Boys in the girls room, oh my!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a parent of a teenage daughter, I think I would be very uncomfortable with her sharing a locker room with a guy, no matter how he identified. For one thing, boys, no matter their sexual persuasion or gender identity, do not get periods. "Will and Grace" aside, some gay and transgender boys can be very misogynist. I don't want my daughter exposed to the "ooh, icky girl stuff" sentiment from them when she is at her most physically vulnerable. Besides, I know that it is awkward enough for my daughter to change clothes around a bunch of girls and I can't imagine having to explain to her that now certain boys would also be using her dressing room. I also find it interesting that no one is talking about allowing girls to use boys' locker rooms. Is this because everyone knows how unsafe it would be? Why not simply build a third locker room for gay or transgender kids to use? This seems like the most sensible solution, and the least problematic. While tripping over yourselves to prove how hip, liberal and open-minded you all can be, you seem to be forgetting about the reality of the girls who would be doing the sharing. Some might mind, some might not. Some might have good reasons for minding that have nothing to do with being bigots. Has anyone thought to ask them?