I'm not even going to go anonymous here because I feel so strongly about this issue that I don't care what anyone else thinks. Then I'm going to leave this thread and forget that such ignorant people *still* exist.

When I was 22 I accidentally fell pregnant. Huge shock, especially since two forms of birth control were in use. However, even though the father and I had broken up I wanted the baby.

Things weren't going well, I was violently sick pretty much the whole time. I'm not going to get into the gruesome details but I got worse and worse until I went to my local doctor and it turned out I had to have an emergency abortion or risk not only serious illness but lifelong infertility. Unfortunately due to the local clinic being taken over by a catholic organisation and incorporated into the private hospital I had to be shipped four hours away to another place to have the operation. Lucky me had to be taken in through a throng of protestors (which was really unlucky as it's not such a hot issue here in Aus) screaming that I was a murderer and I would rot in hell for killing my baby. Didn't matter to them that I didn't want to.

I lost a lot because of that day so no, I didn't exactly have a party to celebrate having my baby taken away from me. You really must be an insensitive prick to think that so many women are actually *happy* to have an abortion. Most aren't and the ones that are you should be thankful aren't taking responsibility for shaping a life. These clinics offer so much in the way of health care and information we should be building as many as we can, not limiting their operating opportunities.

That woman and her husband sound like arseholes (excuse the Aussie spelling). Fancy plonking yourself down in the middle of a public arena then demanding privacy. Sheesh.

I was shaving in year 5, around the age of ten. I didn't have to - even now I can go weeks without shaving my legs and nobody notices - but I must have gotten the idea from somewhere. I don't even think it was tv because at that age I never watched any and as far as anyone knew I was actually quite a tomboy.

In the end I think I was just following the crowd. I suppose the message behind that is that even if your child doesn't see these ads they will probably end up having a trickle down effect. If the motivation behind offering these products was pure I would definitely be all for it but something doesn't sit right and I think that something is that this is just another way of dragging young kids into adulthood when they might not be ready.

I'm all for offering solutions to hairy girls to avoid bullying but it's important that you also make sure a child aware that just because others are doing it you don't have to - especially if it's unnecessary.

I studied Indonesian at high school and one of the units involved learning about their about family planning and health. A huge campaign had been rolled out over there about family planning, contraception etc and at that stage (admittedly ten years ago but still) Indonesian birth rates were lower than Australia's. Blew my mind. It just shows that education can make a difference. Men were featured but of course not as heavily. Contraception issues are probably still considered a woman's domain much more than we think.

Those football boys I knew back then read your post. They got action like you wouldn't believe and it was pretty hard to find a nice one. They got the silly girls who wanted the rugged sports star and proceeded to treat the poor ninnies like dirt, still rooting girls like rabbits whenever they could and spending more time with the boys than their own families.

Well there you go, it is certainly true you can always find a subset of people to prove your point either way.

Cut off the contact. If you really wanted to move on I'm sure it would have happened by now but you're probably still as scared as hell about trying to 'start over' when you're only 22 years old.

Trying to keep your ex in your life at this stage will only lead to complications that will hold you back. What if you do try to remain 'friends?' Somehow I don't think his current girlfriend will be too keen on the idea and I'm sure any potential flames you might have going will be a little wary of such an arrangement.

If you really want to lean on each other like friends this soon too much emotion and too many expectations *will* be unhealthy. Move on, move away if you have to and get out there, it's an exciting world at 22!

Hadn't heard of that one, I'll certainly give it a go.

In between all the usual bitching. Nice work!

Had to have a giggle though at Brightstar (I think it was) saying something along the lines that men are more humane and have more humility than women. It just made me laugh - has he never played a contact sport? I grew up surrounded by Australian footballers and I can say in all honesty that if you get a large group of men into competitive sport with each other for months on end it really is like watching a band of baboons. Humanity and humility go out the window as they walk around puffing out their chest and competing for the adoring females (well, except obviously for me. I was usually the one hanging up the back against my will).

Sorry to digress but I will insist of having these moment of impropriety. Heheheheh.