Letters to the Editor
melthough
Published Letters: 1212 Editor's Choice: 98
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Also, Potomacker
[Read the article: Dying to become mothers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't see how this story "conflates and distracts" (from?) local issues. Can you clarify that? Because Lloyd made it pretty clear that reading about maternal mortality from this distance made our cute little domestic squabbles about things like VBACs seem prety silly. If anything, with the opening sentence "Today's BBC story about the persistence of maternal mortality around the world puts recent controversies about vaginal births after Caesareans and home births into perspective," the author is suggesting that maybe we don't have it so bad. And I agree with her that the politics of birth in this country are NOT unimportant, but it is useful to see how things are elsewhere to give one a little perspective on the level of one's privilege.
So, where do you see the conflation and distraction happening, exactly?
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Too bad
[Read the article: Scent of a nursing woman]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]the sweat of a breastfeeding mother doesn't turn on the breastfeeding mother. Now THAT would be useful!
And YOU, with the comment about the ovulation study? I'm pretty sure that was a different Broadsheet writer (quality, tone, and opinions do differ among the various writers). And I don't think that ovulation study was published in a peer-reviewed journal. Psychology Today, if memory serves. But I could be wrong. And I don't really care if I am. Don't you have anything better to do than to track Broadsheet's every move? Sheesh.
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Right! On!
[Read the article: Are our husbands really so helpless?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am so sick of the men-are-incompetent gag. It is getting very old, sisters. And please do not mistake it for feminism. It is the same old sexism repackaged in pink, giving men a pass for being SO bad at doing "women's" jobs - OMG! just like women are SO bad at "men's" jobs! Math is haaaaard. Spare me.
And may I just add that, ideology aside, it hurts people's feelings to suggest that they are incompetent boobs? And that hurting your man's feelings might not be the best hting for your relationship?
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My apologies, Happy Friend
[Read the article: Scent of a nursing woman]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have become a little oversensitized to Broadsheet-bashing by A Certain Anonymous Poster (TM). I have my own criticisms of this blog, but for the most part I just figure I'll enjoy what's here and ignore what doesn't speak to me. This blog serves primarily as a reference to other interesting material.
I don't consider myself "strident," but I'm certainly a feminist. And I'm not afraid of what ev psych has to say. I think the psychological and physiological differences between men and women are interesting. On the other hand, they're not terribly important to survival in industrialized countries.
As for this particular study, it seems a little silly to me to measure hormone levels and then extend the actual chemical conclusion to this hypothesis that women want to have babies because this particular baby is being nourished. I think humans are just polymorphously perverse. Nursing can turn on a nursing mother, physiologically, without it having a whit of effect on her sexual behavior or feelings. Maybe getting a little oxytocin buzz from your baby is useful. Or maybe, as Canuckistan Bob said, things like this sometimes just happen. An artifact of something earlier. There doesn't have to be a reason for everything. And do we really need to go looking for special reasons to want to have sex? If only!
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@Potomacker
[Read the article: Dying to become mothers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Whew! It's awfully nice to have a rational discussion with someone on here every once in a while!
I think the only difference between your take on the article and mine is that I didn't see Lloyd's mention of domestic politics to be exclusively about domestic politics at all. She is saying that the "influence of the pro-life lobby" domestically is influencing what we give to women in foreign countries (via UNFPA, which "hasn't receieved a dime from the U.S. since 2002") as well. The president has the power to export his own wacko views without any direct by-your-leave from any U.S. citizen. In other words, the president's religion is now a major part of our overall foreign policy.
Even if you don't think there's a direct connection between the availability of contraception and maternal mortality, and whatever your politics or stance on Bush, I think that's an important thing to think about as a voter. I learned in high school civics that the executive branch was almost powerless. But with a farther- and farther-reaching administration and in a global economy, that isn't true anymore.
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My Plea to Joan Walsh
[Read the article: Why aren't boys allowed to be victims?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]PLEASE make it possible for us to set our displays to ignore certain posters. There are really only a few, but if most of us check the box to ignore most of them, they will not be able to take over the discussion every single time. What a fucking train wreck this place has become.
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It's snowing down south
[Read the article: When is a bra strap just a bra strap?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Psst - Brightstar. Your slip is showing.
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Au contraire, Brightstar
[Read the article: Why aren't boys allowed to be victims?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have been very open minded with people on this board. Trouble is, I'm willing to change my ideas but they (YOU) are not. This is a message board about women's issues. You hate women. Why, then, should you be allowed to take charge of every discussion? I'm not even suggesting you be banned (though I think there might be justification for that). I just don't want to read your unchanging, narrow-minded message after every. single. post.
We have both been posting on this message board since it began (though I took the opportunity to change my handle when I had to pick a permanent one), and I have defended you and tried to help you several times. But these days you are feeding off the real trolls, and I don't think it's a good diet for you. You come here several times a day to ask for abuse. Don't be afraid to take it! And don't be surprised if most of us ignore you. Contrary to your fantasies, most feminists are not dominatrix types.
I am quite engaged with the world, BTW. That's why I'm not obsessed with blogs with whose fundamental purpose I disagree.