I have to wonder if the Republican "war on science" could have set some people up to believe this stuff. Recall that with the younger Bush there was a shift toward handling scientifically inconvenient information such as global warming, evolution, ineffectiveness of abstinence-only education by finding fault with studies, denying that there was enough evidence to make a conclusion and so on. Now that people may have "learned" that science is not near-sacred but just something else to manipulate to make a point, they may not trust science. Not only are they more likely to be scientifically illiterate but for some people that may even be a point of pride.

And oh yeah, I've read some howlers from Mothering magazine in the occasional drafts of papers (these disappear when the writer is reminded of the standard for research). For instance among the autism spectrum disorders such as Asperger's is reportedly ADHD and bipolar disorder and of course these are caused by vaccinations too.

Abuse experienced as a child (and this sounds like emotional abuse) is strange in that even as that child ages into an adult, the abuse is still perceived to some extent through the child's eyes. Thus there is a part of the adult survivor of sexual abuse, for example, that may still believe that "I asked for it" even though he or she would readily identify such abuse happening to someone else as just that, undeserved abuse.

That sounds like the situation here. The adult LW sees the situation as anyone else would, but there's a part that still has the child's viewpoint. That's the part that is finding it hard to let this go.

A therapist could help the LW grieve the loss of the dream of the parents who suddenly come through with the emotional goods, to find a healthier and more realistic perspective, and to enjoy the love that others feel for her rather than focus on what she's not ever going to get.

I second other writers...the parents aren't going to give you what you want or have needed and they're not going to apologize for it. Send them a card a few times a year but don't make verbal contact. With time, you'll gain more perspective. If you have children, work at making sure the cycle isn't repeated.

"The mills of justice grind slow but they grind exceeding fine". I want to see some seriously fine grinding carried out on the abstinence-only crowd.

The best part of the AP article is a quote from pro-abstinence-only Valerie Huber who avers that these programs provide '"medically accurate discussions of sexually transmitted diseases and contraception". Right... The article also stated that Ohio and Washington were effectively rejecting the funds by stating that they would be used to support comprehensive sexual education. The fund rejection puts them into a category with such bastions of liberal thinking as the state Virginia.

maybe we can figure out why there is so much more media attention regarding anorexia, a counterintuitive eating disorder seen mostly in white, high-achieving young women, compared to obesity, an unexciting condition seen in epidemic proportions in poor ethnic people of both sexes.

The author is correct in stating that a fair percentage of college women are not affluent, and this is particularly the case in state universities. Given that some of these women use community clinics, this is not an either/or situation.

I'm glad you're seeing the reports; it seems to me that there are periods where those reports are all over, usually when a new study comes out, but then they subside and often they are of a tut-tutting nature. Anyway, I see active concern about turning kids into anorexic, but concern about letting kids become obese seems to carry baggage.

Anorexia is more immediately fatal, true, but obesity is so common and involves loss of quality of life and fuels other lethal conditions. Anyway, I don't want to downplay anorexia...I have students grappling with it from time to time...but I'm concerned that obesity is viewed to some extent as a boring poor person's disorder. I'd love to hear about initiatives aimed at creating safe areas for active play for children, making healthy food more feasible and that sort of thing. I live in a rural area and it breaks my heart to see all these overweight kids who are susceptible to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc. But I know it's hard for families. When the issue of childhood obesity was addressed in Salon a year or so ago, a lot of responses were "People need to make time to buy/cook/eat healthily" when it was clear most posters had no idea how feasible that really was and didn't seem that interested in finding out.

Point being: one's SES status affects how seriously one's situation is considered, as Lynn Harris states regarding contraceptive access.

Fair enough about the subject matter. I do want to point out though that while many college women are on their parents' health insurance, the ones I think are really impacted by the increase in BC costs are the children of those women (and men) who are working but can't afford decent insurance. There's overlap in the two populations.

Both of you are still "technically married" to someone else after a year and a half of a "committed, monogamous relationship"? How does that work, exactly? Shouldn't you rid yourselves of those pesky ex's before worrying about meeting the 'rents?

That's a good story about your friend. Years ago my husband and I, both of whom love to cook, spent three nights at his brother and sister-in-law's house, with a kitchen of our dreams...gas stove with six burners, top of the line appliances. In three days, the only things that came out of that kitchen were English muffins.

I say life is too short to let someone else stuff your mushrooms.