Letters to the Editor
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Rhetorical Issue
The problems with the CDC's language is that they emphasize women's health ONLY as it relates to pregnancy. They do not mention the health of pre-pubescent females or post-menopausal females.
This is just the latest and most blatant attempt to emphasize that the only acceptable female sexuality is that which revolves around reproduction.
If the CDC were so damn worried about womens' health, they'd publicize the HPV vaccine and help prevent thousands of cases of fatal cervical cancer (not to mention an STD).
No one would argue that it's bad for women to take good care of themselves. However, as it has been pointed out, the good care should be intentioned for the ACTUAL woman, rather than any hypothetical beings she may or may not create and carry to term.
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It's not 'feminism'
AndreaS - You don't get it, do you? The cat recommendation (and the entire thing) has nothing to do with feminism - it has to do with treating a human being as if they exist predominantly for another purpose. If you don't have a problem with that, fine.
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New motto
Not just "every sperm is sacred," but "every sperm to term!"
I'm starting to wonder if women will soon be banned from buying alcohol. First rape victims are "inviting their fate" by having a drink, now grown, unpregnant women are being told they shouldn't have that wine for the sake of the baby. Drinking is unladylike, anyway.
And to think that it was only 30 years ago that my mother was told by her own father that he wasn't going to even sign her student loans so she could get her MRS.
How about treating every woman as a human being so she has the health and resources to care for a baby if she decides to become pregnant?
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There's a pattern developing here
First a pre-emptive strike on Iraq. Now, a pre-emptive strike on healthcare reform. What's next? Perhaps a pre-emptive strike on the 1st Amendment, or the 4th or the 9th or 10th--Wait, aren't Bill Frist, Karl Rove and the rest of wagon train are already working on those?
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Enuf with the cats and pregnancy thing!
Although this latest CDC tidbit it horrifying enough, when will this myth about cats and toxoplasmosis end? Yes, you can get it from cat feces but the cat either has to be an outdoor cat or from a home infested with mice! As for toxoplasmosis, the CDC should be warning women about eating undercooked meat, unwashed fruits and vegetables and avoiding gardening as well if its going to treat us all as breeders only. Its not just cats people! If your cat stays indoors and doesn't catch mice, you have nothing to worry about.
Plus, it takes a day for the organism to reach toxic state so you can just clean the litterbox daily to avoid this problem with an outdoor cat. As for the cat, if it gets it, its only infected for 1-3 weeks. There are tests to take to see if you've developed immunity or have been recently infected if this is a major concern for you. So if you've been around cats for some time and the cat exposed you to it in the past, you most likely are immune now and have nothing to fear. I've heard of stories where doctors have told people to get rid of the family cat as soon as a woman was pregnant. But do they tell her she's not allowed to garden? Um, no. You have a higher rate of catching this from gardening than dealing with an indoor cat's litterbox only.
Sorry about the slightly OT rant but this risk is so highly exagerated it drives me nuts everytime I read about it with no actual explanation of other means of contracting toxoplasmosis.
As for these latest guidelines, I can't imagine any woman NOT being horrified by its implications. And I agree with the idea that more should be focused on getting decent healthcare to women who ARE pregant or trying to avoid pregnancy instead. I ask the men, how would you feel if you were told you had to avoid this or that at all times of your life just because your sperm might get infected by something and passed onto a woman you just unexpectingly impregnated?
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Men should follow this advice, too
I find your interpretation of the guidelines rather an overreaction. You note the "failing healthcare system" but take umbrage at the most critical piece: getting good advice on taking care of one's body. If anything, this advice is very sex-positive: women can and do have sex even in non-procreative contexts, and since pregnancies do happen under those circumstances it's wise to take care of yourself. Those fetuses may be only theoretical, but they're hardly imaginary: tens of thousands of babies are born every year to women who weren't planning for them.
Most of these are good general guidelines that every person should follow, and if this advice came from Planned Parenthood I don't think there would be any liberal outrage. But from a government source you make up things that they didn't say ("routine pelvic exams administered at the gate") and attack that strawman. That kind of hysteria (yes, I recognize the pun) makes it hard to take your other, valid arguments seriously.
(The one about cats is a bit much. Toxoplasmosis is a real problem, but one that's better solved by washing your hands [good general advice, too] than by getting rid of Fluffy.)
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Babies
AndreaS, it's not easy to be the voice of reason. You're the only one on here who DOES get it, and don't let any hysterical posters tell you otherwise.
Before I get started: pregnant women are advised not to be around cats during their term, because they, much like sushi, can carry parasites. I think this is bad advice. Not because it's a misogynist conspiracy, but because it results in many animals getting left on the SPCA's doorstep as soon as the missus is knocked up.
This collective panic attack that Broadsheet has come to represent is so counter-intuitive-- a bunch of headless chickens running in a circle while nothing gets done. I'm not denying there are real problems out there, and major gender inequalities, but it's hard to take anything seriously when both rape in Sudan and penis-shaped lollipops are addressed with the same panicky tone and within tireless, short-sighted pontifications.
You sound like Cosmo Girl's sulky sister. You write like we're just a homogenous mass, heaving with indigination: angry female incarnate. "Get this, girls: today in DC/Darfur/West County High/ The O.C.,etc.." Half the time, when I read the given link the story sounds pretty reasonable, and it's the Broadsheet gang who's blown it out of porportion and cloaked it with Women's Studies 101 buzzwords.
And whenever anyone objects, posters automatically assume the letter-writer is uneducated, anti-feminist, or Brightstar with a new pseudonym.
Gah. This was meant to commend AndreaS, but I got carried away. It's not hard.
PS. How could any self-respecting feminist endorse Camille Paglia?? Answer me that, Broadsheet.