Letters to the Editor

Letters posted here are associated with the following article:
Roundup: Pole dancing for preteens Plus: Fox News' "groundbreaking" and allegedly apolitical abortion documentary.
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  • Republican women hotter than Democrats? So says a virtual flier quickly making the rounds on Facebook. As Feministing asks, is that supposed to be a persuasive political argument?

    Blah blah blah, and just last week all you cuties at Feministing and Feministe were talking about the research that said you were better in bed (when it didn't say anything like that.)

    Is that supposed to be persuasive argument in general?

  • In all seriousness, when did jungle gyms go out of style?

    When feminist-lawyer-mothers started suing everyone in existence because their little rapist to be got a booboo.

  • Question ????

    What is pole dancing?

  • Uh....

    Most dancing stages also have a horizontal bar and a mirror at the back.

    Can we ban ballet while we’re at it?

  • The sexual frontier -- pole dancing for pre-teens is 'Jon Benet' creepy

    When I was in junior highschool in Minneapolis in the 80s, a few kids were already having sex. There was a pregnant girl in my class. Even then I thought: we are badder than the last generation and it's cool. But I wondered what it would be like in ten years? If kids would be having sex even younger? And, even then, I knew if I became a parent I would be horrified if that became true.

    I've often wondered where it would all stop, because it's so natural for kids to want to out misbehave the older generation. So in the future will we argue about full frontal nudity in the junior high holiday pageant? Oral sex in the high school play? Kama Sutra electives for sophomores?

    Maybe women in sheer minidresses at the office are just a few seasons away. What a gorgeous, distracting sight. I can barely walk around New York without smacking into light posts from looking now.

    I consider myself a monogamous libertine. I think people should celebrate their sexuality however they want at pretty much whatever age they want, as long as it's not adults preying on kids.

    But if I was a parent I would be half-prude. I would not let my 13 year old daughter take pole dancing classes.

    Yes, pole dancing for pre-teens is creepy. Jon Benet creepy.

  • Pole dancing for pre-teens? Sounds as though it goes real well with Birth Control given out without parental notice to 11 year olds

    Which is worse?

    Pole-dancing for 11 year olds, or a school giving out birth control to those 11 year olds?

    I know which one Broadsheet has not mentioned.

  • GRRRR

    Double GRRRRRR...

    Chefs can be hired by a restaurant. In Austin, several restaurants have hired award winning chefs, so the chef does not automatically need to open his/her own place.

    Chefs can also work their way up from a small establishment to a larger place.

    Chefs can also get investor money from other women. Women control more than half of money in this country. Quit sitting on it and invest in your sisters.

    With the exception of Alice Waters, maybe female chefs have nothing original or creative to offer the market. That is probably the REAL answer.

  • boys doing pole dancing?

    So - are boys and girls doing the "strength and flexibility" pole dancing training? IF it is just girls - guess that says something.

    This is too damned creepy. Are the kids going to dress as strippers too? I mean, that is what pole dancing came from, right?

    No ballet dancing bar or mirrored walls come from the porn industry. Both boob jobs and pole dancing come from the world of stripping.

    Who thought this was a good idea?

  • Great post,

    Hubcap halo!

  • Republican women hotter than Democrats?

    Well when you add up the abstinence that leads to anal sex and the christian bdsm thing a while back, ya I can see it. You spend your life being almost forcibly repressed and denying the existence of your sexuality, then you marry a guy who is secretly gay, I can see how that'd make a chick a fuh-REAK!

  • Transgender Bathrooms?

    This is ridiculous. If you are the 1 out of a thousand or whatever people who doesn't have a ding dong or a coochie box than you just get to pick whichever bathroom has the shortest line. Forcing everyone else to squeeze into one room is stupid.

  • What's wrong with providing birth control?

    The Dutch have the lowest rates of teen pregnancy/STDs/abortions et cetera, because of their extensive sex education and availability of contraception. I'm not sure what ages are involved, but the point is, it works.

  • pole position

    I wrote an article on pole-dancing a while back which allowed me to try it out and it was super fun - like being a kid on a jungle gym again. There was a real sense of freedom and play, right until we got to the part where you're supposed to lick the pole provocatively. Ew.

    But regardless of whether you're swinging around the thing like a kid or dry-humping it like a stripper, pole dancing has a very clearly defined sexual connotation in our culture.

    It's completely inappropriate and messed up to teach little girls pole-dancing. What's next? Flash-your-coochie-for-the-paparazzi lessons?

  • making all bathrooms "female friendly" means you can accomodate fewer people in a given space

    male urinals can be packed in, so if you make this change women will have FEWER stalls available. Is this a price they are willing to pay?

  • Bad Religion, I wrote that poorly, what I meant was:

    What's worse, what's setting up the kids more for relationship problems

    Parents allowing/encouraging their 11 year olds to work out on a pole,

    or

    Schools providing those 11 year olds with birth control without telling notifying the parents, even if the parents would want to know, or don't consent for the kids to have birth control?

    I suspect the number of parents allowing their kids to pole dance is a very small number, but my guess too, is that the parents know and consent.

    Handing out BC pills to 11 year olds with no parental consent seems very suspect. These kids cannot be considered either informed patients or informed signatories to a contract.

    Broadsheet wants to hype the pole dancing issue but won't talk about the parental issues involving BC pills in elementary schools.

    And Broadsheet Feminists(TM) can't decide from one day or another whether stripping is empowerful or just another patriarchal oppressed group.

    But Broadsheet Feminists(TM) do claim to be sex-positive feminists, which is why they think that handing out BC pills to elementary school kids is A-OK.

  • My blood pressure's already high enough thank you

    If you feel like raising your blood pressure, it airs this Saturday, Oct. 27, at 9 p.m.

    No, this goose anus thing has already got my blood pressure high enough.

    I'll guess there'll never be enough hate in the world, will there?

  • bc to 11 year olds

    First of all, what does it matter which is worse? Does that somehow make pole dancing for 7 year olds ok? It's okay to sexualize prepubescent children because some pubescent children are sexually active and request birth control from the school nurse?

    Second of all, you're blowing things out of proportion and skewing the facts to make it seem more alarming than it actually is. I'm pretty sure you got your "facts" from an article written by Bill O'Reilly. Try reading some other articles about it before running with whatever that lying, agenda-driven gasbag says and treating it like gospel. He'll have you believe that there is a Secular Conspiracy afoot, trying to Sexualize our Young Girls, when in reality the school is responding to the fact that some middle school students are sexually active and are asking for birth control, and unwilling to confide in their parents about it. I guess you and the Bill O'Reilly's of the world think the appropriate response to a sexually active middle school student is to let them suffer the punishment of teen pregnancy and/or STDs that they so rightly deserve for disobeying the word of God. Of course you do.

    The age of 11, which saeems very alarming, comes from the fact that the youngest kids in middle school are 11 years old, not that 11 year olds are sexually active or are asking for and receiving birth control. Also, the school isn't giving out BC alone; they've had condoms available since 2000. And this doesn't promote sex, the percentage of middle school students in that school having sex has dropped since then.

    Furthermore, the parents have to sign a consent order to allow their kids to have medical care at the school, otherwise the kid won't have access to the health center at the school and won't be able to get condoms or birth control if they want them. And the parents who sign the consent form do so knowing that there is a potential their kid could covertly start taking the pill. So if some parent has a problem with this, they simply don't sign the consent form.

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