Letters to the Editor
-
Push presents
I don't understand the problem with the "push presents." My brother gave my sister-in-law a beautiful necklace after my nephew was born, with her birthstone and my nephew's. He added my niece's birthstone to it after my niece was born. I thought it was a beautiful gesture to commemorate the birth of their children. My sister-in-law isn't one for jewelry (nor is my brother) but she wears the necklace often.
And how are these so different from a mother's ring, besides the fact that they're given at the child's birth? Or are mother's rings considered anti-feminist too? I inherited my grandmother's mother's ring (not to be confused with my great-grandmother's ring). It's nothing fancy but it has great sentimental value for me, as I'm sure these "push presents" do to the women who receive them, or to their daughters or other loved ones who may inherit them someday.
-
What about punching bags for men?
Are these being removed from shelves too? Because after all, they must be promoting violence towards women.
-
Yes, it incites violence
There's nothing wrong with a man-shaped punching bag, per se, but putting a particular person's face on it is probably not a good idea.
How would women feel if a man taped his ex-wife or ex-girlfriends face to a speed bag and pummeled her? The folks at Jezebel would blow a fuse over that one.
-
from a fighter's perspective
That punching bag is a terrible idea. It defeats the whole purpose of martial arts training (yes, Western boxing is a martial art, and an effective one), which is to separate anger from aggression. Aggression is vital to training, but anger makes conflict emotional, personal, and dangerous not only to the target but to the fighter herself.
I haven't run this idea past my krav maga instructor yet, but I'm guessing she'll have some choice words. Personalizing aggression is just wrongheaded and bad training. Big thumbs down from this feminist.
-
Didn't she read the script?
Maybe George Clooney is smart enough -- or powerful enough, at this point in his career -- not to get involved in movies he'd later feel moved to disparage.
-
Anonymous
I agree with you in theory, but in reality I think even Imi himself would still be vulnerable to getting pissed off in a fight.
You are right, though, that anything which increases the likelihood that a person will seek out violent conflict is completely anathema to self defense.
-
Curses!
Make that "antithetical," not "anathema."
-
Owwww!
If I ever deserved diamonds for anything, it was all that pushing. The pain of labor is the main reason my daughter is an only child. Those women who say that they had an easy time of it make me want to buy a punching bag and put their picture on it.
-
krav squad!
DurianJoe, there's a big difference between getting pissed off in the context of a fight, and going around thinking that being pissed off is a good excuse for a fight, even an imaginary fight.
But you knew that. So did Imi, of course. This stupid-ass punching bag thing confuses the issue. Grrrr.
-
Ewwww!
How about that driving instructor? One year probably isn't enough for him. Don't forget that there is more than the carrot and stick involved here. That guy was pawing people and, as a driving instructor, he is a position of authority.
-
No, if Clooney had said it...
he would likewise be an asshole. Here's a novel thought: if you're making a handsome living as an actor and you come across a project that you find objectionable...pass! What's admirable about a big Hollywood star remembering his or her principles after the check is cashed?
-
Calling them "push presents" is ridiculous and demeaning, BUT
I thought it was a lovely gesture when my husband gave me a charm bracelet with my newborn's name engraved on the charm, and then a second charm for my second son. I think it was his way of acknowledging that he had the easy part in the process, and it made me feel that he really appreciated my hard work.
-
Maybe Clooney . . .
is powerful enough to have a say about script changes. Heigl is nowhere near in his position.
-
I plan to market a lifesize female shaped punching bag with a variety of wigs and slot to put a face picture
wonder if anyone will complain
-
I'm another one who doesn't understand...
What's the issue with "push presents"? Giving a woman a present to acknowledge the labor of, well, labor -- and the issue is what?
-
Clooney had (and still has)...
...some not-at-all complimentary things to say about BATMAN AND ROBIN and his performance in it. :) As far as Heigl goes, it sounds like she's trying to have it both ways. If she thought the script was sexist in the first place, why do it?
-
Right. About that gender thing.
Headlines appearing simultaneously November 29, 2007 on msnbc:
Britney Spears displaying mental issues?
and
Devout boy dies after refusing transfusions
Maybe it’s just me. I gotta go.
-
WOW AKA
If I ever deserved diamonds for anything, it was all that pushing. The pain of labor is the main reason my daughter is an only child. Those women who say that they had an easy time of it make me want to buy a punching bag and put their picture on it.
You deserve a Nobel Prize. You just answered the question scientists worldwide are still pondering.
What is the purpose of pain in childbirth?
It is Darwinism's way of weeding out those mothers not strong and magnanimous enough to put up with some momentary pain in order to breed.
Figure, a child, while a pleasure some of the time, is a pain a lot of the time too. What better way for natural selection to select in favor of self sacrificing mothers who will be less prone to harm their child in some way should they become irate or lose control?
Nature abhors a vacuum, and a mother/child that is not amenable and beneficial to the tribe becomes a burden or, worse, a potential ticking time bomb of their own.
In this way, drugs taken to lessen pain are creating lots of moms incapable of being those good mothers who would be patient enough to see a child's unbringing through without becoming a mommy monster at some point.
Actually, since I came up with the concept, I deserve my [now] THIRD Nobel Prize. I'll just pat m'self on the back...
-
Funny
but when men were the sole breadwinners and labored endlessly at the office, I never heard of women coming up with pencil pushing presents.
Are men truly more generous than women? I guess so.