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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Excuse me? I am outraged by the holier-than-thou, monday morning football, back-seat driver tut-tut-tu-ing over the name pillow angel.
I don't know what you ever so tasteful people, but I give and receive all names of endearment that emphasize littleness and cuteness. The fact that this family can have a relationship of love and affection after years of hard work of caring for her, as evidenced by this term of endearment, speaks volume about their love for their little girl.
The worst part is that it is such hard work to care for severly diabled. You have to change their poo, collect their urine, shower them, change them, brush their teeth, everything. And, someone comments about their nickname for her?!! God, sometimes I despise this liberal smallmindedness and elitism of I'm too educated to do anything so vulgar. And, this coming from a liberal myself.
will someone please tell me how a 3 year-old mind will be less bothered by surgical mutilation than it is by some possible future molestation by a pervert?
these people neutered their lap dog. period.
"aren't we troubled enough by having a diabled daughter? can't the world understand that we've found something that we enjoy about her (she sits quietly wherever we put her), and that we want to keep her that way?"
the world is crazy. CRAZY.
But reading the facts of this case and considering the options make me think this was the best choice - a choice that was deeply considered by the stakeholders in this girl's life: her loving parents, and the doctors who performed the treatment. These are professionals aware of the potential consequences of their actions, and who must bear responsibility for whatever happens in the future.
This story should invite compassion, not scorn. What would you, personally, do if this were your child?
And then, too, I wonder how many of the mentally ill people living "autonomously" on the streets of San Francisco would willingly trade their sexual organs and future chance at sexual pleasure/reproduction for a loving home with a family instead of a cold night on a cardboard scrap next to a pile of feces?
This is a perfect example of exercising the right to privacy that is necessary to maintain in order to claim this is a civil, safe, and mature society.
It is nobody's business other than this family and those responsible given their positions at the facilities being used.
Whether or not anyone outside that circle has an opinion or not is totally irrelevant other than supporting the families right to make the decision themselves.
To intrude, or even think one has the right to intrude based upon some belief system one may have is a breach of a fundamental right that is necessary to maintain the decency we expect as members of a society that respects the rights of individuals.
We have seen far too many cases in recent years where that right has been challenged, unfortunately under the guise of so called religious convictions, which are a total misrepresentation and degradation of those values.
What is private is private, what is "god's" is "God's", and how I wish to decide over matters of my life and death, and those of my loved ones is mine and "ours"--and not for the collective to decide.
Help keep the mob out of my house, and I'll help keep it out of yours. Those are my terms for agreeing to being a member of this society, and the laws upon which the nation was founded protect it.
It is the same principle at stake in questions involving contraception, abortion, and euthanasia.
Grow up America.
As someone earlier mentioned, having a period is part of being a woman.
An adult woman.
Not a three-month-old (please note, at least one previous poster: not three years, but three months) infant girl.
Having sexual desire and pleasure is part of being an adult, not an infant. And giving birth and whatever else she might be giving up. It's not part of what defines "personhood" when you're a baby. You have every right to exist at that age, but you aren't generally considered to have some kind of a right to sexual pleasure. What is Ashley giving up, really? She's never going to have The Talk with her mom, go shopping for her first bra, get married and have babies. I'm not sure I agree with doing this surgically, but mutilation? To mutilate, you have to deprive someone of something they need without benefit. An appendectomy is not mutilation. This is, for Ashley's intents and purposes, the same thing.
Her disability is not like most mental or physical disabilities. Adults with Down's Syndrome, for example, can hold down jobs, make friends, even have relationships, and yes, sex. They may need assistance, but they are capable of doing all those things and I would never ask them to give up any of that. Ashley will unfortunately never have that option, and so the best they can do is make her comfortable.
I'm bothered by the term, too. Not because they call her that. I don't care if they call her "Our Little Pumpkinny-Wumpkinny Cupcake"--cutesy doesn't bother me. It's that they seem to be using this "Pillow Angel" thing as a generic now that bugs me. A nickname is sweet. A euphemism is not.
I guess I just have one question: Would Ashley's parents (or any parents) do this to a severely disabled male child? Keep him purposefully in an infantile state by stunting his growth so he'd be easier to cuddle? Perform a vasectomy to desexualize him? Call him ridiculous names like "pillow angel? Uh, I think the answer is probably not. I find this story totally horrifying, frankly.
What a relief to see most of the letters support the child's parents here. What is this knee jerk reaction about "rights?" With rights come responsibilities and this child cannot take on many more responsibilities than breathing. Her family take on her responsibilities. And after them, the tax payers and paid caregivers.
This argument about "rights" is so damn childish. Those doctors and "ethicists" who are questioning the parents' decision need to spend a LONG time personally caring for adults and adolescents in the same condition as Ashley. They need to get their heads out of their books or whatever it is that is giving them these ideas. Because it sure isn't common sense. Then maybe they'd have room to talk.
And please, don't worry about her "sexual pleasure" and "right to reproduce." She already seems to feel love for her family and likes opera; and this overpopulated planet doesn't really need every possible reproducer, brutal as that fact may be.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
