September 2008 Archives
As a woman, and as one who might possibly be pregnant in the not too-far-off future (a few years) I'm always interested to read reports about things I should and shouldn't consider about my health, relating to pregnancy. And it's funny how the undertone for each study is "do this or your baby will die/develop wrong/grow up unhappy and unhealthy [score out as applicable] and it will be all your fault", isn't it?
Drinking coffee may increase the risk of miscarriage (January 2008). Getting stressed while pregnant might increase the possibility of your child developing asthma (May 2008). Breastfeeding will cure all the world's ills and bring world peace. (August 2006, July 2006, May 2004, May 2005, May 2008, March 2007, July 2002) And it's good for Mother, too. (November 2005) As long as they don't drink (April 2005) or use pain control during labour (December 2006).
Funny that there's as many studies that say almost the opposite. Breastfeeding boosts the IQ of baby? (May 2008) Not according to the Medical Research Council and University of Edinburgh (October 2006). And sometimes, they come out with findings which might not be correct (November 2003) And, to capture the zeitgeist, breastfeeding will keep baby thin (June 2002). Or not. (October 2003) But don't breastfeed too long, because then you're strange and probably harming your child psychologically, even when you're not.
But never mind! The most important thing about breastfeeding? Your breasts will still be pert and perky and youthful for your man (and all other men) afterwards! (November 2007)
Breastfeeding is certainly something I hope to do for my offspring, but there's a possiblity it won't work. Mastitis, anyone? A friends of mine had that and found it so painful she just couldn't continue to try to feed her son that way. As a woman, I resent the pressure put on all of us - who expect or plan to and do have children - to follow someone else's rules when it comes to what's best for baby.
Me? Of course I'm going to drink coffee during pregnancy, assuming I don't find it beyond repulsive. I can't function in the morning without a cup. And if I miscarry? Well, the only way of being absolutely certain it was the coffee would probably to be to avoid ingesting anything else (which would help reduce the risk of it being caused by obesity) and lay in bed all day for that first 12 weeks. Avoiding all contact with anyone, because my mobile phone's radiation might do it. Radio waves might do it, the electro-magnetic field of the computer might do it... My body may just reject the embryo as naturally inviable for genetic reasons that I wouldn't know about. But by the media frenzy over pregnancy, if I'm not blaming myself for it, if it happens, I most certainly should.
I vividly recall one of my lecturers, Dr. Leona Elder, illustrating causality and correlation by pointing out that in the the summer months, murder rates increase. As do sales of ice cream. It would be a false correlation to say that ice cream causes murders. I don't know enough about the actual studies that the Beeb have reported on to put much trust in the media reporting of it. Journalists don't necessarily understand the meaning of the findings, which are written to be read by scientific peers. Which is why we have daft statements for headlines like "Housework 'reduces cancer risk'", when housework started to be included as physical exercise in the studies into what reduces the occurence of cancer. Read this great article from Bitch to see what I'm blathering about.
You know, when I got up and turned on the computer, with the intention to blog, it was about how I'm so utterly fed up with the taboo of (whisper it) menstruation. It's unclean. Smelly. And an improperly inserted tampon may "pinch" (honestly, under subheading number 4, it says "A properly inserted tampon doesn’t pinch or cause any type of discomfort."!) I've suffered with very heavy periods for years - the Water Pik and the blood have nothing on what comes out my vagina every month - and I'm now starting to think how different things might have been if we were allowed to talk about it more. And how many women and girls are left to suffer in silence because they're not able to compare experiences with others, and just assume that it's normal to be in so much pain they can't move or pass out, or have pain all the time (a possible effect of endomitriosis)? And what's with the language that implies it's somehow unnatural to menstruate? All the euphemisms? That it's a wound, it's a curse, it means one can't participate in vaginal sex... Out of Order? All Anal Sex Week?? Blow Job Week??? Let's make one thing clear, menstrual blood does not harm the penis. So you might want a wet wipe afterwards. If I'm to go down on my husband while 'on the blob', he can do the same for me. Yes, with my Mooncup in...
And all because I saw another advert for sanitary protection (even that term's loaded with meaning!) designed to make girls and women paranoid about blood escaping and, teh horrorz!!!1!!!!1! people knowing you've got your period. Involving a bumper car. Seriously, Always, were your pads that much of a liability before? This is like the tampon skirt all over again...
Drinking coffee may increase the risk of miscarriage (January 2008). Getting stressed while pregnant might increase the possibility of your child developing asthma (May 2008). Breastfeeding will cure all the world's ills and bring world peace. (August 2006, July 2006, May 2004, May 2005, May 2008, March 2007, July 2002) And it's good for Mother, too. (November 2005) As long as they don't drink (April 2005) or use pain control during labour (December 2006).
Funny that there's as many studies that say almost the opposite. Breastfeeding boosts the IQ of baby? (May 2008) Not according to the Medical Research Council and University of Edinburgh (October 2006). And sometimes, they come out with findings which might not be correct (November 2003) And, to capture the zeitgeist, breastfeeding will keep baby thin (June 2002). Or not. (October 2003) But don't breastfeed too long, because then you're strange and probably harming your child psychologically, even when you're not.
But never mind! The most important thing about breastfeeding? Your breasts will still be pert and perky and youthful for your man (and all other men) afterwards! (November 2007)
Breastfeeding is certainly something I hope to do for my offspring, but there's a possiblity it won't work. Mastitis, anyone? A friends of mine had that and found it so painful she just couldn't continue to try to feed her son that way. As a woman, I resent the pressure put on all of us - who expect or plan to and do have children - to follow someone else's rules when it comes to what's best for baby.
Me? Of course I'm going to drink coffee during pregnancy, assuming I don't find it beyond repulsive. I can't function in the morning without a cup. And if I miscarry? Well, the only way of being absolutely certain it was the coffee would probably to be to avoid ingesting anything else (which would help reduce the risk of it being caused by obesity) and lay in bed all day for that first 12 weeks. Avoiding all contact with anyone, because my mobile phone's radiation might do it. Radio waves might do it, the electro-magnetic field of the computer might do it... My body may just reject the embryo as naturally inviable for genetic reasons that I wouldn't know about. But by the media frenzy over pregnancy, if I'm not blaming myself for it, if it happens, I most certainly should.
I vividly recall one of my lecturers, Dr. Leona Elder, illustrating causality and correlation by pointing out that in the the summer months, murder rates increase. As do sales of ice cream. It would be a false correlation to say that ice cream causes murders. I don't know enough about the actual studies that the Beeb have reported on to put much trust in the media reporting of it. Journalists don't necessarily understand the meaning of the findings, which are written to be read by scientific peers. Which is why we have daft statements for headlines like "Housework 'reduces cancer risk'", when housework started to be included as physical exercise in the studies into what reduces the occurence of cancer. Read this great article from Bitch to see what I'm blathering about.
You know, when I got up and turned on the computer, with the intention to blog, it was about how I'm so utterly fed up with the taboo of (whisper it) menstruation. It's unclean. Smelly. And an improperly inserted tampon may "pinch" (honestly, under subheading number 4, it says "A properly inserted tampon doesn’t pinch or cause any type of discomfort."!) I've suffered with very heavy periods for years - the Water Pik and the blood have nothing on what comes out my vagina every month - and I'm now starting to think how different things might have been if we were allowed to talk about it more. And how many women and girls are left to suffer in silence because they're not able to compare experiences with others, and just assume that it's normal to be in so much pain they can't move or pass out, or have pain all the time (a possible effect of endomitriosis)? And what's with the language that implies it's somehow unnatural to menstruate? All the euphemisms? That it's a wound, it's a curse, it means one can't participate in vaginal sex... Out of Order? All Anal Sex Week?? Blow Job Week??? Let's make one thing clear, menstrual blood does not harm the penis. So you might want a wet wipe afterwards. If I'm to go down on my husband while 'on the blob', he can do the same for me. Yes, with my Mooncup in...
And all because I saw another advert for sanitary protection (even that term's loaded with meaning!) designed to make girls and women paranoid about blood escaping and, teh horrorz!!!1!!!!1! people knowing you've got your period. Involving a bumper car. Seriously, Always, were your pads that much of a liability before? This is like the tampon skirt all over again...
Today's unexpected new fact: Alan Rickman is extremely popular as a blogsearch term.
Today's cause for misanthropy (via Shakesville): smiling is being cited as sufficient provocation for murder. The fact that Angie Zapata was able to smile immediately after being sexually assaulted makes me want to weep even more.
You know, I get that there are bigots out there. I wish there wasn't, and I hope that they see the error in their narrow-mindedness, sooner rather than later. Ideally before another person is killed because someone can't wrap their tiny mind around the idea that everyone has the right to live their life as they choose (and in countries where they don't, they should. Obviously.) as long as it doesn't hurt another.
Being gay? Hurts no-one. Nope, not even the kiddies. Being trans? Queer? Intersexed? Asexual? What's with the obsession about how we get our jollies? Given that the people who are often most vocal about how any deviation from heterosexuality is wrong, wrong and evil also prattle on about how sex is an important thing to keep private...
You know what? Bigots can be bigoted, as long as they do it behind closed doors, only amongst consenting adults, where no-one can see and no-one is hurt. And as being bigoted in public means someone is hurt by default... Keep it as your shameful secret. Before too long, they'll all be so inbred, their offspring will be genetically inviable so the propagation of mindless hate might actually end.
Of course, we can help them on their way, educate them as to the ways they've gone wrong, cure them of their bigotedness. Help them to see the light and repent their sins. And you know what? Unlike certain deprogramming... programs...* It might actually work. Fo' real.
*'k so, Landover Bapist is a spoof. I didn't want to spend too much time looking for a real deprogramming thing. I need to sleep. I have to go and brave Ikea tomorrow. It's enough to drive me to drawing dirty looks at the back of peoples heads at 7.30pm on a Tuesday, so 10am on a Saturday is going to be hell on toast.
Today's cause for misanthropy (via Shakesville): smiling is being cited as sufficient provocation for murder. The fact that Angie Zapata was able to smile immediately after being sexually assaulted makes me want to weep even more.
You know, I get that there are bigots out there. I wish there wasn't, and I hope that they see the error in their narrow-mindedness, sooner rather than later. Ideally before another person is killed because someone can't wrap their tiny mind around the idea that everyone has the right to live their life as they choose (and in countries where they don't, they should. Obviously.) as long as it doesn't hurt another.
Being gay? Hurts no-one. Nope, not even the kiddies. Being trans? Queer? Intersexed? Asexual? What's with the obsession about how we get our jollies? Given that the people who are often most vocal about how any deviation from heterosexuality is wrong, wrong and evil also prattle on about how sex is an important thing to keep private...
You know what? Bigots can be bigoted, as long as they do it behind closed doors, only amongst consenting adults, where no-one can see and no-one is hurt. And as being bigoted in public means someone is hurt by default... Keep it as your shameful secret. Before too long, they'll all be so inbred, their offspring will be genetically inviable so the propagation of mindless hate might actually end.
Of course, we can help them on their way, educate them as to the ways they've gone wrong, cure them of their bigotedness. Help them to see the light and repent their sins. And you know what? Unlike certain deprogramming... programs...* It might actually work. Fo' real.
*'k so, Landover Bapist is a spoof. I didn't want to spend too much time looking for a real deprogramming thing. I need to sleep. I have to go and brave Ikea tomorrow. It's enough to drive me to drawing dirty looks at the back of peoples heads at 7.30pm on a Tuesday, so 10am on a Saturday is going to be hell on toast.
Remember I posted a clip of John McScary on Ellen a week or so back? I'd embed this clip of her Oscars monologue, but it's been disabled. Anyway, I was inspired to order copies of her books (My Point... And I Do Have One and The Funny Thing Is...) and I've managed to read some of both of them. Her essay on modern technology in The Funny Thing Is... is easily to funniest thing I've read in... well, since the last Terry Pratchett book I read.
But that's not all that I've been doing, instead of blogging lately, no. I've also been procrastinating. I cannot see my floor for clothes at this moment in time, and I need to get things all packed up because I guess I'm properly moving into the flat on Monday. So what am I doing? Tweaking playlists on Evadnie (no-one say anything about iPod nanos too loudly; I'm absolutely not getting one for Christmas, certainly not in purple...) and thinking about watching the Funny Ladies DVD I got last week. A couple of weeks ago, The Independent gave away a free CD of the best of British stand up comedy (so the interview with Steve Coogan in the magazine was somewhat inexplicable) which included Jo Brand. And Mark Thomas. If you can get your hands on a copy of Serious Organised Criminal, even temporarily, do so. The CD also included the Secret Policeman's Ball version of Monty Python's Four Yorkshiremen sketch...
In the most recent Ball, Alan Rickman clearly read his lines off the paper he was holding, as still seemed to have trouble managing it. I'm inclined to think that was because he was a last-minute replacement rather than a poor comedy actor. Have you seen him as the Metatron in Dogma?
Anyway.
I got clothes to pack. And a playlist to make.
But that's not all that I've been doing, instead of blogging lately, no. I've also been procrastinating. I cannot see my floor for clothes at this moment in time, and I need to get things all packed up because I guess I'm properly moving into the flat on Monday. So what am I doing? Tweaking playlists on Evadnie (no-one say anything about iPod nanos too loudly; I'm absolutely not getting one for Christmas, certainly not in purple...) and thinking about watching the Funny Ladies DVD I got last week. A couple of weeks ago, The Independent gave away a free CD of the best of British stand up comedy (so the interview with Steve Coogan in the magazine was somewhat inexplicable) which included Jo Brand. And Mark Thomas. If you can get your hands on a copy of Serious Organised Criminal, even temporarily, do so. The CD also included the Secret Policeman's Ball version of Monty Python's Four Yorkshiremen sketch...
In the most recent Ball, Alan Rickman clearly read his lines off the paper he was holding, as still seemed to have trouble managing it. I'm inclined to think that was because he was a last-minute replacement rather than a poor comedy actor. Have you seen him as the Metatron in Dogma?
Anyway.
I got clothes to pack. And a playlist to make.
Until now, I didn't have much of an opinion on Matt Damon as a person. I like his roles in Kevin Smith's movies, I enjoyed Syriana. Well, as much as you can enjoy a film like Syriana. It's not entertainment like, say, Mamma Mia! is entertainment. Anyway. Matt Damon, sexy? He reminds me too much of my brother.
Oh well. At least the LHC didn't destroy us all.
Further evidence that the Male rewrites actual facts to suit their own agenda of rampant xenophobia and general hate...
Here's the BBC's report on a Muslim lawyer who was suspended in 2001 after saying that she was being treated like a friend of Osama bin Laden. You'll see the reason for my emphasis when you see how the Daily Male report the same story...
Misrepresentation, much?
Here's the BBC's report on a Muslim lawyer who was suspended in 2001 after saying that she was being treated like a friend of Osama bin Laden. You'll see the reason for my emphasis when you see how the Daily Male report the same story...
"An Asian lawyer who was suspended after telling a court security guard she was a 'friend of Bin Laden's' has won a £600,000 record pay out for race discrimination."
Misrepresentation, much?
I love the idea that women will 'vagina vote' - vote for any woman, because she's a woman, predicated on the delightful idea that women aren't capable of rational thought or reason. Clinton didn't get the nomination. So apparently 18 million women voters are now going to vote McCain because he's got Palin on his ticket. Never mind that she's basically the anti-Clinton. As pointed out in the video, Palin is anti-choice and would continue Republican efforts to overturn Roe vs. Wade and severely reduce access to birth control (if not eradicate it all together), something that Clinton is actively working against.
On the upside, in thinking that Women - The Monolith don't think, they've left themselves wide open to things like this...
I was going to add this into my last post, but thought, no. Let's let the sheer stupidity and wrong-headedness of it stand on its own for posterity and for all 6 of you to see. I read all about this when I was away getting married and the like, hence why I've never directly mentioned it before, except to link to Shakesville and The Curvature.
"Considering that 94% of rapes go unconvicted (aka false allegations), I would say that the 60% figure quoted in the article (of false reporting in the 1970s) was rather modest. How about some justice for all those innocent men falsely accused?
Though I won't hold my breath for that anytime soon, not with our current, anti male government.- Leory, Doncaster, UK, 13/8/2008 5:05"
[incredulous emphasis mine]
Leroy in Doncaster, you get a special prize. When I figure out what is suitable for someone who lives in a world of their own making, as you probably have everything you want already.
Remember that story I linked to that the Daily Male ran? The one about the woman who was found guilty of falsely accusing her ex of raping her? Well, I had a look back at it, to see further comments (I'm stunned, nay, shocked and heartbroken, that my comment didn't make it through the moderation, as I'm sure you can imagine) and browsing through the screed of misogyny and perpetuation of lies about women and rape stumbled upon this 'gem'...
Oh, there's nothing like some rampant misogyny in the morning to make me want to go out and conquer the world...
Lastly for now, there's another headline story in the news today. 'Sex'* can be bought for as little as £15 in London today. £25 for no condom. At writing, there are no comments on this article, probably because it's an awful lot harder to blame the women and girls for being trafficked, the government for being useless, or non-white-Brits or immigrants. Perhaps Male readers don't really understand what the problem is? I mean, they appear to generally think that women are merely recepticles for male sexuality as it is, maybe they think that getting paid for it is pretty cushy? Or maybe (and this is more likely) they think that things like that just don't affect them at all; brothels aren't on their streets, the men they know would never use a prostituted woman. In fact they don't even live in London (a lot of the commenters are international or ex-pats, or "England-not-Britain" which implies they aren't in London but in Middle England where it's all terribly bucolic and everyone goes to church on a Sunday and everyone's as white as can be and comfortably off in their 5 bedroom home with at least 3 dogs and 2 cars and roses around the door.) so why would they even bother with something like that? Oliver of Düsseldorf appears much more intent on crow-barring in a mention of the glass/concrete ceiling into every available stroy this morning.
*it's 'sex' because I sincerely doubt that the women and girls involved are consenting to it.
"I have to say that if I was ever called up for jury service in a rape case, stories like this one would automatically predispose me to a "Not Guilty" decision.
I'm fairly sure I am not the only man who is thinking exactly this thought, either...- Oliver (ex-pat), Düsseldorf, Germany, 27/8/2008 20:15"
It's safe to say that this is exactly why the Daily Male keep running these stories. They want rapists to walk free. They want to be able to rape whoever they like, and never so much as have the police involved. They want a conviction rate of 0%. They want to go back to a time when women were the property of their father or husband, and could never say no to any man.
The only small mercy is that Oliver is in Germany, so is unlikely to be called up for jury service in the UK anytime soon. Unfortunately, plenty more Male readers will be, and plenty more rapists will walk free, and plenty more women who have been raped will face the accusation that they made it up (I shit you not, there are people who believe that all accusations of rape that don't secure a conviction are false) and that they should face prison time for making tha accusation. I know at least one person who has been accused of rape (and from his own mouth, I know that he did rape the woman) and for all his self-pitying whining and snivelling that 'mud sticks' and that he'd have to live with the stigma forever more, he seems to be doing the same as he ever was. But with more eyeliner. He'll never have to live with having been raped and not believed. I know which I would prefer, and what people remember more, because it's more salacious.
Anyway. Back to the comments. True to form, the published ones are fulll of blame for women, 'NuLabour' and faintly demented... At least, I think that's the explanation for this one:
And in another story... Discrimination against women in the workplace is getting a bit worse. Already there are 67 comments on the Male's version of this, the second of which is an unfortunate woman who proves her own point."She even looks like a complete "TEAPOT" ! ! !
- Rory Armstrong, Southampton/England, 28/8/2008 12:15"
Oh, there's nothing like some rampant misogyny in the morning to make me want to go out and conquer the world...
Lastly for now, there's another headline story in the news today. 'Sex'* can be bought for as little as £15 in London today. £25 for no condom. At writing, there are no comments on this article, probably because it's an awful lot harder to blame the women and girls for being trafficked, the government for being useless, or non-white-Brits or immigrants. Perhaps Male readers don't really understand what the problem is? I mean, they appear to generally think that women are merely recepticles for male sexuality as it is, maybe they think that getting paid for it is pretty cushy? Or maybe (and this is more likely) they think that things like that just don't affect them at all; brothels aren't on their streets, the men they know would never use a prostituted woman. In fact they don't even live in London (a lot of the commenters are international or ex-pats, or "England-not-Britain" which implies they aren't in London but in Middle England where it's all terribly bucolic and everyone goes to church on a Sunday and everyone's as white as can be and comfortably off in their 5 bedroom home with at least 3 dogs and 2 cars and roses around the door.) so why would they even bother with something like that? Oliver of Düsseldorf appears much more intent on crow-barring in a mention of the glass/concrete ceiling into every available stroy this morning.
*it's 'sex' because I sincerely doubt that the women and girls involved are consenting to it.
