In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Month: December 2005

“I Want Abortion to End”

So says an anti-choice activist in South Dakota, where there is one abortion clinic which offers procedures one day a week, using doctors who fly in from Minnesota. Read the whole article. So what’s the solution? Allow states to cut Medicaid spending on contraception and family planning services (because that will decrease the abortion rate). Allow pharmacists to refuse to fill women’s prescriptions for contraceptives. Make safe, legal abortion more difficult to access.

Will that be what ends abortion? I’d love to hear someone try and defend this.

On a bit of a tangent (because I haven’t had much time to blog lately, so I might as well cram a lot into this post, right?), I watched a documentary the other night on TLC on an Egyptian baby born with two heads, and it reminded me of this conversation from a while back. The gist of the documentary was that the baby was born perfectly normal — except that at the top of its head, there was another head attached. The second head only had a neck, no body, and it used the other baby’s body for all of its basic life functions. But it had its own brain. It cried on its own, moved its own mouth, and blinked its eyes. It was, without a doubt, a separate being — except that it was a parasitic head, unable to survive without the other head and body it was attached to. What did the doctors do? They detached it, without a second ethical thought. It died, there was no question of that. But was it “killing a baby”? Was there a better or more ethical option?

Throughout that thread, there were the usual questions of whether a fetus is part of the woman’s body, it’s own separate entity with individual rights, or something in between. I happen to think that it’s something in between. But what this documentary made clear is that there is no moral or ethical responsibility for one being to allow another to live off of it. Is a parasitic head exactly the same thing as pregnancy? Of course not, and I’m not arguing that they’re perfectly parallel. And it feels a little morbid or strange, even comparing a baby born with two heads to an unwanted pregnancy. But the ethical issues of detaching this being that has no chance of survival without the body its attached to are certainly similar. Even if we argue that fetuses are entirely separate beings, why should women be required to carry those beings to term, and to allow them to live off of their bodies without their consent? How would this be considered fair, ethical or moral in any other area of medicine or law?

On a completely different note, check out this article on the dangerous choices facing pregnant Iraqi women.

Scary

1. I have my first real job interview tomorrow. I want this position so badly that I

2. hacked off my hair to make it look more professional. I like it, which is a good thing considering that I hate

3. going to a hair stylist with whom I have no previous relationship, and this one was so timid I thought I’d walk out of there looking like

4. Meg Ryan. I don’t like “cute.” I try to avoid “cute” with all I can muster, and unfortunately, damn near everything I do with myself ends up getting labeled “cute” instead of something more adult.

5. Thanks to my nephew I have had this stuck in my head for two whole days, and have refashioned it to sing to the cats and torture my poor boyfriend. Thankfully, E loves it.

Non-fluff blogging to resume sometime this century.

Wish me luck.

Loot

Except for a few choice moments, it was yet another disappointing Christmas here. Nonetheless, I made sure that my spawn made out like a bandit.

Every shred of Christmas shopping that didn’t consist of homemade presents was done on eBay. Thank you, thank you, to everyone who contributed to the Feed/Clothe/Provide Xmas For Lauren and Ethan Fund, as it was you folks that ensured we not only paid bills this December, but also had a decent Christmas. I bought every Christmas present at prices so sinfully low that I was able to give Ethan the first decent load of cool gifts since we were part of a two income household.

I think the best part of the day was coming home, setting up his (slightly used) GameCube and playing (a lightly used) Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life, and exploring this actually pretty new world that is crazily cute, and bonding over naming our digital cow Moo and our digital dog Kitty.

Roxanne sent a book for E, a complete collection of the Curious George books in hardback, that Ethan read enrapt as though it was the Bible on Easter Sunday. All reader gifts were given to Ethan from Santa, made all the more convincing because it’s obvious that Santa would use the same wrapping paper for each gift, even if this paper looks suspiciously like the stuff used at Amazon.com.

Mostly, it’s a good thing Dr. B slowly convinced me that video gaming is not the devil’s handiwork. It only took three (very resistant) years.

The simple things, man.

Christmas Dog Blogging

In my absense, little Ferris has gotten a litte fat — and he wasn’t particularly small-boned to begin with. Check out this beast, here with my sister:

xmas1

And here, not being particularly cute, but I think he’s trying:

xmas2

More to come later, if he cooperates and acts as adorable as he’s capable of being.

Christmas Eve Meme

Because instead of going to church, my family saw Syriana (which was quite good), and now I’m being bitter and Scrooge-like because the dial-up connection at my house is making me crabby. Time for a meme, via Science and Politics. Merry Christmas to all — and Happy Holidays, Mr. O’Reilly.

Seven Things To Do Before I Die

1. Have a book published
2. Spend New Year’s in Goa, an anniversary in Venice, a birthday in Belgrade, Easter in Rome, Valentine’s day in Vienna, Rio for Carnivale, and Beruit for a yet-to-be-determined holiday
3. Live in Paris
4. Go to culinary school in France or Italy (even it’s just a week-long Tuscan cooking program or something)
5. Retire in a little village on the Almalfi coast
6. Run for public office
7. Learn at least three more languages fluently

Seven Things I Cannot Do

1. Touch my tongue to my nose
2. Run fast
3. Stop biting my nails
4. Sit through the entirety of Braveheart
5. Understand the appeal of donuts
6. Get through a day without tripping, banging into something, falling, or otherwise injuring myself in some minor way
7. Go too long without physical affection (even if it’s just cuddling my dog when I go home). You know how premature babies will die if no one touches them for long enough? I have that problem too (or, you know, something like it).

Seven Things That Attract Me to…Blogging

1. My big fat ego
2. The need to bitch in as many mediums as possible
3. The procrastination factor
4. The sense of community (awww…)
5. The way to connect with lots of interesting, intelligent people
6. The Amazon presents (just kidding)
7. The hotties

Seven Things I Say Most Often

1. Uh… right. (or uh… what?)
2. Sadly, no.
3. The many variations of the f-word (except fuck you. I don’t use that one too often, it’s just crass).
4. Yeah I have no idea.
5. Awww…. (sarcastically)
6. Neat
7. Classy

Seven Books That I Love

1. Skinny Legs and All
2. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
3. Interpreter of the Maladies
4. White Noise (the Don Delillo book, not the crappy movie)
5. Dorothy Parker short stories (I can’t pick a favorite collection, sorry)
6. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
7. A Confederacy of Dunces

Currently reading “The Almond,” followed by “The Year of Magical Thinking” (Joan Didion), “Saturday” (Ian McEwan) and “The Plot Against America” (Philip Roth). I’ll let you know if any of them make the list.

Seven Movies That I Watch Over and Over Again

I rarely watch movies, and there are very few that I watch over and over again — usually it’s ones that are on TV over and over again. So this doesn’t actually reflect which movies I think are good, just which ones I don’t turn the channel on…
1. Love, Actually
2. Stepmom
3. Forrest Gump
4. Sister Act 1
5. Sister Act 2
6. Billy Madison
7. Little Girls in Pretty Boxes (a Lifetime classic)

And I’m adding a category, because I feel like it:

Seven Songs I Play Over and Over Again:

1. “Janie Jones” by the Clash
2. “Rapture” by Pedro the Lion
3. “Visions of Johanna” by Bob Dylan
4. “I Want You” by Elvis Costello
5. “Factory Girl” by the Rolling Stones
6. “Fu-gee-la” by the Fugees
7. “All Blues” by Miles Davis

Seven People I Want To Join In Too

1. Hissy Cat
2. Chris Clarke
3. Karol
4. Jeff
5. The Countess
6. Pinko Feminist Hellcat
7. Norbizness

Friday Random Ten, part 2

1. Gypsy Kings – Alegria
2. Bob Dylan – Mr. Tambourine Man
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fashion Fight Pause
4. Tracy Chapman – Telling Stories
5. 50 Cent – In Da Club
6. Tori Amos – You Belong to Me
7. Damien Rice – Cold Water
8. Rolling Stones – Mother’s Little Helper
9. Michael Jackson – Billy Jean
10. Joss Stone – Fell in Love with a Boy

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Friday Random Ten – The “Feet to the Pavement” Edition

1) Cee-lo – One For the Road
2) MC5 – Miss X
3) The Isley Brothers – It’s Your Thing
4) The Stray Cats – Sixteen Candles
5) U.S. Maple – Go to Braises
6) The Cramps – Goo Goo Muck
7) Buzzcocks – What Do I Get?
8) Talking Heads – Psycho Killer
9) Sean Lennon – Bathtub
10) David Pajo – Ten More Days

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