Since it's Mothers Day today, how about I leave you with a few articles I read recently that were so incredibly well-written they blew my socks off, they were all written by the same woman and dealt very much with women issues:
This one is about the best article I have ever read about abortion, both sides of the issue.
This one will scare you silly if you have daughters. It's all about the dangers of the internet.
This one describes just how latching herself to a creep like Bill Clinton ruined Hillary.
Have fun and Happy Mother's Day.
-Scott
7 comments:
I've read the bottom two. The one on myspace reminded me of being at BYU. One could look up someone's schedule on microfiche, and a friend of mine attracted a stalker, who among other things creepily presented her with a triple combination of scriptures in light blue leather inscribed with her name in gold. I think she threw them away.
My friend has a 12 year old son who was getting harrassed by a girl saying inappropriate things about him on her myspace page. it's really disturbing. One of the best things parents can do is not let have kids have access to the internet in their bedrooms.
and thanks for the consciousness raising linke!
okay, I just read the first, and I'm only left w/one thought: that there needs to be so much money poured into sexual education in schools. All the ramifications need to be discussed and explored. And believe me, I'm not against abstinence education, but the way it's being currently taught--current studies show that it is not working, and this is the only angle the Bush administration will fund.
Julie,
I agree. Though I am worried about sending a message to my kids like: ok, don't have sex, but in case you do, here's some information to be aware of. I just don't want my kids to have sex at all... But I'm sure there's a way to provide the information in sort of a "here's how your body works" kind of way that wouldn't provide a mixed message. I'm just not sure, high school and puberty and raging hormones are a tough combination and it will be a bumpy ride to parent through that transition.
By the way, sorry for all of you who were looking for positive and happy articles on Mother's Day. These articles were hardly that. I just thought the information was so good and so well presented... and very relevant to mothers and women...
I guess I could have prepared you for it better.
Sorry Scott but hat first article was so horrible I'm not sure I'll get to the next two.
I'm sure April or Crystal could do a much better monologue on what a woman's body goes through each month! It is anything but what that author described. I certainly hope that is not what you mean by "here's how the body works" sex ed. you hope for in school.
So many more thoughts...but I just can't get myself to type them.
(except that writermama is right about internet in the bedrooms, and it should apply to EVERYONE! Computers should be in family areas that everyone has access to at all times)
Helena,
The first article was about abortion, so I'm a little confused about your comment. Maybe Julie through it off by talking about sex ed which was a little off topic :-).
And it was primarily about how abortions were before Roe v. Wade, and how sex was back then as well, the adoption process where girls were shipped off to give up their baby to avoid the shame of it.
So, in essence, it was a historical sort of article. How dangerous having a baby could be back then. My great grandmother died giving childbirth, my great grandfather died shortly after of the 1918 flue pandemic, leaving my grandmother and her siblings orphaned.
It just seems this death by child birth used to happen all of the time. Thomas Jefferson's wife died shortly after child birth.
But she did make the point, one I've never heard mention in recent abortion debates, how the arguments made for Roe v. Wade during Roe v. Wade, largely don't apply in today's environment where unwed mothers do not face the same social stigmas, where abortions and births are much safer and cleaner than they used to be.
So, yes, it's more of a history lesson, one I'm not too familiar with.
But we still hear about women giving birth in a bathroom stall, etc., as rare as those kind of things are... So some of those same events probably still happen today...
Article number 2 didn't scare me at all. Read "Protecting the Gift" by Gavin De Becker. It doesn't specifically address internet use but reminds you that if you live in fear you will never really know when you need to listen to it. I think you really have to think about the kids that are so insistent on using those sites and the parents that let them and/or are not aware of them. Don't be stupid, listen to your gut instincts (like this author did on the penguin site), and for goodness sake make sure your child has a life beyond the computer! I totally agree that girls can be hurt more by texting, myspace, and the internet than they can in real life...especially since it happens in their own home.
As far as the first article goes, I think we're missing the point on what each of us got out of it. It also sounds like you are a little more attached to the history since the consequences of ignorance hit so close to home for you with your great-grandmother's death.
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