Pressure to do what's best for you and your baby, too much for Andrea Peyser

The this article, Andrea Peyser, columnist for the New York Post, bashes doctors and nurses who support and encourage breast-feeding, likening it to a "Forced labor camp, where the uniform is half-nude."
I see, so the medical staff in hospitals across the country are forcing women to work topless for unbelievable long hours in poor and dangerous conditions for little or no pay? Why that is just horrible! Where is this happening? We have to stop it!

Oh, wait, you just mean the medical staff is trying to help women do what is best for themselves, and for their babies? Shame, shame on them. Doctors these days should know that Americans don't want what is best, we want what is popular, and bearing our breasts for anything other than sexual objectification simply won't fly in this culture!

As to the benefits of breastfeeding, Peyser points out that a "Leading Manhattan shrink Dr. Shari Lusskin" has told her that "some of my colleagues believe the data is made up." She then shakes her shame finger at the medical industry, implying that they are "forcing" women to breast-feed on paltry scientific proof.

Which is why I should jump on the anti-boob bandwagon when a journalist tells me that a shrink in Manhattan says some other shrinks in Manhattan think some of the facts on breastfeeding may be made up? (In legal land, the above sentence is double hearsay, otherwise known as evidence that would not be allowed into any court of law, under any exception, as proof of anything, due to it's unreliability.) With scientific evidence like that to point to, how can we fail to switch back to the expensive, corporate sponsored, formula culture we used to live in?

The reason behind all this outrage? Manhattan hospitals are no longer allowing free formula in the take home packs sent with new moms. I say good for them. Despite Peyser's convictions otherwise, breastfeeding is hugely beneficial, for both mom and child. (Breastfeeding facts)

Andrea Peyser, take it from a mom, breastfeeding can be wonderful. It helps you lose weight faster, allows you reasons to sit still and snuggle your baby for long periods of time throughout the day, and allows you to feed your child anywhere, anytime, at no cost. There is no forgetting your breast in the fridge. It provides a healthy meal for your baby whenever you need it. You don't even have prepare it.
It's true that it simply can't be done by some women, for many reasons. I feel no need to cast shame upon women who don't breastfeed. However, the fact that it is unpleasant or impossible for some women, doesn't mean it is a bad idea for most women, and most babies. Breastfeeding should be encouraged and supported.

I think the problem with breastfeeding is that our culture has a problem with breastfeeding. Saggy boobs aren't sexy to us, and using our bodies for their naturally intended purpose has become something to avoid, or supplement, instead of something to encourage. I applaud the decision to encourage breastfeeding. Manhattan hospitals get a standing ovation from me.

WARNING: Political commentary follows...

Am I the only person bothered by the concept of hearalding the "Obama Girl" and "Hott4Hill" video's as a fresh new way to encourage 20-somethings to get involved in politics?

These comedic videos are indeed funny, and some of the lyrics in the songs are clever political commentary, but mostly they depict scantily clad women singing about how hot they are for presidential candidates and gyrating against various people and/or things. On the "Daily Buzz" comments abounded about how the Obama Girl got hot points over the Hillary Girl for originality. Paul Levinson stated these video's increase our chances of getting the disaffected 20 -somethings involved in politics. However, after reading a great number of the comments posted after both of these videos, along with the video war between Obama and Guiliani, I discovered the comments rarely failed to evaluate the "hotness" of the girls in the videos. Granted, there were interesting comments on the objectification of women, and several comments on the meaning of democracy and various candidate platforms. However, a parley on the political issues that face our time is not occuring in the comment sections following these videos.

So.... supporting the continued sexual objectification of women so we can get 20-somethings to rate how hot they are, and then say "Candidate X in 08 baby!" is a "fresh new way to get [them] involved in politics"? Hmm....

Why can't we have cutting political humor with our clothes on? Are members of our society unable to hear the clever lyrics through the layers of the singer's clothing? Are the melodious pop sounds muffled by the wearing of pants?

Further, there is a fan video of a cute little girl apeing the Obama video. Cute? Sure. Disturbing as hell? Yes! A baby is singing about wanting Barack Obama and trying to dance like the scantily clad singer does in the video. Should a toddler really be saying "I love it when you are hard... on Hillary during debates"?

Come on! This isn't political activism!! It is supposed to be political humor, but really, this is a thinly disguised reason to dress sexy women in a bikini and send them gyrating to music across the internet. If you haven't noticed, our society has no problem sending scantily clad women everywhere on the internet, without the thin veneer of political respectability.

Should we really be teaching our little girls that the most effective way they have to influence politics is to cut the american flag into a brazillian bikini and sing about how hot the candidates are?

Power corrupts... absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Woman gets harassed and humiliated by airport personnel for use of a sippy cup.

Okay. What the hell are we becoming in this nation?
This poor woman was detained with her toddler for having and then spilling tap water from a sippy cup. She was harrassed and detained against her will, humiliated, and made to clean up the water, all because she said "tap water" instead of "nursery water" or "bottled water".

WHAT THE HELL IS NURSERY WATER???!!! Has the transportation security administration transported us to a distant land when water takes on special characteristics if placed in a sippy cup from a nursery?

I can tell you this, I am tired of reading about people being humiliated and harassed by airport security personnel. I am tired of varying degrees of enforcement and the uncertainty of knowing what will or will not be allowed onto a plane each time you travel.

None of this actually protects us from terrorism, it simply allows petty ass-hats employed by TSA and airports to mistreat and abuse us.

If this ever happens to me, I am going to immediately ask for the names and badges of all involved and start talking lawyer. This crap should be illegal. If it were done in any other setting, it would be. You can't even treat suspected shoplifters as badly.

Racism

Time for a soapbox moment.

Racism is still rife in our culture, and our politicians are showing our nation's true colors more clearly than they have in years.

The Racial Politics of Speaking Well, by Lynette Clemetson, explains the insidious and pervasive racism that still permeates our culture as it relates to our country's tendency to condescend and patronize successful African Americans. The article discusses Senator Joseph Biden's use of the word "articulate" to describe Barack Obama.

Okay, his whole description was something more befitting a classical movie racist turned liberal, rather than a democratic presidential contender, the description being: “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy”.

Hmmmm.... well who wouldn't be flattered by such uh... glowing ... praise?

"Hello, I am your fellow contender for the presidency, I graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School in 1991, was President of the Harvard Law Review, am a US Senator for Illinois, lectured at the University of Chicago, oh, and I'm black."

"Well I am surprised! You are so clean, so nice looking, and you can TALK!!"

Sigh. Back to the focus of the article.

Why would a black man disdain being called articulate? Well, let's begin with the definition of the word.

articulate adjective |ärˈtikyəlit| 1 (of a person or a person's words) having or showing the ability to speak fluently and coherently : an articulate account of their experiences.

Okay, so the fellow democratic contender for the presidency finds Barack Obama to be capable of fluent and coherent speech.

In my opinion, Senator Biden is either a condescending ass-hat, or is inarticulate. (The irony!) If he intended to actually compliment his fellow presidential contender, he should have had the foresight to first open a dictionary. The following words are within the dictionary, and would be far more apt compliments to a good public speaker:

1. orator |ˈôrətər; ˈär-| noun a public speaker, esp. one who is eloquent or skilled.
2. rhetorician |ˌretəˈri sh ən| noun an expert in formal rhetoric. • a speaker whose words are primarily intended to impress or persuade.

Then Biden should have decided whether or not he really wanted to impugn years of African American history by calling Obama the first clean articulate black speaker. I do realize that our nation's text books pay scant attention to non white contributors, but even so, the last time I opened a history book, there were many more Black Leaders with the ability to shower and capacity for speech.

The article is eloquent in expressing a problem faced by any non white male in our culture. Our culture, legally, legislatively, politically, and more, places white men as the norm. Therefore we compare all other people in our culture, consciously or unconsciously, to white men. Therefore white men are stereotyped as articulate, well dressed, presentable men. Black men are not stereotyped that way. When Senator Biden said Barack Obama was articulate, he meant, for a black guy.

Whew. That is offensive. I don't know about you, but I have heard some black people who spoke with words powerful enough to bring down thunderous applause, who can craft speeches that are still taught and remembered today, whose words carried the power to lift your heart and mind to heaven and beyond. When Al Sharpton was speaking in the last presidential race, he brought me to tears, something none of the white speakers were able to do. (Especially not Bush.)

Barack Obama is not articulate. He is a masterful oratorical speaker. Joseph Biden is clearly neither articulate, nor is he a good orator. His remarks concerning Obama were condescending and eye opening. This culture is deeply wrong to still be surprised at a black man's ability to express himself, and our denial of pervasive racism in this country is beyond naive.

I for one am embarrassed that Senator Biden should purport to speak for me.

PETA

How PETA engages in the objectification of women to advance it's pro-animal goals...

My professor sent me this link yesterday, PETA's State of the Union (Un)dress. It was interesting to watch, but more interesting to think about the goals of that organization and how they apparrently differ from the goals of many women. The clip is a woman giving a speech about PETA's goals, while undressing in front of an American Flag while clips of clapping congressmen are spliced in.

There were several points Jay and I emailed over, the most disturbing being that he had sent this link to many men he knows and they were unable to tell him what the woman said while she was stripping, nor did any of them watch anything in the video after the stripping. Even my husband was hard pressed to remember anything beyond a few sentences. So why have a naked woman deliver your message if the only thing men will remember from the experience is the naked woman?

How does this help the plight of animals? There is unlikely to be an increase of PETA members who are interested in assisting in changing the treatment of animals now that they have seen a naked woman talk about it, if none of the target audience can remember what in the heck she was talking about while she removed her business suit.

Further, this message is another in a long line of advertisements that supports objectifying women. WHO CARES if it's for a good cause?? Should we smile and nod and say, okay, you can use women's bodies to sell sex if the profits of said sales are going to "Save the Children" or NARAL?

The very fact that the men who watched this video said they never paid attention to the actual message indicates how poorly physical objectification helps causes. The only thing PETA has managed to do with this message is put another naked female body on the internet.

It would be nice if they could find another way to get our attention.

Another soapbox moment...

It's time for another foray into the sphere of politics....

BOYCOTT DELTA AND FREEDOM AIRLINES!!

Do not fly Delta Airlines or Freedom Airlines

A woman flying out of Vermont on Freedom Airlines (part of a Delta flight) was kicked off a plane for breastfeeding her 22 month old child, discreetly, in the window seat, with her husband and child in the two seats between her and the aisle. She was not exposing her breast. An airline attendant saw her breastfeeding, offered her a blanket, and when she refused, had a ticket attendant remove her and her family from the flight.
This occurred when Vermont has a law permitting breastfeeding in public. In fact, most, if not all states, have laws permitting women to breastfeed anywhere they have a right to be.

In a culture where we have built an empire around the female breast, why are we afraid of it's natural functions? We can view naked women with their hands over their breasts, in the grocery stores checkout lines, but we can't support feeding babies in public? We have female nudity in almost every film above PG-13, we can see it on primetime television, but we freak out if a baby is eating his or her lunch. Come on people!! Grow the hell up! An ungodly number of buildings and statutes are penile in nature, phallic symbols abound in this country. Entire livelihoods are earned by exposing the breast, photographing or filming it. Women are encouraged to wear as little clothing as possible, all the time. Sex is everywhere!! Why in the name of everything innocent and pure is it shocking to feed an infant?

Support breastfeeding. Write letters to Delta, tell them you will not give them your money if they continue to eject breastfeeding moms from their planes. She had a legal right to feed her baby on the plane, she was allowed by law to do so. The federal government supports breastfeeding, they have allocated millions to educate women and men as to the health benefits of doing so. However, in order to achieve these health benefits, women have to be able to feed their children! Babies do not only get hungry in the privacy of their own home.

BOYCOTT PHARMACIES REFUSING TO STOCK PLAN B!!

Next political rant....

Plan B was recently approved by the FDA for over the counter sale to women over the age of 18. It took three years of political battle to get this to happen. Now, of course, many pharmaceutical chains are refusing to stock this contraceptive. Tell them that you will not support them, if they will not support women.

You can send a letter from the NARAL website . I suggest you alter the message to better reflect your beliefs. Here is my letter:

"The FDA has approved the emergency contraceptive Plan B, for over the counter sales to women over the age of 18. I am dismayed to hear there are few pharmacy with plans to stock this medication.

I am a lawyer, a blogger, a member of multiple organizations with thousands of members. These members are bloggers, and members of other organizations. We talk. We tell each other when pharmacies and companies support women, and when they don't. Most importantly, we shop accordingly. You want our money? You have to consider our interests.

I will not spend a single dime at pharmacies that choose to deny Plan B and Birth Control to women. I will tell others not to spend their money at these pharmacies. We will take our money elsewhere."

We have to support each other if we are going to affect change. Use your voices, use your computers, use you wallet. Tell people you will only support people who support you.

Oddly, Walmart is the only chain so far who will stock the drug. It is one of the first things they have done that I can support. Tell Wal-Mart you approve of this action, even if they have committed other actions you do not approve of. (I am still not likely to shop there, but they are trying to change, and I would like to see them continue.)

Thank you for allowing some political posturing. Back to babies announcements tonight. We find out what kind of baby we are having this afternoon. Other than a brilliant, healthy, wonderful one of course, we already know that.

The rain in New Jersey falls mainly on my head....

My god they know how to have a rain storm here. It's a non-stop, heavy rain. It lasts all day. It is wet and cold and blows up all over you. Monkey got to school this morning, and was completely soaked just from walking between the car and the building!

Happily though, it is a pleasant sounding rain when one is warm and inside.

POLITICAL COMMENTARY (Warning, sports metaphors in the following segment are meant to mimic hockey, however, I am not really knowledgeable when it comes to hockey terms, I mostly watch it for the violence. Please forgive any inconsistencies.)

So, the Democrats won! Or, depending on your viewpoint, the republicans lost.

I found it interesting that a great number of Republican pundits spent a good portion of the morning stressing that the Dems didn't win, but rather, the Republicans lost.

Republicans losing seats in a large number of races + Democrats winning seats in a large number of races = Democrats not winning.

Hmm... in my experience, in a race of two parties, there is generally one loser, and one winner. (Unless of course, it is grade school, then we are all winners, just for trying.) It's not really as though we have a loser, and a non-losing participant. So why do the talking heads stress that "the Dems didn't win, the republican's lost"? I mean, doesn't one party losing imply by necessity that the other party won? I understand they are trying to explain that the voting was against republicans more than it was for democrats. However, it may be that the thinking of these pundits is too deep for me this early on a rainy day, with only half a cup of coffee in my system.

Also, it seems to me that many members of the republican party suffer from poor sportsmanship. As a child, when I lost a race, my parents would make me walk up to the winner and shake their hand, saying something like "Good race! Congratulations!" I wasn't allowed to talk about how they didn't win, I just lost, nor was I allowed to criticize what they were going to do with their win, making dire predictions about their chances in the future. (Granted, the Dems weren't really sportsmanlike last election, but allegations of extreme cheating are a different story, IMHO.)

In any event, of the two contenders last night, there was one whose successes looked a lot like winning, and one whose failures looked a lot like losing. This was important to some people, because the contenders whose failures looked a lot like losing have been kicking the country around unimpeded for a while. I am glad the referee stood up and benched some of their players. It is time for some new blood on the ice. I am not expecting miracles, a game that has run corrupt for most of it's quarters is unlikely to suddenly get cleaned up when new players are sent in. The score from the previous quarters doesn't get deleted and the losing side still has to pony up and run a good offense. However, it will hopefully be easier to run a good offense when there are no blind referees, and players caught high-sticking are actually given a penalty, instead of ignored.

I guess I am trying to say, I expect no miracles from the next two years. At this point, the game is so corrupt, I barely even recognize it anymore. I just hope my team gets to score some points and even up the game a little. Maybe we can create a new game, or if not, get the rules back to something remotely resembling the old game.

Updates

A brief update, then a political message...

The new cat, named Hazel for supernatural reasons, is adjusting well to us. So well in fact, that it seems more each day as though she chose us. She is already snuggling with us, hissing at the dogs, and playing with the other cats. She is thrilled with the copious amounts of food. She is in great health, though she will have to have most, if not all, her teeth extracted due to poor nutrition. (Poor thing).

Monkey has been ill that last two days, so we have been home, with me trying to work while she rests. It is interesting. In an attempt to stave off boredom today, I created several tracer paper sentences for her to write, and told her a treat would come with each completed, and read to me, page. She is currently working on "A bug is snug in the rug"

Okay, update over!! On to Politics!

Take a moment and write something for choice....





The petition site has a petition to support pro-choice candidates. In addition to signing your name, you can also write your own message. Being an argumentative and mouthy individual, I did just that. I encourage you to do the same.

Here is the message I sent with my signature:

In our culture women are still predominantly left with a child's care. Our culture does not saddle men with equal responsibility for sex. Men are encouraged to engage in sexual behavior, women are not. However, who are these men encouraged to have sex with? Our culture is not pro-homosexual, so these men are not encouraged to have sex with each other.

Men are encouraged to have sex with women, and then treated like heroes if they pay a modicum of child support and see their accidentally concieved children once a month.

Women are expected to change everything about their lives and raise these unexpected children, but instead of praise, they are condemned for having had children out of wedlock. They are disparaged for having had sex.

Women and men both choose to engage in sex, (except in cases of rape) yet women carry most, if not all, the responsiblities. Men group's fight against parental responsibility in cases of accidental conception, and now, men's groups are fighting against child support in cases of accidental conception.

Women bear most of the burden of accidental children. Are we now going to make them bear it against thier will?

How good of a mother do we create when we allow the father to run off without penalty, and force the mother to have a child and raise it without support?

How good of a family environment are we creating for the child?

What kind of future can this child expect to have?
Choice is the only decent, humane way.

And if you sign now.... you get a stickie!!
(Or more than one)

A what you say?





A stickie, to place on your own blog, website, whatever!!

A call to action

A response to Tracy's call to action...

Pharmacists are refusing to fill valid medical prescriptions because of their own personal beliefs. I find this beyond reprehensible. Tracy asked us to sign a petition to congress. I did. Here is my letter:

"Denying access to medical care on the basis of personal morality is the lowest and most deadly form of both discrimination and judgement. It is not the job of pharmacists in this country to make moral decisions for their customers. It is not the job of pharmacists in this country to make medical decisions for thier consumers. It is their job to fill prescriptions written by doctors. If they can't do this job, they should leave the profession. We do not allow doctors to deny access to medical care based on religious and moral belief systems. We do allow politicians to deny access to government based on religious and moral belief systems. The people in this nation still have rights to personal health and safety, and the women in this nation ARE PEOPLE. We vote, we contribute to the economy, and we have the same rights as men. If pharmacists refuse to fill birth control prescriptions because they believe sexual activities should only be engaged in for procreation, why are they filling prescriptions for Viagra? It is not a drug meant solely for procreation. Pharmacists should be ashamed of engaging in this blatant discrimination. Companies should be ashamed of allowing them to. Stop them. Stop this. I will personally stop shopping at any company who ever allows a pharmacist to deny a valid prescription based on personal moral opinion. Further, I will write others, and urge they do the same. I will ask people to picket the companies that support this thinking, and the representatives who protect it. Women are tired of being second class citizens. We are a power, we have a voice, and we will find a way to be heard. Help us."

So, Let's do it!! Sign the petition! Add your own comments. And then, let's research the companies that are supporting this and boycott them. Let's write others and urge them to do so as well. Let's get on the forefront of the battle this time. I am tired of waiting for congress to act and watching while the religious right strip more rights from our people. Women are not just baby making machines. We are people. We deserve access to medical care.

Link to the petition now!!

Send this petition to your friends, comment on other blogs that fight against this. Write to your newspapers!! Call the T.V. and radio stations. Let's find a way to raise money and put up creative advertisements of our own!!!

I am tired of sitting still and waiting for them to take it all away.