Daughter of No Comment -- July 1997

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The heat of summer is as nothing compared to the misogyny found by daughter on her latest foray. It does bring to mind that it is better to get even then to get mad. Any suggestions on how-to will be welcome. The Louisiana legislature has passed a bill which will allow women to sue their doctor up to 10 years after they have had an abortion. Some lawyers feel that she can sue for the death of the fetus after an abortion. If the governor signs it prepare for a legal circus. Former teacher of feminist theory at Yale's divinity school, Jan Breslauer said "Just as a sports car can make a man feel successful, a great pair of maracas (breasts) can make a woman feel, well uplifted -or more to the point confident." so she spent $5,600 dollars to augment her morale. Rape victim Adrienne Bak had to wait 11 years for justice. Her rapist, Alex Kelly, fled to Europe while his parents financed his escape and later the first trial ended in a mistrial. She says the last 11 years will have been worthwhile if other rape victims are persuaded to come forward. "It's a positive feeling to be able to stand up and accuse your attacker, and to tell the truth the way it happened. The most important thing to me is that people know that I'm not ashamed of who I am. I am a rape survivor." She gets the gold medal for victorious perseverance. Women face a double bind when planning for retirement. They live an average 7 years longer than men yet tend to invest more conservatively. They also work in lower paying jobs, sometimes part-time and many without pension plans. Dorothy Clark, director of the National Center for Women and Retirement Research says "Forget the idea that someone else will take care of you. From your first paycheck on you should be thinking about retirement and saving." John Boling, pharmacy manager at a CA drugstore refused to fill a prescription that could be used as "a morning after contraceptive." He also refused to fill the second Rx the customer brought to him. This has also happened in FL.We may need to find out what the policies of the drug stores in our area are. Reprimanding the pharmacist is not enough. This is a gauntlet no woman should have to run. Note: these were not Catholic institutions. The one in FL was at the University of Florida in Gainesville. There should be a written policy on what to do when the employees moral views differ from the legal options open to the customer. There is a History of Contraception Museum in Toronto which features over 600 interesting objects. The museums founder, Percy Skuy, marvels at how creative people are and wonders how future visitors will view todays' methods. Lung cancer rates for American women are the highest among the developed countries. Not surprising since the American tobacco industry pioneered mass advertising of cigarettes to women in the 1920s. We need to teach all our children to analyze the selling process to give them the ability to make choices based upon their needs. Senator Strom Thurmond on having women in the Senate, -- "When you bring in women, it's always better. They're smart and we like to look at them." He needs a retirement party. Daughter has pondered what is meant by people when they say either "making love" or "having sex" and she hopes to explore this idea in the future. Here is one persons thinking. "I like to hurt women when I make love to them. I like to hear them scream... It gives me pleasure." The speaker was Mike Tyson and if we accept him as a fighter we also condone violence and rape. New women's music is earning big bucks in the record industry and they are landing and staying on top of the pop charts and in the top 40 radio. Some names to note are, Meredith Brooks, Fiona Apple, Jewel, Erykah Badu and Monica. These and others have been winning Grammys and selling a lot of records. The women don't like the term "women music" since they see themselves as musicians first even though breaking into what was a mens preserve was difficult. They range in style from romantic to bitch. Try it. You might like it. The president of the Missionary Baptist Ministers' Conference, the Rev. Maxwell Washington says there is no place in the church for female pastors. He ousted three ministers for participating in an ordination that included (horrors) a 46 year old woman. Rev. Imagine B. Stewart says that what he fails to realize is "that 98 percent of the black Baptist church is women." Daughter wonders what God would say? As many New York City women are killed by their partner at home as by strangers in robberies, sexual assaults and random attacks COMBINED. One third of the women were trying to end the relationship. Children were involved as victims or witnesses about 25% of the time. Beating and burning were the preferred killing methods over guns. These women weren't worth a bullet. Bill Margold, very involved in the porn film industry, feels that porn men are traditional men affirming traditional utility by showing that the one irrefutable proof of genetic maleness is up (no pun intended) and running. "We're the last bastion of masculinity, the one thing a woman cannot do is ejaculate in the face of her partner. We have that power." Help, Daughter needs Miss Manners. An interesting fact of the porn movie industry is that women are much more highly paid. John Wayne Bobbitt starred in a porn flick to demonstrate his "togetherness" and although he needed chemical (prostaglandin) help, he was able to be photographed in all his glory. Afterwards he had a penis augmentation which he said was great success because "it's like a beer can." Is this a different species? Dr .Laura Schlessinger, the sound bite radio psychologist says that after having a child "all that feminist stuff fell off me like bad dandruff." She puts children above everyone but leaves many listeners feeling abused and frustrated when her pat answers don't work in the callers complex reality. Count Laurel and Nancy Deyo, pioneers trying to change how girls relate to science and computers thru CD-ROMs are targeting girls between "too old for dolls and too young for cosmetics." They have talked with over 1000 girls and say you have to win them before sixth grade. Girls think boys games are too violent. They don't think they are too hard, they think they are too stupid. The company, Purple Moon, is addressing girls needs in their CD-ROM offerings. Some good internet sites for girls include software for girls (reviews of CD-ROMs), internet for girls (links to math and science) girl's place (issue oriented) , voices of girls (Nat'l Science Found) and some others that look good. Daughter has the web addresses and will share. The United States has one of the highest levels of public support for the traditional one-breadwinner family. 62% of Americans said the ideal family would have one parent at home full time. Are Ozzie and Harriet alive and well? Blind auditions are credited with the rise in women being hired by major orchestras. Carpeting is even laid in the halls so that footsteps (high heels) don't give the gender of the applicant away. At WAAF-FM radio (Worcester, MA), radio that "really rocks" they celebrate midweek with WOW or Whip'em Out Wednesdays. The idea is for men to put signs in their car windows urging women to show them their breasts. Many cars have WOW spelled out with masking tape on their windows. This idea is the brainchild of disk jockeys Opie and Anthony who also tell listeners about their first erections. Efforts by drivers to get women to comply have caused some really bad driving which had gotten the attention of the police. Some complaints have caused these witless men to suggest a new sign -- "NOW sucks." The stations program manager, Dave Douglas says the criticism is caused by the "puritanical nature of the region." After all, he notes, some women have bared their breasts. What wonderful role models these middle age, brain dead men are for the high school boys who may be tomorrow's violent, controlling batterers. Dr. Sally Satel (a psychiatrist and member of the advisory board of the Independent Women Forum) says that "NOW is irrelevant. After all, feminists have little to complain about these days since all the big fights are won." She also said that too many years of living in a feminist dystopia have left NOW insular and inconsequential. Add her to the women who have made it and still don't get it.