read, respond

[orangerful]

gypsyjr pointed out this little gem to me -- I too am at a loss for words on the ridiculousness of the thing. That could be because I'm really tired though.

here's the official release from the CDC that the article was based on. It reads like stereo instructions, but my favorite line, the line that I think we should really be proud of is this statement: "Childbearing is a common experience among women in the United States."

I mean, there is the obvious "Duh!" factor - you should visit a doctor on a regular basis for checkups no matter who you are. But to say "you know you should be careful because you are our baby-makers" seems a bit rude. Guys should go ahead and be overweight, not go to the doctor, and let their asthma and diabetes run wild then because they don't have wombs so who cares!

I'm talking to maybemanda now, and she's all doctor-school lady so she's explaining to me that this is all a big deal right now in their world because the US has a very high infant mortality rate for a developed country. So I think the real issue here isn't the women taking care of themselves, it's providing affordable health care for women. Well, everyone, but somehow we're getting priority.....

did anyone ever read 'the handmaid's tale'?

Comments

[vertigozooropa.livejournal.com]

No, but they made a movie.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

i just watched the preview of the movie on Netflix...that looked horrible! haha. When the best review you got came from Playboy magazine, I begin to question exactly what the show will be about haha.

Did you see it?

[vertigozooropa.livejournal.com]

I saw it a long time ago, and I really liked it, so....

[demonqueen666.livejournal.com]

Oh no no...guys have to be careful too, certainly.

...especially if they live in Harry Potter-land.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

bwahaha! yes I saw that.

[verdatum.livejournal.com]

Oh My God Sam I'm soo Happy for you! When's the blessed event? Have you considered names yet?

And yes, I did read it. It made me want to lop off me' willy.

[faeriesfolly.livejournal.com]

*points to her icon*

So yeah...from someone who spent 3 hours last week at a health department clinic just to get my recommended lady-type check up for free since I couldn't afford to pay for it without insurance (and who can afford insurance?)...I try and take care of myself, but I would feel much better if health care were more accessible to everyone. If it were especially accessible to women...part of me would feel relief because that is my current worrying point, but the majority of my mind would turn to things like Handmaid's Tale.

Can't afford healthcare? If you are a baby factory for rich folks...we will take care of you for free!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

seriously, people mock "science fiction" or whatever handmaid's tale would be, but if they just read it and saw how changing one little thing can go so horribly wrong in the end, perhaps statements like this one released by the CDC would give them more pause.

How about we just get affordable health care out there for everyone? How about we keep everyone healthy, whether they can give birth or not?

[faeriesfolly.livejournal.com]

Other countries do it....why can't we?

We are supposed to be TEH GREAT AND AWESOME, SUPAH EL33T AMERICA!

But we kinda suck at that...

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

we definately listened to our own hype just a little too much.

Pilgrims on the Mayflower - "oh we are so great with our religion and this land will give us freedom to worship and OMG WTF is that guy wearing! Put some clothes on! And here, worship jebus, not that silly thing you keep talking about, this "earth" thing, bah! Jebus ONLY!"

1776 - "we are so great we are so great! We finally are truly FREE"
Black man: "Um...excuse me, can I have some rights now that I fought with you guys and ---"
"Shhhh, you're ruining the moment - We are so great!"

1860s - "we are so great, we treat everyone equally" *knocks woman on the floor to push way to the front of the wagon away from the other skinned people*

1960s - "Oh we are so great, we learned so much and now we really will treat everyone equally!"
Women - "so can we get a bigger paycheck for our jobs so we can afford to live?"
"what? Nonsense! your husbands will take care of you"
"but I'm not--"
"WE ARE SO GREAT!"

Today - *while building a McDonalds* "Oh we shall travel the WORLD telling everyone how to be great like US! We shall make them see how fantastic America is .... "
World "OH STFU!!!!!!!!"

[faeriesfolly.livejournal.com]

*points and laughs* silly America.

((you crack me up.))

[destertale.livejournal.com]

See, maybe if the majority of babies born were *planned for* and wanted, maybe there wouldn't be as much problem with mortality rate. But wait... that might require the encouragement of birth-control, maybe even covering it with insurance or making it available to the uninsured, and sex education! Oh no, we couldn't have that.

This makes me so very angry. Maybe not quite as angry as Pirate Monkey, she really posted a rant about it: http://gmonkey42.livejournal.com/357058.html
But still, very pissed off. >_

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

she makes a very good point though. If Science Fiction books have taught us anything, it's that a tiny little twist in how we run the world now can lead to a completely different outcome than what we expect. It's "official" statements like this that will lead some politician to make a law that says women can't smoke or drink if they are of childbearing years. You'll notice, as someone commented in her lj, there really is no mention of sexual orientation - ALL women.

It's just scary to see statments like this. When you think we've gotten beyond that, but I know we haven't and having an official group post something like that is just horrifying because all the scarier groups can now quote from it.

And the fact that we have not ratified the UN's 'Treaty for the Right's of Women' (http://www.nea.org/international/cedaw.html) speaks VOLUMES! Dear god, why is this even IN DEBATE!???! When I play Civ IV and they ask me if I want the emancipation civic, of COURSE I say yes, why are real politicians, real leaders (who probably have daughters of their own) going "weeeeelll, I dunno..." when asked about equal treatment for women. WTF! That's almost more angering than this CDC thing! Just GRRR!

[vertigozooropa.livejournal.com]

I don't see why people are up in arms about this.

Among other things, this means all women between first menstrual period and menopause should take folic acid supplements, refrain from smoking, maintain a healthy weight and keep chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes under control.

That's the gist of the thing. It says that due to the potentiality of pregnancy for women of childbearing age, all women should refrain for utter stupidity and actually take care of themselves, for the sake of the children they might some day have.

Because that's so much worse than saying, "just take care of yourself so you don't fucking die.