My 8 year old daughter Jane is featured in the onl… December 31, 2003
My 8 year old daughter Jane is featured in the online equestrian ‘zine, BigEQ this week. Click on “The Pony Zone” to see her.
For two decades, I have watched young women experience the continual “mission creep†of how pornography—and now Internet pornography—has lowered their December 30, 2003
This article by Naomi Wolf is one of the most simple, yet profound commentaries on the issue of pornography and modern sexual relationships that I’ve ever read/heard. So many women I know struggle to explain to their husbands and boyfriends why guys’ use of porn (particularly the ever-more-available-and-ever-more-extreme online porn) bothers them, but are unable to articulate their concern without worrying that they sound like uptight prudes. Wolf argues that easy access to lots of lots of hardcore porn has created a situation in which a real woman, even an attractive, sex-positive, naked, real woman has become nothing more than “bad porn.”
Wolf writes: “The onslaught of porn is responsible for deadening male libido in relation to real women, and leading men to see fewer and fewer women as “porn-worthy.†Far from having to fend off porn-crazed young men, young women are worrying that as mere flesh and blood, they can scarcely get, let alone hold, their attention…
For two decades, I have watched young women experience the continual “mission creep†of how pornography—and now Internet pornography—has lowered their sense of their own sexual value and their actual sexual value. When I came of age in the seventies, it was still pretty cool to be able to offer a young man the actual presence of a naked, willing young woman. There were more young men who wanted to be with naked women than there were naked women on the market. If there was nothing actively alarming about you, you could get a pretty enthusiastic response by just showing up. Your boyfriend may have seen Playboy, but hey, you could move, you were warm, you were real…
After all, pornography works in the most basic of ways on the brain: It is Pavlovian. An orgasm is one of the biggest reinforcers imaginable. If you associate orgasm with your wife, a kiss, a scent, a body, that is what, over time, will turn you on; if you open your focus to an endless stream of ever-more-transgressive images of cybersex slaves, that is what it will take to turn you on. The ubiquity of sexual images does not free eros but dilutes it.”
Am I the only one who thinks that white-haired guy… December 27, 2003
Am I the only one who thinks that white-haired guy on those eHarmony.com TV commercials is creepy? Sort of like a creepy Jimmy Carter?
For those of you who — after reading my new piece… December 26, 2003
For those of you who — after reading my new piece in HipMama.com — are asking me for more background on the latest in hard science behind the new risk-based approach to breastfeeding promotion, here are a few online sources I find helpful:
The American Academy of Pediatrics’ Official Policy on Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk.
World Health Organization info on the latest in breastfeeding science.”
My article on this topic from Salon.com
A really comprehensive synthesis of a great deeal of research can be found here. NOTE: While I know that the peer-reviewed studies the author cites are of high quality, I cannot speak to her overall conclusions because I haven’t yet had a chance to look closely at her methodology in pulling all this info together. But this is a great complilation of lots of individual studies.
How Breastfeeding Protects Newborns by Jack Newman, MD.
A fact sheet on the risks of formula feeding from The Breastfeeding Task Force of Los Angeles
An interesting article on the risks of giving even one bottle to a breastfed newborn. (This is a PDF file)
The FDA’s own FAQ on infant formula. Very few Americans are aware of the fact that the production of infant formula is not regulated by the FDA in the same way that other prepared commercial foods are regulated in this country. The infant formula industry lobbies hard to keep things this way ( for obvious reasons).
Infertility has never been a problem I’ve had. In … December 22, 2003
Infertility has never been a problem I’ve had. In fact, hyper fertility has been my way… so I wouldn’t have thought I’d find much of interest in this blog about one anonymous woman’s journey through infertility and miscarriage. Depressing subjects, to be sure, but her smart, wickedly funny take on the topic had me laughing out loud.
Great writing and highly recommended.
Looking for a Christmas gift for a new parent or p… December 20, 2003
Looking for a Christmas gift for a new parent or parent-to-be? Consider giving them my book (look to the book cover to the right over there - the red one. ), Attachment Parenting: Instinctive Care for Your Baby and Young Child. You can order it by clicking on the cover or get it at any major bookstore.
OK, blatant commercial plug over now 
I have a new story in Hip Mama about the huge cont…
I have a new story in Hip Mama about the huge controversy surrounding the new president of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ decision to speak out against the upcoming federal breastfeeding promotion ad campaign.
I am now officially old. As I sit here working…
I am now officially old.
As I sit here working on my laptop, my handsome, shaggy haired son, Henry is standing next to the family CD player in his Chuck Taylors, guitar slung across his chest, earnestly trying to learn the chord progressions in the Nirvana, Cramps, and Ramones songs to which he’s listening.
I’m 36 and he’s 12 and we like most of the same music. My parents listened to The Stones, Neil Young, etc, and I loved all that stuff too, but they didn’t like what I liked in high school, which included stuff like The Clash, B52s, Talking Heads, Adam Ant, REM, Pylon, Love Tractor, The Replacements, Patty Smith, X, The White Animals (swoon), and Mission of Burma.
I have a new column up today at Metro Pulse about … December 19, 2003
I have a new column up today at Metro Pulse about Lisa Belkin’s recent New York Times Magazine piece on what she calls “The Opt Out Revolution.”
It turns out that the late Senator Strom Thurmond … December 15, 2003
It turns out that the late Senator Strom Thurmond was even more of a sad, conflicted, and self-loathing man than anyone knew simply on the basis of his racist political agenda. During all the years he worked to prevent integration, voting rights, educational equality, and more, it turns out that he was quite consciously working to prevent his own daughter from enjoying all the benefits of American citizenship. It’s hard not to view a man who lived his life in this way as evil, but I really do think the more accurate view is to see him as simply pathetic.
I am pleased as punch to announce that I have been…
I am pleased as punch to announce that I have been named the Essays Editor for the online magazine LiteraryMama.com.
