As a culture, America has become an astonishingly unforgiving place. The trend towards mandatory minimum sentences was perhaps when I first noticed it. But nowhere are we less forgiving than in regard to sexuality. In Tom’s post about Plan B, a commenter said:
Suck it up. Either have the kid, or have the abortion. Either way, George Bush was not in the bedroom…
Suck it up?
Would she who is without an impulsive moment please cast the first stone?
Plan B offers women a non-invasive, non-surgical means of preventing pregnancy. Our cultural answer seems to be, well fuck that. Can’t have it be easy.
And while perhaps this particular commenter isn’t a Puritan, doesn’t this attitude come from the idea that if we make mistakes we should suffer? If we have a sexually impulsive moment, it’s only right that we should “suck up” the most painful, expensive, and long-term consequences possible? Surely there should be no Get Out of Pregnancy Free cards!
Because none of us nice women have had sex on impulse. Without birth control. Just for fun. (And remember, the woman in this article had sex with her husband. I’m told even Puritans approve of that.)
What if we lived in a world where people sometimes behaved foolishly, smiled ruefully, and moved on? Without losing friends, respect, or having to undergo surgery? What if, when we hear of someone making a mistake, we all paused to reflect on our own mistakes?
I think I’d like that world.
Absolutely.
Pregnancy as punishment. Can’t get out of it, sluts.
What if we lived in a world where people sometimes behaved foolishly, smiled ruefully, and moved on? Without losing friends, respect, or having to undergo surgery? What if, when we hear of someone making a mistake, we all paused to reflect on our own mistakes?
Then the pseudo-conservatives would run screaming for the hills. Which, I guess, is kind of a side benefit.
And I know I let that commenter off easy…but I didn’t want to start a flame war in a blog that doesn’t belong to me. 😉
At first I thought it was our Amy, the one who just commented here. I was so relieved when I realized it wasn’t!
Actualy I rather feel sorry for folks like Amy because their lives must be very sad if they think they have to prove other women are irresponsible sluts in order to show how holy they are.
Btw Amy did you ever bother reading the parts of the Bible where Jesus talked about judging others?
Dan, the comment above, by Radioactive Quill Amy, was sarcasm. The OTHER comment, the “suck it up” one, was meant seriously. Different Amy.
Thankfully.
I missed the boat — should have shown up sooner to immediately say NOT ME!
Well, you know I love your blog so I was sufficiently familiar with your views to realize SOMETHING was wrong!
>
Only if you don’t enjoy it.
er…oops. was supposed to say:
(And remember, the woman in this article had sex with her husband. I’m told even Puritans approve of that.)
Only if you don’t enjoy it.
Foxydot, that’s a good one.
My apologies to the sane Amy.
[…] Where is the grief? I have asked before when we, as a culture, became so gorram harsh. As a companion to that, when did we become so numb? We aren’t we hurting? […]