Revulsed, but not surprised

You'll recall my recent entry about Republicans being petty and stupid, which I think was a very tame assessment of them. I think the stupidity of Buttars and Jindal especially, is so maladaptive and lacking of basic human empathy (opposition to science that prevents national disasters and extreme bigotry to normal people) as to be considered evil.

Yet, the Republicans never cease to raise the bar for harrowing amounts of doltish lunacy. Meet Dave Schultheis, Republican senator from Colorado. He thinks providing HIV testing to pregnant women, rather than being a necessary step towards the suppression of the disease, is a bad idea because it would promote promiscuity. However, the fun doesn't stop there...

“What I’m hoping is that, yes, that person may have AIDS, have it seriously as a baby and when they grow up, but the mother will begin to feel guilt as a result of that,” he said. “The family will see the negative consequences of that promiscuity and it may make a number of people over the coming years begin to realize that there are negative consequences and maybe they should adjust their behavior.”

Yes, he just said that bringing a child with AIDS into the world would be a suitable punishment for sleeping around. No real concern for the poor kid, but boy wouldn't it be a suitable punishment for the mother? Ah, family values.

This is reminiscent of when we released a vaccine for HPV, a disease that is responsible for 1 out of ever 4 cases of cervical cancer. Hard-lining religious kooks and their Republican mouthpieces opposed that one as well, also on the grounds that it would supposedly encourage promiscuity. That's right, they wanted to keep cancer as a detterrent for sex.

These people are batshit crazy.

We live in a world where you can have responsible sex with many different partners with almost certain safety, if you're employing all the protections available. Do it. If you're uncomfortable with even the amazingly small chance that something could go wrong in that case, work on your oral skills. There's no reason not to aside from paranoia brought on by silly notions about men in the sky, angels, and the evils a-dancin'. Sex is not a bad thing (in fact, it can be quite enjoyable). Educate yourself. Educate your kids.

There are, of course, other excellent ways to reduce your chance of pregnancy or contracting an std...

This cultish obsession that our various religions have with virginity was stupid enough to begin with, but if it's going to extend into an arena where we utilize children as pawns fodder in our culture wars to punish a mother for making mistakes (as if a disease that slowly kills her isn't punishment enough) it is unarguably time to send this rancid bit of ancient morality back to where it came from; it has separated us from our humanity at this point. Hell, it separated us from our humanity when we cast the first stone for paltry, imaginary crimes thousands of years ago...and here we are in the 21st century, dredging the ignorance of our ancestors into the present and voting for people who promise to continue doing so.

Really...I just can't even fathom this. Who but the devil himself could think that bringing a child into this world with a life-threatening disease, a child that will almost surely be orphaned in short order after the death of its mother from the same disease, is a fitting punishment for a single mistake? These people are monsters. Sadly, they're also your leaders.

Since we all love female masturbation...

I hate to drag down the level of the posts again. JT's pimp article on the LHC is, well, amazing.

But I had to share this.

The F Word has an amazing post up on female masturbation in pop music.

Wo0T!

Abstinence Only? No Thanks!

Another Post on Plan B

Because I was shocked to read MTSS's Nikol's story on her quest for Plan B (see LA's post below for her thoughts and a link), I feel like I should weigh in on this.

I feel really lucky that we have a Planned Parenthood office in town that is so helpful and so active. I have always known that I can get Plan B there, although before I actually got Plan B I didn't know if they would be mean or if it would be difficult to get. I have a card from Planned Parenthood, that I keep in my wallet with a phone number to call to find the nearest place where Plan B can be purchased if I happen to be out of town and something happens. Every time I see Planned Parenthood around, they have these cards. Very helpful.

Okay, now storytime. I've really had to use Plan B - at least twice. These were all because of condom malfunctions mixed with poor birth control usage. (I had forgotten a pill or two, and then a condom fell off in both instances.)

So the first time it happened was about a year ago. I knew I could go to Planned Parenthood, so I checked their hours and I went as soon as they were open. When I got there, I filled out a tiny slip of paper with my information, they check-marked a box at the top that said "Emergency Contraception", typed a little into the computer, asked me for $35 or so, and handed me a little box that they pulled out of a drawer in the reception area. It took maybe five minutes. The woman talked through the directions with me and that was that.

The second time I needed it, it was exactly the same. The whole transaction took less than five minutes.

Not all people are mean about Plan B, luckily. But I'm appalled that some are.

No matter how we define rape...

This isn't along the lines of a normal Teh Juggernauts post, but I figured it was worth spreading the word about.

A new study shows that 18 percent of young women report that they have been forced to have sex. My first thought, of course, was to wonder how they defined "forced".

The answer?

Verbal or physical pressure or being physically held down.

Half of those women (so 9%) say they have been forced to have sex by being held down. A quarter (4.5%) say that they have suffered physical injuries while being forced to have sex.

Think about that.

When you are sitting in a classroom with twenty women, (on average) four of them have been forced to have sex. Two of them have been held down. And one has suffered physical injuries when being forced to have sex.

Is this really a culture we are proud of?

(Thanks, Feministing!)

Obama + Planned Parenthood = <3

I just read on Feministing that Planned Parenthood has officially endorsed Obama.

Watch their president, Cecile Richards, announce their endorsement, and Obama accept the endorsement... HERE.

I have previously mentioned my affinity for Obama.

I have also mentioned my affinity for Planned Parenthood.

I think it is important that we remember that Planned Parenthood does not only offer abortion procedures.

As a young woman they have given me free condoms, a prescription for affordable oral contraceptives, emergency contraception, and they have tested my partner and I for sexually transmitted diseases at a fraction of the cost of a normal physician.

They, most likely, have saved me from facing an unintended pregnancy. Because of their presence in this community I have never been faced with the decision of abortion.

I am glad to see that they have endorsed Obama. A lot is riding on this election, including the next nomination for the Supreme Court.

McCain has sworn to do everything in his power to overthrow Roe v. Wade. I am glad that Planned Parenthood is speaking out in favor of the better candidate, one who trusts women with their own bodies.

Morning sickness isn't a curse from God, after all.

There is an interesting post up over on "Greg Laden's Blog".

Basically, there is data that backs up the hypothesis that morning sickness in women is not just God cursing us with hormones. Instead it may be an adaptive trait that keeps women from eating the plants and meats that would be dangerous to the fetus during the delicate stage of organ formation.

There is even evidence that more intense morning sickness is correlated with fewer spontaneous abortions. This would show that there really may be toxins in the food morning sickness was keeping out.

It is always nice to hear that the craziness of the human body is not just chaos theory messing with the weaker sex, or God being pissy since Eve took an apple. There are reasons behind the random tortures of being female. We just haven't figure them all out yet.

Amazing Pictures...

******

Warning:
If you are grossed out to know how your body works, don't read this.
It is science, and amazing.
******

When you consider how detailed our understanding of the biological processes of the human body are, down to the DNA helicases which unzip the foundational blueprints for life, our understanding of the reproductive cycles of women seem fuzzy at best.

Physiological study of the processes and disorders that affect only women have historically been behind the times, but there is more to it then just that. Men are constantly producing sperm, so we investigate the exact processes surrounding this process basically anytime.


We can constantly see the immature sperm, known as spermatozoon, forming and growing within the seminiferous tubules. We have filmed this process, and we have thousands of close-up photos of sperm as they are swimming, and photos of the sperm bonding with the ovum.

One of the reasons that we have such amazing photos of sperm while they are swimming is because we can create a laboratory environment to keep the sperm alive and allow them to flourish. We can even film conception in a petri dish, taking away variables of time or physical constraints.


Ovulation, however, has always been a tricky little bugger. It has been assumed that ovulation in humans is quite similar to that which occurs in other animals, such as this film of rabbit ovulation, but most photos of human ovulation have been blurry and often only showed the follicle before it released the ovum.

NewScience just published an article announcing that Jacques Donnez, a Belgium scientist, accidently captured the clearest detailed photos of human ovulation yet. He was performing a hysterectomy on a woman, and happened to capture the ovulation. The most interesting feature, apparently, was the amount of time that the ovulation took. It has been assumed that the actual process of ovulation took only seconds, but in this instance Donnez reported that it lasted at least fifteen minutes.


This is really exciting, if only because it means that we have cooler pictures for future editions of overpriced textbooks. For centuries our only understanding of the human body came from a limited number of autopsies which had been done in Alexandria, before the church had outlawed human dissection completely. When Rene Descartes finally explained to the church that the soul was located in the pineal gland, in the mid 17th century, they began to allow scientists to dissect human bodies.

Even after dissection was allowed, the female reproductive system was not well understood. Even the most basic anatomy of the female sexual organs was misunderstood. For instance, a Stanford science teacher says that our understanding of the uterus has changed greatly over the years:

"For centuries, its structure was thought to reveal the mysteries of the number and sex of its offspring. "It is hollow and villous within, smooth outside, divided into seven cells, and has two openings," wrote Master Nicolaus, reflecting the standard view that the womb had as many divisions as the days of the week and could yield a maximum of seven children at a time. Mondino de' Liuzzi affirmed this idea in 1316. Others divided the womb simply into two parts, arguing that males were born on the right side and females on the left. "Woman was endowed with two wombs," wrote Moses Maimonides in the late twelfth century, arguing that they corresponded to the number of breasts. Many insisted on a central cell in which hermaphrodites were born. Finally, anatomists argued for the presence of uterine horns, an error that arose from dissecting animals."

Thankfully, most of these misunderstandings have been cleared up with time and further investigation. That is why science rocks. It is able to self-correct the false assumptions or confused conclusions of the previous thinkers.

These newest photos by Donnez can only help to further expand our understanding of this fascinating step in the process of human reproduction. To finally be able to clearly see that exact moment of ovulation, is invaluable as a teaching tool, and may possibly spark future research in this area.

If you haven't picked up on it, the science nerd I keep hidden inside is super super excited. =D

Happy Birthday!

Today is June 7th. Today is the 43rd anniversary of Griswold v. Connecticut. Griswold v. Connecticut was a landmark ruling where the Supreme Court declared that contraceptive was legal.

I am a twenty-two year old woman. I have just graduated from Missouri State University with my undergraduate degree in psychology. I have been accepted into an experimental psychology doctoral program at the University of Arkansas - Fayetteville, starting this August. They have even offered me a fellowship to help support me while I am there.

I am able to focus on the subject I love, without struggling to make ends meet. My offer to purchase a house in Fayetteville was just accepted, and in a month I will have my own home. I have a strong group of friends, peers who are as passionate about the world as I am, and I am dating a man who offers me only support and respect.

I know (in general) what I want to do with my life. I feel confident that I am prepared to make the best decisions for myself and my wellbeing.

Five years ago, this was not the case.

I was a senior in high school, unsure if I should continue on through college. I was working forty hours a week at a local diner, pulling third shifts to make money, and then immediately sinking the money into my beater car just to get to work the next day.

I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, and I had no idea where I was going. I spent my senior year experimenting with LSD, mescaline, psilocybine, and other mind altering substances, and drinking a decent amount of vodka. Although I was never completely enamored with the drug culture, many of my friends were becoming heavy users of a variety of substances. At the very least, most of my friends drank a six-pack a night after work, or before work for that matter.

The man I was dating was a guy I had worked with at a previous job, a big guy with a bit of a drinking problem and a manic depressive swing to his emotions. We weren't in love, and we never set any pretenses otherwise. We were just dating. My friends, although many of them were good people, were the kind who you went in halvsies for a half gallon of vodka, or a ten-hit of acid. They were not the kind of kids who brought intellectual debate to the table, or who pushed you to become a better person.

Five years ago I became sexually active. I was emotionally ready for sex. I was physically ready sex.

I was not, however, emotionally or physically ready for the possibility of a child.

My senior year of high school I drove my beater car across town, and sat anxiously in the waiting room of a Planned Parenthood clinic. They gave me a package of pills, with explicit instructions on usage.

When Planned Parenthood gave me that first pack of pills, they gave me the tools to control my body and my future. When my high school GPA led to a scholarship at Missouri State University, my family offered the financial support I needed to focus on school.

My freshman and sophomore years of college I lived with a sweet stoner guy. Surely, had I not been on the pill, I would have ended up pregnant. Instead of worrying about pregnancy, I was able to focus on school. My first semester of college I took Introduction to Psychology. I fell in love with the subject immediately, reading the book at the kitchen table for hours and sitting in the library reading The American Journal of Psychology and The Industrial Psychology Journal.

My junior year, as I made the decision to become involved in research and pursue admission to graduate school, contraceptives gave me the opportunity to enter into a sexual relationship with a longterm friend whose presence in my life gave me support and direction. Neither of us was ready for a child, and by having access to contraceptives we were able to help each other grow without become trapped in a permanent relationship.

Now, five years after I first got onto the pill, I am on the pill again. Once again it has given me control over my body and my future. Now, I know where I am going. I know what my passions are, and I know how to pursue them. Surely, if I had not had access to birth control, I would have become pregnant over the last five years. I would most likely have a child, and be completely through with my academic career.

If I had become pregnant at 17, I would have been trapped in that world forever. Now, when I choose to have children, I will be able to bring them into an environment I am proud of. I will be able to raise them with the love and support that every child deserves.

I am so grateful to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and all the other activists who have pushed to legalize contraception and reproductive freedom. They have literally changed my life. They have given me the right, as a woman and as a citizen, to learn and work and grow at my own pace. They have given me the ability to stand where I am today.

Happy birthday, Griswold v. Connecticut.

Happy birthday, and thank you.

Because This Blog Has Gotten Way Too Serious:

Top Ten Reasons To Masturbate:

1. Horny
2. Stressed
3. Bored
4. Tired (before you go to sleep-it can really knock you out)
5. You finally have some alone time
6. Relieve cramps (girls only, obviously....unless you....ok, nevermind)
7. Some one else is doing it for you
8. Good workout
9. It's a 'hobby'
10. You are doing laundry anyway (Oh! Get it? Do ya?)
    

Got any more?



Lauren

If you take birth control you will get a disease or die!!!1!

Abstinence-only education? This bitch is going down.



And she's going to be in town... oh snap!

Oct. 19 - Oct. 20

Pam Stenzel

Catholic event Springfield, MO Sister Jeanne Goessling SSND 417-883-3440