First, I was surprised by how utterly nauseating this breast-milk jewelry write-up is. I mean, I’ve got nothing against making bodily fluids into jewelry if that’s your thing — it’s the write-up that got me. A medal for breastfeeding, eh? We once had to put tremendous effort into getting Owen to eat anything at all when he had his first stomach flu. I want a glazed rice puff in a choker necklace and some plasticized Pedialyte in a charm bracelet to commemorate how very hard we tried.

Ok, no, I get it, it can be hard to breast feed. What I’m bothered by is the rampant rhetoric that implies that basic parenting is some sort of extraordinary achievement, as if children haven’t been raised since, literally, the dawn of humanity.

Then there was this: From Soy to Sex: Why ‘Natural’ Often Means Bad for Women, by Jessica Valenti. In this case, I love what she wrote; what bugs the crap out of me is that she had something to write about. Damnit.

I spent the afternoon yesterday wearing my cranky pants.

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Karli

This was the first I’d heard of breast milk jewelry! I was proud of myself when I breastfed my baby, but I didn’t/don’t want jewelry or an award. The pendants remind me of the gifts brought home from kindergarten that I never wore.

And that thing about soy/birth control was a good reminder to buy my soy products from someone other Eden. I felt cranky after I read it too. I remember when I was getting divorced (several years ago) and my soon-to-be-ex used my health insurance to pay for his vasectomy, even though that insurance wouldn’t pay for my birth control pills. It will probably pay for viagra too. I have a big problem with an employer dictating what birth control is used…it seems like he is dictating which religion the employees will have, so I guess I just wouldn’t be able to work there.

As always, Kim, I appreciate your passion and thank you for sharing these pieces with us.

jwatkiss

Oy, yes. Everyone wants a medal (and in that case, I guess literally) because they continued the species. It’s hard work, it’s special, it’s rewarding, yes. But really, we’re just slaves to biology.

There is perhaps even a case to be argued that those who are most biologically suited to end up doing things the way nature intended, with no intervention required in the conception, pregnancy, birthing (or adoption), and feeding departments are, in fact, getting off easy!

Nancy Cavillones

This part: ” We must be monogamous because men are naturally promiscuous. Men are meant to build and explore, women to nest. No question as to who got the better deal!”

reminds me of why Jewish lineage is passed down through the mother: because you always know who the mother is and the father could be anyone, although I could never figure out if this means women are sluts, or men are sluts?

Also, breastmilk jewlery? No thanks… I mean, breastfeeding *is* hard but I think it’s easier than pumping or formula. Those moms that pump all day long at work, they get the medals, as far as I’m concerned.

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