Just so we’re very, very clear, this has nothing to do with inappropriate sexual encounters. Nope. Nothing:

A new study has found a third of women suffer from post-sex blues — and it’s not because they regret bedding the partner beside them.Researchers at Queensland University of Technology in Australia followed more than 200 young women and found 32.9% suffered negative feelings — or postcoital dysphoria — after “otherwise satisfactory intercourse.”

I’m going to take a stab at the “symptoms” of “postcoital dysphoria.” Ten bucks says it sounds something like this: “I can’t believe he hasn’t called.” “He doesn’t love me.” “I don’t love him, why did I do that?” “Was I used?” “Why hasn’t he called/emailed/texted/responded to my calls/emails/texts?” “Could I be pregnant?” “I hope I’m not pregnant.” “What if I’m pregnant?” Followed up by “Why hasn’t he called?”

It’s called being a woman. Dysphoric, indeed. So keep searching, science, for the ever elusive answer to this new “medical condition.”

You don’t say. The famous folk singer is 62! But of course she could adopt. I actually don’t have a problem if women say they never want to have children so long as they conduct themselves with integrity as they follow that course. Not everyone is meant to have children, much as we might like to. Some people care for other people’s children. Some people save unborn children. There are all sorts of things the childless can do, things that are very, very valuable.

Stevie doesn’t want to lose her freedom though, and that strikes me as a not-so-great reason not to have kids. Though I do suppose children hinder your total and complete freedom. But what you lose in freedom you gain in love. Loving anyone does limit freedom as you consider their needs above your own. Love implies some level of dependence. It’s a trade off.

Well, at least we can listen to Stevie as we ponder all these things. Love this song.

A short post on how women have created female blogging ghettos that don’t really compete. The author also comments on women in the workplace:

For the most part, I prefer to work with men than women. Over the years, I have found female-dominated workplaces to be unfocused and ill-managed, consumed by office politics, less competitive and less ambitious, and I have found male-dominated workplaces to be more focused and better-managed, less consumed by office politics, more competitive and more ambitious. I am not naturally a team player. When I was younger, I rode horses and studied karate — solitary sports. As a journalist, I have been most frequently drawn to subcultures that are dominated by men — from the adult business to the U.S. military. I am more comfortable among men. I would rather be where the boys are — than where they are not.

Since we are being politically incorrect here, I’ll just comment on that last line. She may want to work with men; it’s not entirely clear that they want to work with her. I have read (Margaret Mead, George Gilder) that men prefer a work space separate from women. I’m not sure why. I suspect that male camraderie is important, that men want to compete with other men and not with women. Perhaps this is because men have a desire to protect women, rather than compete with them. I’ve also read that if men must compete with women, they’ll drive us into the ground. (Gilder). These theories deserve more time than I’m giving them here, so if you are interested, you can watch this.

(h/t)

Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood clinic director turned pro-life, has done this ad. I am reading her book and I just hit the part where she is told to increase abortions for financial reasons. Giving out birth control was not making the money. Abortions did.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgPqBQQeXh4″>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgPqBQQeXh4]

That’s the not-so-subtle message of this ad. I could rant about this all day long, instead, just watch for yourself:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdSmXKRqFHM]

“You know what you want today. But you never know what you might want for tomorrow.” For so many women what they want tomorrow is children. Only the birth control pill helps them delay and delay until it’s too late. Thanks, Beyaz. And it’s not just those of us who hate the Pill who don’t like this ad. I guess I shouldn’t expect any different. I had not watched TV for a long time before I tuned in and caught…this. Guess it’s back to reading for me.

There really is nothing new under the sun. I think we’ve been down this road before, of wanting to create smarter, better people:

Melbourne’s Julian Salvulescu, now Oxford’s practical ethics professor, has said it is our “moral obligation” to use IVF to choose the smartest embryos, even if that maintains or increases social inequality. Experts have criticised the Gattaca-style idea, saying the money involved could be better spent improving quality of life in Africa.

(h/t)

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Jennifer adds: Adds: I came across Savulescu when researching Marie Stopes Australia. I looked him up because he, like me, is part Romanian, and is not doubt very familiar with the birth defects present since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. But this article is interesting because how do we test an embryo’s IQ? Sometimes, autistic children score higher on non-verbal IQ tests. I’m assuming any embryonic test would be non-verbal 😉 Nevermind that IQ’s are very difficult to test. Take for example the IQ test I had before entering into my “gifted” class in grade school, my equally if not more intelligent Russian friend took the same test. I remember her asking me afterward, “Who is Christopher Robin?” (Winnie the Pooh not being as popular in Moscow as it was in the US). I’m also weary of any use of the word “public interest” these days, especially reproducing or not reproducing for the sake of public interest, it’s talk like that that got us China’s One-Child policy.

A column in today’s Post by Barbara Kay. This part caught my eye, in particular:

Gosnell’s gruesome practice was no secret, but the Pennysylvania Department of Health had decided to stop inspecting abortion clinics because “officials concluded that inspections would be ‘putting a barrier up to women seeking abortions.’” Thus, for 30 years, thanks to activists’ remorseless protection of unconstrained abortion access, Gosnell ran his little house of horrors without any oversight whatsoever.

It seems to me our main concern these days is not with women’s health but with “access.”  And oftentimes this comes courtesy of those who claim to advocate for “women’s health.”

I may be losing it a little (Brigitte! Come back!) but I can’t remember whether I posted this article I wrote for The Interim. It’s a bit of a review of that Australian book I so appreciated called Giving Sorrow Words:

Each woman is unique but two ideas unify the voices. The first is the myth that abortion is a neutral or easy choice. The second is that abortion is actually a choice.

So many women felt cheated because they could never have envisioned the aftermath. Stories are punctuated by comments like “I’ll never be forgiven for what I did.” Jasmine, from Melbourne, recounts her nightmares: “I dreamt I was covered in blood that would not wash off.” Marguerite, who describes herself as non-religious, writes “for many months after termination, I woke during the night to hear my baby screaming.” For her, the grief was “palpable” and “permeates waking and sleeping hours.”

The second myth is that abortion is a choice at all. Many women awaited their abortion appointment with dread. Justine called her long distance boyfriend on regular intervals, desperate for him to change his mind. He didn’t – until the after the abortion was done. She literally wandered hospital halls prior to her abortion searching for someone who would help her keep the child. Finding only a doctor who confirmed her worst fears that her boyfriend truly wasn’t interested, she went ahead. For Anne, her mother oversaw the unwanted abortion, coming afterwards with presents “like I’d had my tonsils out.” In another, the father, “stands over me while I ring to make the appointment.” Barbara also begged her husband to change his mind, “but all he did was hiss ‘get rid of it.'” While being wheeled to the operating room she plaintively asks: “won’t anyone save me?”

We can’t forget these stories, knowing that they are all too common and also knowing that young women out there are not hearing these voices.

As with most news, there are two sides and I’ll try my very best to be positive about this one.

The bad news: Brigitte will no longer be blogging at ProWomanProLife.

The good news: She’s still anti-abortion. (Phewf!) It’s just she’s taken a job with Sun Media and as such can’t keep blogging here. So if one considers the platform and influence she’ll now have, I think we can all agree this is a big success.

That said, no one, NO ONE, was more instrumental in helping me get ProWomanProLife off the ground. I’m almost inclined to remove the “helping me” part. She did it cheerfully, professionally and promptly, because she wanted to. And she’s never gotten anything but a few frappacinos for all her work (which I understand will be different at Sun Media). Over the last years there have been moments when I communicated more with Brigitte than my own family. We’ve run posts by each other and we’ve written some most excellent op-eds. The end result from this blogging adventure is that we are fast friends. So yes, I’m sad this era is over (the blogging, not the friendship) but I am very glad for her as she starts a new and exciting thing.

Good luck, Brigitte!

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Brigitte adds: Thank you, Andrea! It’s been a privilege to work with such fine ladies.

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Véronique adds: This is definitely a severe case of bad news, good news. I am thrilled for Brigitte and yet very sad for PWPL readers. But mostly thrilled for Brigitte as she launches into the next phase of a very successful career!

Didn’t he mean “clump of cells“?

It’s mad because I suppose, you know, as a woman you carry the baby for nine months and you’re very conscious that you’ve got a baby, but for a guy – all of a sudden there’s a baby there. But it’s amazing, he’s great.”