We mean this. As a smart woman commented, it puts the “twit” in twitter.
The banality of twittery just out-twitted itself.
Yes, the tweet that gave even the virtual world pause came from one Penelope Trunk, 42-year-old chief executive of a blog called Brazen Careerist, where women can find advice about balancing work and family.
Trunk tweeted while in a board meeting late last month that she was having a miscarriage — and how great is that? Beats the abortion she was planning to have, which would have meant missing two days of work since she would have had to go all the way to Chicago. Apparently, there’s a waiting list in Wisconsin, where Trunk lives.
I need to find me a big old comfy rock to go hide under.
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Rebecca adds: But the important thing to remember is that women never take abortion lightly, and only have them when in dire straits, and after much consideration.
This episode is foul, but maybe it’s advancing a greater good if it promotes the awareness that some women do indeed treat abortion as analogous to a bikini wax: a bit of physical discomfort, sure, and sometimes it’s hard to get a convenient appointment, but hey, it’s part of full sexual liberation!
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Andrea thinks that someone’s site stats were down and needed a sensation? Indeed, I clicked over to Brazen Careerist–only to find this as Trunk explained herself on the miscarriage tweet:
If you are new to my blog, and you’ve gotten this far, maybe you’ll like staying here for a while. Here’s a good page to begin on: About this blog.
I recently went to see Julie and Julia, and loved it. (Yes, this is related.) I loved it at least in part because Julie Child seemed to be a dignified, and yet fun, woman. (One of my favourite lines, brilliantly delivered by Meryl Streep is when Julia Child loudly declares “I am a very conventional woman!”) In our Oprah Winfrey age we are constantly crying about something, revealing all, expecting massive sympathy and discussion–or as in this case, being clueless and crass and making profit of one kind or another (not necessarily monetary) from it. Sad.
by 
Oh what has happened to woman when she celebrates her own miscarriage? Her human nature has been turned completely inside out.
Someone please build me a time machine so I can get out of this place.
You do realize that this is the same woman you mentioned in this post?
https://www.prowomanprolife.org/2009/06/17/this-is-my-point/
Somehow I can’t get too excited when somebody says something inflammatory in a tweet. The twenty words you get don’t give you enough room to provide a decent context for what you say.
Melissa, can you imagine a context in which this is not revolting?
I don’t know, Rebecca. The woman has Asperger’s syndrome (i.e. mini-autism, i.e. she is more prone to make social gaffes than the rest of us.) I see this as nothing more than an attempt at black humour.
I’m the kind of person who tends to joke around in uncomfortable and unpleasant situations. Sometimes the humour relieves the tension; sometimes it ends up being inappropriate and offending people.
But given the larger context of what she has written about abortion, I don’t think that it is fair to say she takes the procedure lightly.
Melissa: black humour – fair enough. That’s really not the vibe I took from it – using humour to distract from pain – but humour is inherently subjective. But does Asperger’s make people callous towards life? If a friend had to have a pet put down, and the pet was hit by a car and killed in the interim, I can’t imagine anyone I know – including people with Asperger’s – reacting by saying “at least I’ll save on the vet’s fee.” If the fetus has less value than a pet, then this remark isn’t offensive at all. But then that’s the worldview that I find so disturbing in the first place.
And then, as Andrea points, out, there’s the whole issue of privacy and propriety. In that regard, fair point, ASD could well be a factor. Doesn’t make it less distasteful to the rest of us, though.
I’m wondering what ever happened to discretion. In this IM wolrd with people twittering all over the place about whatever, it seems that nary a thought is given to the impact of words and attitudes.
I’m also wondering how Ms. Trunk’s two children might feel in the midst of all this publicity. Might they think, “Whew – Mom didn’t abort us – aren’t we lucky.” How does one abort children, then have children, then decide to abort another, and then be relieved to miscarry? How is that supposed to make the surviving children feel? How does a mother decide that some of her children are worth keeping but others aren’t? I’m really not getting this at all.
Rebecca: I laughed when I read your comment because that’s *exactly* what I would say if my dog died in those circumstances. That is my warped sense of humour for you. And that is why I keep my mouth shut around people I don’t know very well.
I tend to think of twitter posts as a bit of brain flatulence. It’s people just spouting off and trying to be pithy and funny. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it is very much taken the wrong way. The 140 characters is not enough to make an overall judgement on how reverently someone views life.
There is so much to be offended about in the pro-choice view. This one barely made a blip on my offensive radar.
Just throwing it out there, but Julia Child was a HUGE supporter of Planned Parenthood. H-U-G-E. She thought only “wanted” children should be had and other than that, PP was the way to go. Did huge fundraisers for them. I was so disappointed to find that out.
Leah: That is disappointing about Julia Child but thanks for letting me know. Guess I will just have to appreciate her cook book in a vacuum then.