The glaring errors of Everyday Feminism's "Menstruation Myths"

Nothing shocks me anymore. And yet, I still become speechless at the utter inanity that is out there. I saw the following cartoon the other day, which is just one segment of a much larger panel depicting a friendly little "uterus" discussing supposed "menstruation myths" in an apparent attempt to educate:

From everydayfeminism.com

Besides the growing realization that we have lost our ever-loving minds in this society and abandoned all human reason, there are two glaring problems I see here.

First, the science is all messed up.

For example, the reason that "transmen, non-binary, genderqueer folk" menstruate -- is because they are women!!

Yes, it's true! Though these people may "feel like men" in their minds, hearts, desires (and that's another issue altogether), their BIOLOGY, their very nature, is female. They are biological women. That is why they menstruate. They have a uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, an endometrium. These are women, menstruating as only women do.

This is science. This is biology.

As for "intersex" folks (also known as hermaphroditism), it happens in a fallen world that some children are born with ambiguous genitalia, perhaps having external organs that appear to be one sex, but a chromosomal make-up that indicates the other. This disorder is the result of a problem in the development of the child while still in the womb. If that child hits puberty and begins to menstruate, that is the female reproductive system at work.

But the bad science is only one part of the problem I see. Notice what happened in the middle there? The little girl mentions what her mom taught her, and then the friendly little uterus undermines parental authority by saying, directly, "No, Jo, your mom is wrong."

This is key to all the reprogramming going on in our culture today. Undermine the authority of the clearly unenlightened parents and inject into young minds the prevailing cultural ideology of "gender fluidity". In this backwards paradigm, mom and dad are the ones actually standing in the way of the true education of children, and these pesky parents can and must be gotten around. (Never mind that Catholic parents have a duty and thus a right to be the primary educators of their children, a duty that no state or culture can legitimately usurp.)

Finally, if you go to the entire panel (take a deep breath first!), you will note something that is glaring in its absence:

There is no mention of why the female body menstruates! 

I'm not sure how one can work up a whole panel of "facts" and "science" about menstruation and accompanying body parts with nary a word about WHY the body menstruates in the first place?

To understand ourselves fully as human beings, shouldn't we first understand our very human natures? This silly and inaccurate cartoon is devoid of any real thought, any real depth, any real truth. I look at the proliferation of such superficial, ideological, political fluff and I understand more and more why our youth are floating aimlessly, finding less and less satisfaction in life, disconnected from anything real, becoming more hopeless, and never quite understanding their own humanity.

Thankfully, there is an antidote to all of this insanity! Our Faith stands ready to respond with reason and reality and meaning and depth and joy!

Bring it on. Let's have that conversation about the nature of our bodies, the nature of our humanity, the meaning of our lives. Let's teach our children well, before a non-scientific, unreasonable, utilitarian talking cartoon uterus gets to them first.

Truth, goodness, and beauty wins every time.

What is so wrong with women's bodies?

"Suppression of what is distinctly woman = oppression of women"

-- "LJP", (a really smart Bubble reader)

So there I was, sitting in the Great Clips waiting room as my 13-year-old son was getting a haircut. I started flipping through a Glamour magazine and was drawn in by a slick double-page ad for an implant contraceptive called Nexplanon.

A beautiful, smiling young woman beamed out from the page, with all her potential life plans laid out attractively: "get a job", "find my own place", "fall in love", "save up", "take a trip", "finish school" (strange how "get married" was not among the desired options, hmmm...).

Considering the risks and side effects, why is this woman smiling?
Oh, wait, she's "not an actual patient".

Now, the cultural assumption is that all healthy young singles have lots of healthy sex of course, and Nexplanon reminds us that a healthy young woman would be wise to have a plastic stick full of synthetic hormones surgically implanted under her skin for three years so that her perfectly healthy female body is thrown into biological disarray through the release of chemicals into her system, purposely derailing her natural, healthy female functioning, so that she can live a full and happy and healthy female life.

Make sense?

And after her healthy female body is made to malfunction as planned, the young woman (who, remember, is not being treated for any sickness or pathology) may experience the following "frequent" and "common" side effects, according to the manufacturer:

Changes in menstrual bleeding patterns
Mood swings
Weight gain
Headache
Acne
Depressed mood
Vaginitis (inflammation of the vagina)
Breast pain
Viral infections such as sore throats or flu-like symptoms
Stomach pain
Painful periods
Mood swings, nervousness, or depressed mood
Back pain
Nausea
Dizziness
Pain
Pain at the site of insertion

Aaaaand, "This is not a complete list of possible side effects". Nice. Sounds great so far.

But to keep smiling and fulfilling her dreams, the chemically-altered woman must not only expect "side effects", but must take on actual "risks", which include:

Problems with Insertion and Removal (may require surgery)
Ectopic Pregnancy
Ovarian Cysts
Breast Cancer
Serious (deadly) Blood Clots
High blood pressure
Gallbladder problems
Rare cancerous or noncancerous liver tumors

You know, so that she can get her own place, fall in love, get a job, save, finish school, travel, and such. What a deal!

Staring at that Glamour magazine, I wondered as I often do, "What is so wrong with women's bodies?"

What have modern feminists done? Why have they turned on their own nature?

I flipped forward a few pages and yet another two-page contraception ad assaulted my eyeballs: ParaGard copper intrauterine device (IUD) with the tag line (I kid you not):

"Birth control that fits your life, naturally" 

...because apparently nothing says "natural" like a copper device being surgically forced all up into one's female parts! Foreign metal objects stuck into the womb are just what I envision to feel like a natural woman. Am I right, ladies?

A full and beautiful female existence is promised with this device, too, telegraphed via cutesy, artsy animated scenes of the good life. Whoops, but the usual nasty side effects, risks, and warnings have to be presented as well, in the fine print. I find the the sixth warning particularly appealing and empowering for today's young woman, don't you?

6. Perforation -- Partial or total perforation of the uterine wall or cervix may occur rarely during placement, although it may not be detected until later. Spontaneous migration has also been reported. If perforation does occur, remove ParaGard® promptly, since the copper can lead to intraperitoneal adhesions. Intestinal penetration, intestinal obstruction, and/or damage to adjacent organs may result if an IUD is left in the peritoneal cavity. Pre-operative imaging followed by laparoscopy or laparotomy is often required to remove an IUD from the peritoneal cavity.

What a "natural" fit!

Forgive me, dear reader, but what the hell is wrong with everyone? Feminists should be about affirming women, affirming all that is uniquely feminine, correct? And yet current feminist orthodoxy is all about the opposite, with its slavish worship of the contraceptive indicative of its disdain for the functioning female body. The very things that make us female are, in feminist eyes, the very things that block our human fulfillment.

If you disagree, then show me how and where I am wrong. I want to be wrong, truly.

Of course, this contempt for healthy female function goes further than just derailing the reproductive system with contraceptives. If the best attempts to impair a woman's biological processes don't work and a pregnancy occurs (i.e., if healthy bodily function continues), we must necessarily then advance to the killing of our offspring as the way to achieve our womanly goals.

Just listen to lead feminist Barack Obama; he'll tell you so. Last month, he celebrated the anniversary of Roe v. Wade as he has before, by affirming the necessity of women to access abortion, "[b]ecause this is a country where everyone deserves the same freedom and opportunities to fulfill their dreams."

See that? It's consistent with the whole philosophy. The very opportunity for women to fulfill their dreams hangs on their ability to negate what their female bodies do naturally. Contraception will mess up menstruation, ovulation, and conception, and as a necessary back-up, abortion will end gestation. Menstruation, ovulation, conception, gestation -- all those uniquely female things that hinder women's lives!

Which brings me back to the first quote up top:

"Suppression of what is distinctly woman = oppression of women"

I challenge secular feminists, pro-"choice" activists, and reproductive rights advocates to refute that statement if you can. How can you claim to champion women and to love women's bodies when you promote contraception and abortion, which are pitted directly against a woman's biology, which assault her very nature? I don't see men's groups fighting against all that is distinctly male, do you? So, what gives?

Why do you rebel against the functioning female body?

Why do you seek suppression of what is uniquely female?

What is so wrong with women's bodies the way they are?





Related links:

I HATE the Essure commercials

Your periods, your way

The Natural Family Planning post

"I am Woman" -- ironic ode to the embryo

My husband is the early riser in the family, and on most weekend mornings I stumble downstairs, bleary-eyed, as the kitchen radio screams out the hits of the 1970s. This can be torture or it can be wonderful, depending on my mood and the song.

On a recent morning, my positive energy surged I when I recognized the first notes of the feminist anthem, I Am Woman. Helen Reddy was belting it like a boss, and I was right there with my sista singing along...

Yes, I am wise! But it's wisdom born of pain! Yes, I paid the price, but look how much I gained!

Dancing around, remembering how I learned this song as a little girl, and how much my strong, conservative mother loved it...

If I have to, I can do anything! I am strong! I am invincible! I am wooooomaaaan!!

Dancing more, humming the next lines because I did not know the lyrics...

I am woman watch me grow, see me standing toe to toe, as I spread my lovin' arms across the laaaand!

And then -- I did a double-take. No, that can't be, can it? I couldn't have heard that word, not in a feminist anthem! "Dean, did you hear that? In this song?" I quickly googled the lyrics and there it was:

But I'm still an embryo…

*blink, blink*

Whoa! Ms. Reddy said "embryo"! She just compared herself to an embryo!

But I'm still an embryo, with a long long way to go, until I make my brother understaaaand!

I googled again. The song topped the Billboard charts in December 1972. Mere weeks before Roe v. Wade became the horrific, bloody law of the land on January 22, 1973.

Could it be that in those weeks prior to Roe, it was still okay to be an embryo? Even in the minds and vocal cords of feminists?

If we assume that feminists still had hearts of flesh and not stone back then, we could translate the lyric like this:

"I'm here! I'm small, I'm insignificant to some, you can't see me yet, but I'm on my way. I have so much to offer, so much to show you, and once I make that long, long journey to visibility, my brothers will understand that I have been here all along! I am worthy, I have dignity, and I am just like them!"

However, if we were to translate it as feminism stands today, it would have to go like this:

"I'm a non-human parasite with no rights, a dangerous, dreaded burden sucking the life out of women and society, a piece of garbage to be killed at will and thrown into the trash with the rest of the medical waste. Nothing is as worthless as I am."

But honestly, that latter interpretation does not seem to fit with the spirit of the song, nor does it make any sense in that line, does it?

Therefore, I'm siding with the embryo-as-our-young-hero scenario, just as Helen Reddy presented it back in the more civilized, less blood-thirsty days of feminism. Back when we women could sing and remind others of our own worth and dignity without crushing the worth and dignity of other weak and fragile members of our human family. Feminists back then (I'm going to tell myself) still had love enough to speak the name of embryo without contempt and as a logical metaphor for the underdog -- whom we women naturally, instinctively nurture and protect, cheering him forward until he finds his own voice.

Oh, you embryos in 1972, you slipped by just in the nick of time! You were still the good guys then!

Ah, what feminism coulda, shoulda been! Sing it, Helen!

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Related post: The Sheer Idiocy of "Every Child a Wanted Child"




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Quick Takes: Strong women edition!

Well, not every Take today is about strong women, but I need doses of fearless femininity! Hearing wimpy, co-dependent modern feminists spend all day whining about how the Church won't hand them free birth control or neuter them or blah, blah, blah, is such an irritant and a turn off that I just about can't stand it. Give me gutsy, independent, courageous Catholic women any day! My heart just overflows with admiration for these incredible ladies...

1) If there were such a thing as same-sex marriage (there's not), and if polygamy were not a sin (it is), I would marry these three women. They have adopted several orphans internationally, some with serious special needs, and you don't see them whining. They just make a decision to love and then act. Each has written about her experiences, to help others overcome their fears:

From Danya at He Adopted Me First:

"Fear"

From Brianna at Just Showing Up:

"Deciding to Adopt"

From Carla at Bringing Henry Home:

"Discerning Adoption, Part One: The Practical"

"Discerning Adoption, Part Two: The Spiritual"

Because of the incredible response to the orphans at Reece's Rainbow, I know that many of you have this subject heavy on your minds. Read these women's stories, and pray.


2) Catholic screenwriter and professor Barbara Nicolosi, a justifiably harsh critic of schlocky Christian-themed/Christian-backed cinema, has some rare praise for October Baby, a pro-life movie released today that is also (gasp) good art! She said on Facebook:

I am endorsing this film - especially for its primary demographic of teenage girls and young women. I saw the film in rough cut and gave some pretty strong notes and was impressed to see how the project had gotten so much stronger in the next version. There is some lovely cinematography here - which makes this almost Lawrence of Arabia among movies coming out of the Christian world. It also has one of the most powerful endings I have ever seen in a movie on this topic. 

A movie's future is determined in the first weekend, so plan a date night with your sweetie or gather your friends and go see this movie either Friday, Saturday or Sunday! A worthy topic and artistic excellence, too? Heck, yeah!


3) In case anyone wants to know: Homeschooling one child is easy! Seriously, I keep trying to figure out if I am doing anything wrong, because it goes so quickly and smoothly. I remember homeschooling four at a time (loooooong ago) and it was nothing like this time around.

See, I told you this QT wasn't all about strong women! Now, back to strong women….


4) At long last, my sister's surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, March 28. We will finally know if she has cancer or not. It's been a weird three months. From an initial (erroneous) diagnosis of advanced pancreatic cancer to four more top pathologists not agreeing on what the slides show, to trying to gain control of an underlying chronic illness in preparation for diagnostic surgery, we will finally have some definitive answers. If you could please send up a quick prayer for her, especially next Wednesday, I would be so grateful. She has been overwhelmed by all of your prayers. You guys are the best, and we praise God for you.


5) You wanna read something unexpected? I was totally unprepared for this, and I'm sure I will never forget it:

Putting it that way

I've always said that courage is the most lacking virtue these days. Rebecca has courage in spades. She is a true feminist role model, an authentic adult in a culture of arrested adolescents, and what she did, with a mother's heart, blew me away.


6) If you can't make it to the nationwide rallies today in protest of Obama's horrific HHS mandate, never fear, as Simcha Fisher has already written about what will happen… before it happens. And I know she is dead on correct... before it happens. You'll see what I mean, here:

The Religious Freedom Rally: My Predictions

 (Caution: You may split a gut laughing!)

Why is the left so predictable? Sigh.


7) Strong women everywhere love Chesterton, so let's end with some Gilbert!

The church is a living teacher, not a dead one. . . It has not merely told this truth or that truth, but has revealed itself as a truth-telling thing. All other philosophers say the things that plainly seem to be true; only this philosophy has again and again said the thing that does not seem to be true, but is true. Alone of all the creeds it is convincing where it is not attractive.

Now, strong women everywhere (and even weak complainers like me and the ladies from NARAL and NOW), go have a wonderful, grace-filled weekend!




Thanks to Jen, for hosting!

And, no, LarryD, I did not yet put in a plug for your 3 1/2 Time Outs Tuesday, which is "just like Conversion Diary's 7 Quick-Takes, except it's half as long and twice as good", because this was the strong women's edition and your Time Outs are for strong, masculine bloggers, right?

*Update: My misleading statement above is corrected by Larry, below. Who says that we conservatives don't like diversity?

News and thoughts

I am so thrilled to announce that Mary-Grace Eloise was born to our own dear Karen, from Hope-Pray-Trust on March 21. In Karen's words on that day:

"Today my world stood still and I saw a glimpse of heaven."

Mary-Grace

(I can't make the picture bigger or it gets blurry.)

Born at 6:15pm after almost 72 hours of active labor (she is looking forward to telling us the crazy story!), Mary-Grace came in at 8 lbs., 7 ozs., 21 1/4 inches. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

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My very own pastor, Fr. John Ehrich, is the Medical Ethics Director for the Diocese of Phoenix, chaplain of the Catholic Medical Association and chaplain of the Catholic Physician's Guild of Phoenix. He wrote an interesting blog post here, following up on the recent scandal at St. Joseph's Hospital here in Phoenix, where an abortion was illicitly performed and defended -- an act which necessitated Bishop Thomas Olmsted to ultimately strip the hospital of its "Catholic" status. 

If you are under the mistaken impression that St. Joseph's has been treated unjustly because of this *one* incident, you can read more about the truth of it here and here. Follow the money.

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Speaking of abortion (which is without a doubt the human rights issue of our time), TheUnchoice.com has released an excellent 30-second ad exposing the lie that abortion is a "free choice". A full 64% of abortions are the result of pressure or coercion. Where are the feminists fighting for these women and girls, who feel they have no "choice"?

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Finally, after this post, I only had one pro-"choice" reader state that she would never again make the false claim that "Pro-lifers love the fetus, but they don't care about people after they are born." Are there any other pro-"choice" folks out there who are willing to concede that that popular line is untrue? I had hoped we could all at least agree on that.

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I hope everyone is having a fruitful Lent! As for me, I think this may be the worst Lenten showing of my life! ACK! Oh well, I still have some time left.... The Lord is kind and merciful!