Random News
9 May 2008Two things in the news, disturbing me for different reasons and in different ways, or two different news items that I just don’t know how to write about.
1) Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who imprisoned his own daughter in his cellar for 24 years, and fathered her seven children.
2) Michelle Duggar, the woman in Arkansas who is happily pregnant with her 18th child.
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Addendum:
I tagged this blog post “Feminism,” when I think I should have tagged it “Family Values.”
I realize the two individuals I name above don’t have anything to do with each other. I think at least Duggar is happy and healthy (physically and mentally).
I am just thinking about what women’s bodies are for, what are the limits on this, and who decides these things.
I am thinking also of family, and the role of women and the role of women’s bodies in family. Must we be reproduction machines?
Or maybe I should have tagged this entry, “Shit that Confuses Me.”
Many women choose to have no children or only one. Ms. Duggar chooses, for herself, to have 18 children. There is nothing wrong with that.
My mother had always wanted 12 children. But after 10 births, with 2 dying shortly after birth she knew her personal limit. We are all happy, healthy adults with college educations.
Large families can be a wonder place for a child to grow up.
barb, check out this thoughtful post on the second item above re race:
http://elleabd.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-know-im-cynical-but.html
Hey folks, thanks for your comments.
Ele, I agree with you that each woman has her personal limits.
Gladys, thanks for the link. It’s interesting that this blogger has brought up ethnicity and economy in her discussion. I think that’s a good point. What I found most interesting in that blog post is what the blogger’s mother said: it’s unfair to the other children, and particularly the girls. I have my own ideas on what that might mean, but I am wondering if others have any response to that.
In the meantime, on item #1, I am still at a loss as to how to write about it, and whether it’s “mine” to write about at all.
Hi again all, I have just looked at the family’s website and under their “About Us,” they disclose a previous miscarriage for conceiving while on oral contraceptives. Pro-lifers, they have called themselves selfish for using contraceptives, of which the miscarriage was a result, and the wording leads me to believe they are atoning for this previous act of selfishness. Subsequently, they have prayed to God to give them children on God’s terms, and as many as he determines they should have. I am really disturbed with this, despite how happy they appear to be.