I agree with literature expression, but I disagree with the normality and hypersexualiation of teen sex and teen sexual development. This article is a little bizarre to me, but I respect everyones right to an opinion. I simply wanted to input that I agree that teenage sexual development in fiction should be handled alot better for future generations, especially for girls as they enter into puberty.
However , I think it's ludicrous to give an underdeveloped human being that's still going through puberty and is mentally underveloped, highly emotional due to them entering the emotional phase of puberty and still figuring out who they are fictional books on teens "experimenting" with sexuality and trying to figure themselves out.
Teenage minds are like sponges and emotions tend to take the highroad over logic more than we can count at times, and defending a fictional book that has teen sex which should be really called 'child erotica'' regardless of it intent is no different than extreme liberals defending the "Gender Queer" book that was published and given out to minors regardless of parental permission.
The Gender Queer book featured gay "responsible" and "consensual" sex between 11-13 year old boys in pictures and writing as well as the normality of teen sexual curiosity. The justification of the Gender Queer book is similar to this article defense of Judy Blum books, which is "REALISTIC REPRESENTATION OF adolescent coming of age".
No matter the intent, one needs to be careful what they give to kids as it will have an affect on their still developing psyche and behavior.
I can better appreciate Judy Blum as an adult woman who can better separate fiction from reality and expectation from reality. A discussion should be had with teenagers while their young from the parent/ guardian, doctor and in some cases teachers on the realities of womanhood and what to expect when entering it, as well as sensitivity to one self as they go through it not defending or advocating for authors like Judy Blum books being given to teens.
I also wanted to correct something in this arricle. A teenager can not have a sexual awakening, even if authors, like Judy Blum writes it that way or believe they can. Sexual awakening is based on mental stability and maturity. A 20 year old and up has a sexual awakening. I had a sexual awaking in my mid 20s and was able to discen what really aroused me and the type of men I was attracted too. I was introduced to sexual literature in my teen years and made descion based on what was being told to me about sex, and it was mistakened as sexual awakening but wasn't that, it was simply an introduction to someones point of view of sex.
A teenager makes descion based on information that is taught to them. Sex being introduced to an underdeveloped human being is not a sexual awakening, but an introduction The same way a 5 year old going through precosious puberty and sees p0rn for the first time isn't a sexual awakening. Their minds are still underdeveloped, so I was disappointed in this writer of this article who placed these together.
Next, There were plenty of authors from the 70s-2000s that wrote realistic expectation of adolescent puberty and development for girls that weren't like Judy Blum and responsibly left sexual imagery out, so the teen reading it could read it and genuinely understand their bodies and relate to the characters. If a parent needs help taking to their daughters about sexuality and puberty and development and don't know where to start as well as would like for it to be introduced to them without them feeling shame. Judy Blum was simply a popular author that added sexual imagery for teens with good humour, I admit, that people weren't that use to in that timing.
Please dont rely on a fictional books but on actual child psychologists and those who study child body development, especially for girls. If we, when we were young did this and went through terrible mistakes when we were young due to this. Lets not repeat it with the future generations of girls who may not be as lucky as us.
Check out podcasts and Instagram profiles like, Defend young minds. They also have fictional books.
If you'd like to focus more on girls as they navigate into womanhood, puberty, and other mental development made easy for you and your daughters to understand.
Check out one of the best research psychologist Sarah E Hill. She's discusses things about female development, puberty, mental health, and the mental components of sex for teenage girls and women in a non judgemental way and even discusses how to normalize giving yourself and teen girls grace as a female. She's on Instagram and has many videos on YouTube.
Lets normalize adults being responsible and wisely suggesting books to teen girls that cater to their demographics but don't irresponsibly handle it like many of Judy Blum books and books like Gender Queer.
I disagree with a lot here, but I'll just stick with a factual correction - the only one of Judy Blume's juvenile fiction books that involves characters having sex is "Forever," in which the characters are high school seniors who are at or above the age of consent in their state. (I know they turn eighteen somewhere during the book, but I can't remember if they have sex before or after they're both eighteen.) You can't have "child erotica" without a child, and there's an enormous difference in development and maturity between 11-to-13-year-olds and 17-and-18-year-olds.
Hello! Thank you for respectfully disagreeing. I want to first start out by saying your statement is based on legality terms. Meaning whatever the law deems is acceptable or not. Legality doesn't always equal factuality nor reality based on science.
An 17-18 year old is still teenager and mentally, emotionally, and physically underdeveloped. That's why I said child erotica.
The law in many countries has the age of consent for adulthood and sex as low as 9 years of age. In Malysia, the age of consent is 9-10 years of age and in many Islamic countries the age of consent for sex is as low as 8 years of age. This is legal.
Legality doesn't always allign with rationality, logic, morality, reality and science. There are also books, poems, and pictures of kids being featured in that way and the defense of that is "well their doing it anyway" or "it's realistic representation". I don't deny many children go through that especially based on the cultural, societal, and family structure they were raised in, however it should be taken into caution not to capitalize on that or hypersexualize/normalize those behaviors as ok, good, normal, justifiable, or not a big deal in art.
In many books like Gender Queer and many of Judy Blum books the ages of the characters ranger from 11-17 years of age and feature sexual imagery. That's child erotica no matter what the intent was and participates in the normalization of teens being viewed as adults, normalization of blame being put on them in situations like grooming or sexual assault, children viewing themselves as old enough to participate in adult activity which is sex, mental desentivity, child on child rape, dissociation, hypersexuality or disinterest in sex in adult years as well as the struggle to bond right in adult years if proper help isn't installed. That's why I made my comment.
A 20 year old and up are actual adults . I'm not basing this on legality which is simply what the law dictates as acceptable and lawful. I'm basing that on biology. A 20 year old woman and man are adults. Their bodies are fully developed and capable to handles the complexitues of sex and the about to properly consent to it, and not just doing it to feel good.
If parents, guardians, and teachers were a little more informed. They'd talk to their kids while their young within their mental and biological maturity about sex, their bodies, and what to expect as well as encouraging them to wait until adulthood in their 20 and up so they can make the proper informed descions.
Furthermore, I also left in my comment that we should not depend on fictional authors to be the navigating guide to help girls into womanhood or be content on being girls. Fictional authors write from their point of view and intergect whether a character will experience dire consequences of their actions or not, like the book Forever in which the characters did not experience dire consequences.
We are in a tech savy age where we can find actual child and teen psychologists for free and female Psychologist that discuss the joy of entering into womanhood with humor and relatability. I suggested a research psychologist named Sarah E Hill who's on Instagram and YouTube. She has stuff for teen girls/women and discusses these things and how to remember to show yourself grace and to normalize that behavior for yourselves even if no does.
The same goes with a Instagram profile named Defend Young Minds that discusses the nesscity of talking to kids/ teens about sex and how to have age appropriate conversations with them about their bodies.
When I was a teen I was introduced to young adult books then was introduced to sexual literature and smut literature. I was allowed to do this due to my appearance of maturity, but wasn't biologically mature enough for sexual literature.
My mature appearance of behavior was simply me adapting to my environment thus giving off a mature vibe but wasn't. Now as a woman I learn from my mistakes and practing not repeating them nor letting a child imitate them or enage in what I use to do, so that as adults, they won't make descions based on desentivity, dissociation, trauma, impulsiveness disguised as normality.
They will be able to make better descions using logic, rationality, love, and compassion for people and not view them as objects for their pleasure...or they will choose as adults to do their own thing, and if they do, their responsibille for themselves and will at least have mentally ingrained life skills to fall back on.
There are some people who argue that “people’s brains aren’t mature until they’re 25, so if their brains aren’t mature, they can’t consent to sex.” We could go back and forth about what constitutes the “real” age of adulthood, but for legal purposes, there has to be some type of consensus, at least for a particular jurisdiction. I don’t think 20-year-olds are necessarily more physically developed than 18-year-olds. I had pretty much the exact same body, in terms of physical maturity - height, weight, bra size, menstrual cycle pattern - from 16 until I got pregnant at 27. People develop at different rates, but nearly everyone is done with puberty at 18, and as for emotional maturity and life skills, those things vary so much from person to person.
I was raised in a Catholic family where my mother (speaking for both herself and my father) emphasized that sex was a very serious thing and something that should wait until after marriage. “Forever” by Judy Blume actually helped convince me that teenage sex was a bad idea. Michael gave me the creeps - ugh, referring to his penis as “Ralph”! - and it struck me as so tragic that Katherine had put so much thought and emotion into the decision of whether to have sex with him, only to have the two of them break up within months. I didn’t want to be Katherine. I didn’t want to share the most intimate parts of my body with someone - to actually let him inside my body - and then realize I didn’t want to be with him forever. I’m now married and my husband is the only sexual partner I’ve ever had, and vice versa. We’re very happy.
Strange and sad that the horniness of Forever's adolescent male protagonist is now perceived as predatory. Healthy adolescent male mammals (and birds) are horndogs. That's just basic biology.
There has been a decline in testosterone levels for several decades now. Combine that with the fear of being labelled a rapist and the accessibility of porn to satisfy young men's carnal urges, they may legitimately just not be as horny anymore.
"The depiction of her sexual awakening, in which she is not only fully autonomous but also thoroughly enjoying herself, was groundbreaking in its own time for challenging the perception that sex for teenage girls was shameful"
"it’s ironic to see it now being canceled by progressives, who have become so relentlessly fixated on whether sex is consensual, they have evidently forgotten it’s also supposed to be fun, even thrilling."
I I Grew up in the 70's and 80's with sisters and active women's lib mother. The msg. I recall, women could make their own choices regarding sex just like men. Women were strong and could make their own decisions on when and how to enjoy sex. Implicit, with making your own decisions is you live with the results. And sometimes both men and women can wake up the next morning and regret having sex with the other person.
But that regret shouldn't be regulated or legislated into the criminal code. Women /Men don't need protection from an unsatisfying sexual encounter. You are not a victim, nor should you need counseling. (sexual assault completely different matter)
The college women of today display little of the strength and resilience of my mothers and sisters. GO JUDY BLUME
It's been my understanding the "banning" ONLY applies to school libraries and issue is age appropriate material, particularly in Grades 1-3. We had a children's section and the book " How babies are Made" by Time Life was a favorite. When I hit puberty and started babysitting, read Candy, Lolita, Peyton Place...adult books. The author of Gender Queer etc. said it was never meant for children. And if people want to buy books about homosexual positions, anything by Blume, just go to the bookstore, eBay etc. I've not heard that the books ceased to be available for purchase. My parents were conservative with me in teen years, but never said I could not read any book or listen to any music and you've completely removed the parental input, but for the pad. Our Iowa Public school gave us girls the information we would soon need. It's natural, but a bit freaky at first, but we looked forward to spurting breasts, like the older girls had. To wrap up, please do not lump everyone who attends Sunday School or those considered "conservative" in one HUGE generalization.. Look at Congress whose GOP members are always putting forth disagreements and opinions, even arguing. The look at Dems. who rarely disagree about anything and vote as a block, with little to no spoken discussion. Lastly, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the MOST LIBERAL Supreme Court Justice, for many years said Row vs Wade was a bad ruling and belonged to the states to decide, as are all issues unable to find any Constitutionl connection. Plan B is available to all, upheld by the Courts, so women can still decide. Trump said, I think rightfully, the Court has ruled and it will remain a State issue. Personally, I think 6 weeks is too short, but we know we are pregnant and have time to think, discuss by 15 weeks My State is any time. As a medical-legal license holder, and also have done patient care and asst.surguries, the times a late term abortion is done, and the baby is removed by a limb here and another limb there, it is heartbreaking. I enjoyed reading your perspective. Aloha🌺
I am with you that a ~15-week unfettered access seems pretty reasonable. Not only to give time to assess the situation, but for NIPT and other pregnancy screenings to help inform the decision. Later abortions are tragic, and I think they should only be used in extreme situations. Sadly, the abortion debate in American is run by the fringe extremes.
Kat, I enjoyed your take on our very different times, and agree with most of what you said. One suggestion I have is to ease up on the maximalist statements that seem designed to raise opposition hackles, since they limit who you might reach.
The one significant example I found in this piece was: "a gender ideology whose first response to a pubescent girl’s anxiety about her changing body is to suggest that perhaps she’s not really a girl." Do you really believe that's their *first* response? I totally agree that gender dysphoria has taken on a contagious aspect that we need to be careful about, but this statement seems pretty hyperbolic, in a way that I think is likely to turn off people who would otherwise resonate with your message. Thanks for reading this far!
I think there is a lot of message out there that you can avoid all that icky stuff if you really are worried about it
And that is the entire problem, even girls who aren’t really confused, if they can see a way out besides thru maybe some take it without any idea of the real consequences.
All it takes then is browbeaten “gender affirming” care and it’s too late to fix.
So, Pat, do I understand you that you agree with Kat's statement, and think that this is often the first line of questioning from progressives, without an openness to more standard sources of anxiety?
Just a quick clarification: Sex makes babies. I don't know if anyone else realizes this. That's why people should not be having sex before marriage. If you're not ready to have children, you're not ready for the activity that brings them about.
Objector: "Oh, but that's why we have artificial birth control, you monster."
Reply: Abortion, gay marriage, transgenderism, IVF, surrogacy, crypto-eugenicism, and, in general, the capitalist commodification of the human body.
I'm a generation older, but well remember "Growing Up and Liking It," a pre-Blume Modess (sanitary napkin) publication distributed by schools. It provided practical advice and reassurance; "and liking it" was a meaningful part of the booklet.
I was an athletic tomboy who matured into a lesbian; bleeding between my legs monthly was not cause for happy excitement, and -- good press or bad -- I was never going to feel about boys as other girls did. But Modess's booklet helped me learn and accept without complaint the reality of being an embodied female.
Many years post-menopause after decades of unproblematic periods, I still miss the estrogen -- and remember fondly "Growing Up and Liking It."
I agree with literature expression, but I disagree with the normality and hypersexualiation of teen sex and teen sexual development. This article is a little bizarre to me, but I respect everyones right to an opinion. I simply wanted to input that I agree that teenage sexual development in fiction should be handled alot better for future generations, especially for girls as they enter into puberty.
However , I think it's ludicrous to give an underdeveloped human being that's still going through puberty and is mentally underveloped, highly emotional due to them entering the emotional phase of puberty and still figuring out who they are fictional books on teens "experimenting" with sexuality and trying to figure themselves out.
Teenage minds are like sponges and emotions tend to take the highroad over logic more than we can count at times, and defending a fictional book that has teen sex which should be really called 'child erotica'' regardless of it intent is no different than extreme liberals defending the "Gender Queer" book that was published and given out to minors regardless of parental permission.
The Gender Queer book featured gay "responsible" and "consensual" sex between 11-13 year old boys in pictures and writing as well as the normality of teen sexual curiosity. The justification of the Gender Queer book is similar to this article defense of Judy Blum books, which is "REALISTIC REPRESENTATION OF adolescent coming of age".
No matter the intent, one needs to be careful what they give to kids as it will have an affect on their still developing psyche and behavior.
I can better appreciate Judy Blum as an adult woman who can better separate fiction from reality and expectation from reality. A discussion should be had with teenagers while their young from the parent/ guardian, doctor and in some cases teachers on the realities of womanhood and what to expect when entering it, as well as sensitivity to one self as they go through it not defending or advocating for authors like Judy Blum books being given to teens.
I also wanted to correct something in this arricle. A teenager can not have a sexual awakening, even if authors, like Judy Blum writes it that way or believe they can. Sexual awakening is based on mental stability and maturity. A 20 year old and up has a sexual awakening. I had a sexual awaking in my mid 20s and was able to discen what really aroused me and the type of men I was attracted too. I was introduced to sexual literature in my teen years and made descion based on what was being told to me about sex, and it was mistakened as sexual awakening but wasn't that, it was simply an introduction to someones point of view of sex.
A teenager makes descion based on information that is taught to them. Sex being introduced to an underdeveloped human being is not a sexual awakening, but an introduction The same way a 5 year old going through precosious puberty and sees p0rn for the first time isn't a sexual awakening. Their minds are still underdeveloped, so I was disappointed in this writer of this article who placed these together.
Next, There were plenty of authors from the 70s-2000s that wrote realistic expectation of adolescent puberty and development for girls that weren't like Judy Blum and responsibly left sexual imagery out, so the teen reading it could read it and genuinely understand their bodies and relate to the characters. If a parent needs help taking to their daughters about sexuality and puberty and development and don't know where to start as well as would like for it to be introduced to them without them feeling shame. Judy Blum was simply a popular author that added sexual imagery for teens with good humour, I admit, that people weren't that use to in that timing.
Please dont rely on a fictional books but on actual child psychologists and those who study child body development, especially for girls. If we, when we were young did this and went through terrible mistakes when we were young due to this. Lets not repeat it with the future generations of girls who may not be as lucky as us.
Check out podcasts and Instagram profiles like, Defend young minds. They also have fictional books.
If you'd like to focus more on girls as they navigate into womanhood, puberty, and other mental development made easy for you and your daughters to understand.
Check out one of the best research psychologist Sarah E Hill. She's discusses things about female development, puberty, mental health, and the mental components of sex for teenage girls and women in a non judgemental way and even discusses how to normalize giving yourself and teen girls grace as a female. She's on Instagram and has many videos on YouTube.
Lets normalize adults being responsible and wisely suggesting books to teen girls that cater to their demographics but don't irresponsibly handle it like many of Judy Blum books and books like Gender Queer.
I disagree with a lot here, but I'll just stick with a factual correction - the only one of Judy Blume's juvenile fiction books that involves characters having sex is "Forever," in which the characters are high school seniors who are at or above the age of consent in their state. (I know they turn eighteen somewhere during the book, but I can't remember if they have sex before or after they're both eighteen.) You can't have "child erotica" without a child, and there's an enormous difference in development and maturity between 11-to-13-year-olds and 17-and-18-year-olds.
Hello! Thank you for respectfully disagreeing. I want to first start out by saying your statement is based on legality terms. Meaning whatever the law deems is acceptable or not. Legality doesn't always equal factuality nor reality based on science.
An 17-18 year old is still teenager and mentally, emotionally, and physically underdeveloped. That's why I said child erotica.
The law in many countries has the age of consent for adulthood and sex as low as 9 years of age. In Malysia, the age of consent is 9-10 years of age and in many Islamic countries the age of consent for sex is as low as 8 years of age. This is legal.
Legality doesn't always allign with rationality, logic, morality, reality and science. There are also books, poems, and pictures of kids being featured in that way and the defense of that is "well their doing it anyway" or "it's realistic representation". I don't deny many children go through that especially based on the cultural, societal, and family structure they were raised in, however it should be taken into caution not to capitalize on that or hypersexualize/normalize those behaviors as ok, good, normal, justifiable, or not a big deal in art.
In many books like Gender Queer and many of Judy Blum books the ages of the characters ranger from 11-17 years of age and feature sexual imagery. That's child erotica no matter what the intent was and participates in the normalization of teens being viewed as adults, normalization of blame being put on them in situations like grooming or sexual assault, children viewing themselves as old enough to participate in adult activity which is sex, mental desentivity, child on child rape, dissociation, hypersexuality or disinterest in sex in adult years as well as the struggle to bond right in adult years if proper help isn't installed. That's why I made my comment.
A 20 year old and up are actual adults . I'm not basing this on legality which is simply what the law dictates as acceptable and lawful. I'm basing that on biology. A 20 year old woman and man are adults. Their bodies are fully developed and capable to handles the complexitues of sex and the about to properly consent to it, and not just doing it to feel good.
If parents, guardians, and teachers were a little more informed. They'd talk to their kids while their young within their mental and biological maturity about sex, their bodies, and what to expect as well as encouraging them to wait until adulthood in their 20 and up so they can make the proper informed descions.
Furthermore, I also left in my comment that we should not depend on fictional authors to be the navigating guide to help girls into womanhood or be content on being girls. Fictional authors write from their point of view and intergect whether a character will experience dire consequences of their actions or not, like the book Forever in which the characters did not experience dire consequences.
We are in a tech savy age where we can find actual child and teen psychologists for free and female Psychologist that discuss the joy of entering into womanhood with humor and relatability. I suggested a research psychologist named Sarah E Hill who's on Instagram and YouTube. She has stuff for teen girls/women and discusses these things and how to remember to show yourself grace and to normalize that behavior for yourselves even if no does.
The same goes with a Instagram profile named Defend Young Minds that discusses the nesscity of talking to kids/ teens about sex and how to have age appropriate conversations with them about their bodies.
When I was a teen I was introduced to young adult books then was introduced to sexual literature and smut literature. I was allowed to do this due to my appearance of maturity, but wasn't biologically mature enough for sexual literature.
My mature appearance of behavior was simply me adapting to my environment thus giving off a mature vibe but wasn't. Now as a woman I learn from my mistakes and practing not repeating them nor letting a child imitate them or enage in what I use to do, so that as adults, they won't make descions based on desentivity, dissociation, trauma, impulsiveness disguised as normality.
They will be able to make better descions using logic, rationality, love, and compassion for people and not view them as objects for their pleasure...or they will choose as adults to do their own thing, and if they do, their responsibille for themselves and will at least have mentally ingrained life skills to fall back on.
There are some people who argue that “people’s brains aren’t mature until they’re 25, so if their brains aren’t mature, they can’t consent to sex.” We could go back and forth about what constitutes the “real” age of adulthood, but for legal purposes, there has to be some type of consensus, at least for a particular jurisdiction. I don’t think 20-year-olds are necessarily more physically developed than 18-year-olds. I had pretty much the exact same body, in terms of physical maturity - height, weight, bra size, menstrual cycle pattern - from 16 until I got pregnant at 27. People develop at different rates, but nearly everyone is done with puberty at 18, and as for emotional maturity and life skills, those things vary so much from person to person.
I was raised in a Catholic family where my mother (speaking for both herself and my father) emphasized that sex was a very serious thing and something that should wait until after marriage. “Forever” by Judy Blume actually helped convince me that teenage sex was a bad idea. Michael gave me the creeps - ugh, referring to his penis as “Ralph”! - and it struck me as so tragic that Katherine had put so much thought and emotion into the decision of whether to have sex with him, only to have the two of them break up within months. I didn’t want to be Katherine. I didn’t want to share the most intimate parts of my body with someone - to actually let him inside my body - and then realize I didn’t want to be with him forever. I’m now married and my husband is the only sexual partner I’ve ever had, and vice versa. We’re very happy.
Wonderful article and absolutely spot on. We need Judy Blume more than ever
Strange and sad that the horniness of Forever's adolescent male protagonist is now perceived as predatory. Healthy adolescent male mammals (and birds) are horndogs. That's just basic biology.
There has been a decline in testosterone levels for several decades now. Combine that with the fear of being labelled a rapist and the accessibility of porn to satisfy young men's carnal urges, they may legitimately just not be as horny anymore.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7063751/
"but this is just another way of saying that they depict heterosexuality as the norm, which. . . well, isn’t it?"
As long as the species is propagated through sexual reproduction heterosexuality better be the norm.
"The depiction of her sexual awakening, in which she is not only fully autonomous but also thoroughly enjoying herself, was groundbreaking in its own time for challenging the perception that sex for teenage girls was shameful"
It's not shameful...but it's not a good idea.
This was a refreshing article. My adolescence was pre-Judy Blume, but I would have appreciated her viewpoint, as I do now.
Loved Judy Blume - she helped me through adolescence and I will always be grateful!
"it’s ironic to see it now being canceled by progressives, who have become so relentlessly fixated on whether sex is consensual, they have evidently forgotten it’s also supposed to be fun, even thrilling."
I I Grew up in the 70's and 80's with sisters and active women's lib mother. The msg. I recall, women could make their own choices regarding sex just like men. Women were strong and could make their own decisions on when and how to enjoy sex. Implicit, with making your own decisions is you live with the results. And sometimes both men and women can wake up the next morning and regret having sex with the other person.
But that regret shouldn't be regulated or legislated into the criminal code. Women /Men don't need protection from an unsatisfying sexual encounter. You are not a victim, nor should you need counseling. (sexual assault completely different matter)
The college women of today display little of the strength and resilience of my mothers and sisters. GO JUDY BLUME
It's been my understanding the "banning" ONLY applies to school libraries and issue is age appropriate material, particularly in Grades 1-3. We had a children's section and the book " How babies are Made" by Time Life was a favorite. When I hit puberty and started babysitting, read Candy, Lolita, Peyton Place...adult books. The author of Gender Queer etc. said it was never meant for children. And if people want to buy books about homosexual positions, anything by Blume, just go to the bookstore, eBay etc. I've not heard that the books ceased to be available for purchase. My parents were conservative with me in teen years, but never said I could not read any book or listen to any music and you've completely removed the parental input, but for the pad. Our Iowa Public school gave us girls the information we would soon need. It's natural, but a bit freaky at first, but we looked forward to spurting breasts, like the older girls had. To wrap up, please do not lump everyone who attends Sunday School or those considered "conservative" in one HUGE generalization.. Look at Congress whose GOP members are always putting forth disagreements and opinions, even arguing. The look at Dems. who rarely disagree about anything and vote as a block, with little to no spoken discussion. Lastly, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the MOST LIBERAL Supreme Court Justice, for many years said Row vs Wade was a bad ruling and belonged to the states to decide, as are all issues unable to find any Constitutionl connection. Plan B is available to all, upheld by the Courts, so women can still decide. Trump said, I think rightfully, the Court has ruled and it will remain a State issue. Personally, I think 6 weeks is too short, but we know we are pregnant and have time to think, discuss by 15 weeks My State is any time. As a medical-legal license holder, and also have done patient care and asst.surguries, the times a late term abortion is done, and the baby is removed by a limb here and another limb there, it is heartbreaking. I enjoyed reading your perspective. Aloha🌺
I am with you that a ~15-week unfettered access seems pretty reasonable. Not only to give time to assess the situation, but for NIPT and other pregnancy screenings to help inform the decision. Later abortions are tragic, and I think they should only be used in extreme situations. Sadly, the abortion debate in American is run by the fringe extremes.
Loved this. Let our young women enjoy it!
Kat, I enjoyed your take on our very different times, and agree with most of what you said. One suggestion I have is to ease up on the maximalist statements that seem designed to raise opposition hackles, since they limit who you might reach.
The one significant example I found in this piece was: "a gender ideology whose first response to a pubescent girl’s anxiety about her changing body is to suggest that perhaps she’s not really a girl." Do you really believe that's their *first* response? I totally agree that gender dysphoria has taken on a contagious aspect that we need to be careful about, but this statement seems pretty hyperbolic, in a way that I think is likely to turn off people who would otherwise resonate with your message. Thanks for reading this far!
I think there is a lot of message out there that you can avoid all that icky stuff if you really are worried about it
And that is the entire problem, even girls who aren’t really confused, if they can see a way out besides thru maybe some take it without any idea of the real consequences.
All it takes then is browbeaten “gender affirming” care and it’s too late to fix.
So, Pat, do I understand you that you agree with Kat's statement, and think that this is often the first line of questioning from progressives, without an openness to more standard sources of anxiety?
For activists, yes of course.
For the average progressive, who can say. As progressives are mostly terminally depressed and suicidal, everything they do tears their kids apart.
Progressive parents should come with a warning.
Great piece Kat
My girls are 14 and 17
Just a quick clarification: Sex makes babies. I don't know if anyone else realizes this. That's why people should not be having sex before marriage. If you're not ready to have children, you're not ready for the activity that brings them about.
Objector: "Oh, but that's why we have artificial birth control, you monster."
Reply: Abortion, gay marriage, transgenderism, IVF, surrogacy, crypto-eugenicism, and, in general, the capitalist commodification of the human body.
Brilliant!
I'm a generation older, but well remember "Growing Up and Liking It," a pre-Blume Modess (sanitary napkin) publication distributed by schools. It provided practical advice and reassurance; "and liking it" was a meaningful part of the booklet.
http://www.mum.org/guli64.htm
I was an athletic tomboy who matured into a lesbian; bleeding between my legs monthly was not cause for happy excitement, and -- good press or bad -- I was never going to feel about boys as other girls did. But Modess's booklet helped me learn and accept without complaint the reality of being an embodied female.
Many years post-menopause after decades of unproblematic periods, I still miss the estrogen -- and remember fondly "Growing Up and Liking It."
Beautiful. A must read. Many thanks.