Boy…this has been a great week for setting women back half a century, hasn’t it? Well, the following will either have you seething or perhaps cheering, depending on where you stand.

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Last weekend, in Tampa, while walking home from the popular pirate-themed Gasparilla Festival parade, a 21 yr old University of South Florida student was grabbed off the sidewalk, dragged behind a building and raped.

When the young woman contacted authorities, officers took her to a rape crisis center where she was given the first of two doses of the morning-after pill. The second dose is supposed to be taken within 24 hours. (to clarify… these are essentially double doses of birth control pills that are used to prevent egg implantation in the uterus, not the controversial RU486 abortion pill)

Later the police asked her to show them where the rape occurred. While driving in the police cruiser, police were notified that the victim had an outstanding warrant involving failure to pay restitution for a crime she committed as a juvenile (the victim’s mother has stated that the warrant was due to a clerical error). Right then and there, the rape investigation was completely stopped and the victim was taken to jail.

As if being raped and then jailed were not bad enough, while in police custody, she was also denied a second necessary dose of emergency contraception by a nurse who allegedly stated it was against her religious beliefs. The police refused to release the victim and she remained jailed until her attorney contacted the media.

After her story was broadcast across the country, the Tampa Police department helped her get before a judge so she could be released on bail. My, how very generous of them. The Tampa Police Dept. is in the process of revising it’s protocol for dealing with crime victims with outstanding warrants. Too little, too late, assholes.

I’m disgusted. This young woman was victimized not once but twice and then to add insult to injury, now she stands a chance of being pregnant by her attacker because someone insisted that their personal religious views should supersede their job description. You know what I have to say to that nurse?

When YOU get raped, YOU don’t have to take the emergency contraception! Keep your personal beliefs off of other people’s bodies and do your job!

Naturally, the police and the nurse are disputing the victim’s claim but she stands by her allegation. Of course they’re disputing it. They’re facing a potential lawsuit. Personally, I’ve heard enough horror stories about the TPD that I believe her. I hope the nurse gets fired and I hope the girl sues the pants off of all of them.

Read the news story here.

PS: If you use Internet Explorer and can’t see my right sidebar, would you please let me know either in the comments or via email? They don’t make any version of IE that will run on my computer so I can’t see it for myself. Thanks in advance.

PPS: If you can see my sidebar then you may have noticed the button for the “Share the Love” blog awards. My blog was nominated in the “Woman Power - Best Representative of Women” category for which I am thrilled. Since I frequently write in support of women and girls, I don’t feel tacky asking you to consider casting a vote for IzzyMom. If you want to. And you think I’m worthy. And if you do, just go here and find that category to cast your vote. Thank you :)

Okay, maybe they didn’t insult a frillion mothers by equating them with drunken babysitters this time but don’t worry, the Today Show still managed to insult females in general.

Did anyone happen to catch the Today Show on Monday 1/29? While the hosts were doing that lame stand-in-the-street and chit chat routine, I believe it was Ann Curry who remarked (in a voice over) on an upcoming segment about the merits of learning to build this one particular type of model airplane.

And I quote:

“That’s a great thing to have your little boys learn how to do…because what a great study in physics and mechanics. I mean that’s a pretty fun thing.”

Yeah, anything related to physics and mechanics is definitely a boys activity because you know, math and science are, like, hard. Boys are just better at all that smart stuff anyway…

Thanks a lot, Ann.

(If you’re looking for the cocktail playdates post, click here)

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It’s Perfect Post Time!

I awarded today’s Perfect Post to Wordgirl for her post “One Thing“. I loved Wordgirl’s account of her husband’s happy, carefree way of experiencing day-to-day life. For me it’s a reminder that each day is special, no matter how mundane it may feel.

Check out all the other Perfect Post’s over at Suburban Turmoil and Petroville.

By now you may have seen or heard about the Today Show segment about moms who have a cocktail or other alcoholic libation (as in ONE) while attending or hosting a playgroup. Featured was author and mother Stefanie Wilder-Taylor in the first part where she states, and I paraphrase, that making an issue of the aforementioned partaking of an alcoholic beverage at a playdate is just another way for women to judge women. I agree. Mothers are held to a totally different standard than anyone else.

The second part of the segment involved Meredith Vieira interviewing Melissa Summers of Suburban Bliss and Janet Taylor, a guest “expert” on something or other. My honest, trying-to- be-objective opinion is that Vieira and the “expert” pretty much ganged up on Summers and more or less demonized her with hardly an opportunity for her to clarify her points.

I totally got what Summers was saying and I thought Viera was rather unprofessional with her leading trick questions and obvious bias and when Vieira ask Melissa if she would be okay with her babysitter drinking while watching her kids, I was floored. That was clearly designed to make Melissa squirm while attempting to answer a question that falls squarely into the “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” category.

I played the segment for my husband and we were both snickering at the “expert” and her premise that imbibing in front of the kids will set a bad example because we both recalled numerous occasions here in our home when we had alcohol in the presence of our children because hello? Do you really think we would host a small party for 6-7 adults and an assload of our collective children without some alcoholic beverages?

Additionally, Husband and I both recalled our childhoods in the seventies where alcohol was pretty much a staple. My husband’s parents even had a cocktail hour every evening where the whole family would hang outside at a large table with the neighbors and all the adults had a drink. And let me tell you, there is not a more normal, well-adjusted, loving, stable, non-dysfunctional family on the planet than my husband’s.

I remember that beer was consumed by my father, IN MY PRESENCE, at the watching of most football games and certainly while BS-ing with the neighbors after a hot afternoon of yard-working, car-washing or garage-cleaning. And bearing in mind that this was the seventies, beer was always consumed while we were out on the boat and cocktails started at about 3pm when we went to my grandma’s house. Both of my parents drank freely in the presence of myself and my older sister and I would never classify either of them as having been alcoholics or problem drinkers.

What really chafed my ass the most, however, was the subtext that mothers are *and should be* held to a higher, stricter standard. The responsibility of being tee-totaling paragons of virtue instead of actual human beings is on OUR shoulders while our husbands can, as my pop used to say, “crack a cool one” while watching the game at home OR purchase alcohol and drink it without any stigma at a sporting event, and have a drink after work or basically any damn time they want to, regardless of the presence of children.

I call BULLSHIT! on all of it and I applaud Stefanie for being so direct with her opinion and I applaud Melissa for holding her own while being attacked, however politely, by both Vieira and the guest “expert.”

Oh, and in case you assume that my husband and I must be big lushes because of our views on this hot-button issue, I can assure you, unequivocally, that we’re not. We drink very infrequently, mostly because we’ll fall asleep after one of anything unless we’re entertaining or at someone else’s house (and that’s only because it’s kind of impolite to be snoring and drooling when you have company or snoring and drooling on other people’s sofas.)

You can watch the Today Show segment here. Click the button that says “Launch”

And I’m sorry to say I will probably never, ever get to be a ClubMom blogger now because if my memory serves me, Meredith Vieira is part owner of that fine internet presence. Well, at least I’m in damn good company…

P and I were in the ladies room of the public library waiting for TQ to use the bathroom. While waiting, a woman came in with her daughter who was about 8 or 9 yrs old. She ushered the daughter into the empty stall and then stood outside peeking through the crack in the door, essentially WATCHING HER PEE, the entire time.

At first I thought she was speaking a foreign language that I didn’t recognize but then I realized she was just talking really, really fast. The only parts I could accurately decipher were her repeatedly telling the girl, “Come on, hurry up, let’s go”, all the while watching her through the crack.

The girl looked very uncomfortable when she came out. We made eye contact and I smiled at her. Then her mother glowered at me like I was Satan’s handmaiden and proceeded to further micromanage the girl’s handwashing while telling her to…you guessed it…HURRY UP. WTH?

When TQ was done and we all exited the bathroom, I saw that they were in the kids area and the girl was looking at books while her mom flipped through a magazine.

Where’s the fricken fire, lady? You rushed (and spied on) your daughter the whole time she was peeing and washing her hands so you could read a magazine?

When we were in the car, TQ told me she recognized the lady as an aide from her school.

That wacko works with kids???

Am I the only one who thinks the freaky pee-watching mother was beyond weird and possibly bordering on abusive?

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From my Six Year Old…100% unprompted:

“They should call Wal-Mart “Skidmark” instead. You know, like dirty underwear.”

My loathing of our local Wal-Mart may have influenced her a tad…

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From my Six Year Old to My Husband:

You’re the Dad of Rock! Put on some punk rock. Or some jungle. C’mon Daddy!

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I Talk in My Sleep:

“I’m bored off my ass. I fucking hate this.”

Apparently, I also swear like a sailor when I’m talking in my sleep…

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Word most totally guaranteed to make my son burst into a fit of giggles even though I’m certain he doesn’t know what it means:

BUTTCAKE!

Because I thought it was National De-lurking Week. You know, where you come out of hiding to say hello to the writers whose blogs you lurk upon but never leave comments. I’d love it if people would delurk but hey…no pressure :)

So…you’re probably wondering about I Hate Breastfeeders Day. Well, I only asked because I got three obnoxious comments today on older posts about breastfeeding and two, both from the same person, were extremely antagonistic and bizarre.

This could be a joke but I replied via email and they still haven’t bounced back so the email address used by “Sean” is valid and thus it’s possible this person is serious, as well as ignorant and crazy. Either way it takes a hell of a nerve to post such a diatribe. It’s just too bad the loser doesn’t have a blog he’d like to share with us.

I’ve posted this nutbar’s priceless comments below so you can behold the madness for yourself…

Wackotastic comment # 1 from “Sean” of Hayward, California, copied verbatim:

Hi…i just wanna say that i happen to be 100%against breastfeeding in public, i find this act to be revolting and sexually obscene. Public breastfeeding is a primative behaviour which shows that we are not much different than Animals, we as a society needs to stop abandoning common sense that public breastfeeding is indecent behaviour and quit looking at this whole issue as womens rights political correctness Bull****. The trouble with our society is that its too liberal, we live in a liberal free society that teaches us as a new generation to be rude and impolite and to make it ok to be rude and impolite which is what public breastfeeding is. A liberal society is miseducating a new generation to socially accept this indecent, lowclass, primative behaviour to where we are becoming more like ignorant savages and plus lose a civilized society with no moral values. These liberal womens rights lactivist are doing everything they can to indoctrinate a new generation in the 21th century of the bad ways which we should look at as social mores. Lactivist are a poison to this country and they set a bad example for all breastfeedingstay-at-home-moms, the ideal traditional conservative breastfeeding mother, usually stays at home with her children to breastfeed, or to show some class by breastfeeding her baby in a restaurant bathroom to show some honor and respect for all restaurant customers.

Read more »

Friends and passersby, I give you what is quite possibly the stupidest (and most sexist) ad EVER made. And the soundtrack? OMG. It’s bad.

Seriously, you HAVE to watch this 1970’s TV commercial for Tab, if only to hear them say “be a mindsticker.”

In fact, I should have saved this one for WTF Wednesday because I can’t even believe women were ever marketed to like this. Ughhhh!

Behold…

You can also watch it by clicking here

One never knows what will turn up here on WTF Wednesdays and this week is no different! My first find is someting no fan should be without… The Celebrity Buttplug! Yes, they really exist. No, I’m not kidding. They have these mildy amusing names like Parass Hilton and George Dubya Tush but frankly, they don’t look very comfortable. I guess sitting on the President’s head is an acquired taste…

Now, I’m not making fun of the ‘roids because seriously, I’ve never quite recovered from the ones I got giving birth but this stuff is just too damn funny. Hemo Roll is toilet paper for hemhorroids, whether you have them or “as a preventive measure.” Huh? You can prevent the ‘roids by using a special toilet paper? Why the hell didn’t anyone tell me this 18 months ago????

In any case, your guests will no doubt be thanking you profusely for stocking your powder room with this stuff. And guys? I can assure you the ladies will be swooning when they see that you care enough to buy them Hemo Roll, with an “herb micro-layer of an extract from oak bark, marigold and common yarrow, with easeful effects on rectum”. Mmmmhmm.

And that concludes your WTF Wednesday update. But do you remember when I mentioned going out for drinks the other night with Sarah, Wendy, Bridgette and Becky?

Here are a few pix of the blessed event:

No, I cannot keep my tongue in my mouth.
If you went to BlogHer ‘06, you may already know this :)

< ---- This is obviously a kid's toy, right? They were selling it on Amazon.com but now, all traces of it have been removed. Apparently we Americans are extremely puritanical, extremely immature or a mixture of the two. Either way, I think the WTF-ness of this one speaks for itself, no? lol (Thanks Karen!)

This one isn’t so funny. When you get to the site, click on “Catalogue”. Definitely check out the on to the right called Autumn/Winter. Take a good long look around and then tell me…is it just me or is this shit unsettling? Use the contact form to tell them what you think if you are so inclined. I did.

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And look what Vicky from the Mummy Chronicles sent me this morning for When is MY Day Off?

Thank you, Vicky! You made my day :)