Really, Macy’s? Surely Miss Purple was thin enough without disappearing her torso entirely?
Category: Ladybusiness
Cutting Edge: The Virgin Daughters
I’ve been reading a lot of fundamentalist Christian blogs lately, and one of the things that has especially bothers me is the purity pledge phenomenon. The fathers promise to protect their daughters’ hymens until the girls are married, at which point ownership of the daughter is transferred from father to husband. The girls–some of them just 5-6 years old–must promise to abstain from sex until marriage. There is, of course, no corresponding ceremony for mothers and sons, because boys have no responsibility to remain pure. The girls must not only police their own sexuality, but that of the males as well. If the boys stray, it’s the girls’ fault, because girls are all dirty dirty whores deep down inside. It’s “she was asking for it” with a fundie twist.
Anyway, romantic dates with dad? O gross!
WTF Glade?
Call me silly, but doesn’t this remind you of something? Like, maybe a female pelvis? With a strategically placed button that, when pressed, emits an apple- and cinnamon-scented burst of olfactory delight?
That Is Not What I Do
Not a Pretty Girl by Ani Difranco
This song came up on the magical iPod during my drive home. Years ago, one of my student employees introduced me to Ani Difranco, and this song in particular was like a kick in the stomach. It was the first time I ever thought about femininity as something we perform. It’s something we’re taught to do, not something innate.
There’s a lot of feminist theory to unpack in the song–indeed, it could serve as a Feminism 101 primer–but that’s the part that jumped out and grabbed me this afternoon.
Dear Mitch Daniels
Mitch Daniels, grossly over-estimating the size of his shriveled little heart
Dear Mitch Daniels,
I’ve long suspected that you were even smaller on the inside than you are on the outside, and today you’ve proved it. Planned Parenthood is many women’s only access to health care. And now you’re doing your best to make sure they don’t have even that.
Every time I see a photo of your smug, self-righteous face, I get angry, because it reminds me that men are still in control of women’s bodies. You will never, EVER become pregnant, so you will never, EVER have to decide whether or not YOU should have an abortion. So what makes you think you are at all qualified to make that decision for one woman, much less hundreds of thousands of us? What makes you think it’s your place to ensure that women–many of whom voted for you, for some unfathomable reason–will not receive basic health care? Care that can and does save women’s lives? How many women’s death warrants did you sign today, with one sweep of your pen? What have women done to you, to deserve that? Nothing, of course, except to be born women.
You’re a malicious, misogynist, malignant cancer on the ass of humanity.
Maternity Girdles
Yes, maternity girdles. The mind, it wobbles!
From: Bookmiller, Mae M. and George L. Bowen. Textbook of obstetrics and obstetric nursing. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1949.
Having Spoke in Vain
Unseen maids wait
Where shame late fled
Oh righteous sword
Brave boaster
Go once more
Thy rage bids thee
Fall upon the field
Forc’d, entranc’d, dissolv’d away
Having spoke in vain
This is another found poem from Alexander Pope’s translation of Homer’s Iliad. This one is in response to a new round of rageful comments from the ubiquitous misogynists that feminist blogs tend to attract. And then there were a couple of instances this week, at work, when one of my male coworkers asked me a question and then proceeded to talk LOUDLY over me while I tried to answer him. It was one of those soul destroying sort of weeks when I wonder why I bother.
Fig. 266
Fig. 266.–Breast, Abdominal and Vulvar Bandage in use at the New York Maternity Hospital.
The woman’s stay in bed should be prolonged as long as possible–it should be absolute for the first six days. It is only at the end of this time that we allow the bed to be re-made. The woman should be carried to another bed […] Thereafter the bed should be changed every two to three days. She should remain in bed at least three weeks, often longer, than less […] At the end of this time, she may be allowed to change to a sofa or a reclining chair. Only at the end of the thirtieth day will we allow her to walk, and only at the end of the fifth week should she resume her household duties. She should not venture out before the sixth week. […] When the woman leaves her bed, we allow her to wear corsets, but we insist on an abdominal supporter being also worn for at least six weeks. This is particularly important in women who are very stout, and in those who have borne many children, since the abdominal walls have lost more of their elasticity.
Charpentier, Dr. A., Cyclopaedia of obstetrics and gynecology: anatomy of the internal and external genitals, menstruation and fecundation, normal pregnancy and labor, being volume one of A practical treatise on obstetrics. New York: William Wood & Company, 1887.
And no wonder! She has been wrapped in swaddling clothes and confined to her bed for weeks on end. I’ll spare you the details of the bandages, what they’re comprised of, their changing, and the antiseptic douches. I wouldn’t want to give anyone nightmares.
Old OB/GYN Books
Some of these are going to be torn up for collage work. One of them might be a candidate for altering. The two big ones are old enough that I might leave them intact. They’re not at all valuable, but they’re kind of interesting.
Cross-Section of the Female Body (Pregnant)
Cross-Section of the Female Body (Pregnant) Plate K
Burrage, Walter L. Gynecological diagnosis. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1910.
I bought a couple of super cheap Victorian gynecological texts. This is a plate from one of them. The link above is to the full-text of the book, including a pdf containing all 200+ illustrations.
red paper boat 