Tuesday, August 23, 2005

it's called LABOR for a reason

A Perilous Journey From Delivery Room to Bedroom - New York Times

over at Bitch, Phd elise points to one of the most ridiculous articles i've ever seen: giving birth is traumatic for men. there are so many things wrong with this piece my brain is sputtering.

here's a nugget:

"I mean," he went on, "how are you supposed to go from seeing that to wanting to be with ... ?" He stopped, but his eyes kept asking the question.

"Right," I said. "It gets easier with time, for just about everyone."

Although no one seems to talk publicly about the problem, Josh is only one of dozens of men who have confided to me that witnessing the births of their children has made it difficult for them to be attracted to their wives, at least in the short run.

They seem to have trouble seeing them as sexual beings after seeing them make babies, trouble reverting to a mind-set in which their wives' sexual anatomy is just that - not associated with images of new life emerging through the birth canal."

is it just me or are we, as a culture, utterly incapable of thinking about women in ways other than sexualized?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

No, it's not just you.

One of my favorite bits from the article is about how these men lament the loss of the mystery...of the birthing process.

Excuse f#@!*ing me? What? "Mystery"?!?

"MYSTERY"?!

Are we sure these traumatized men aren't from beyond the grave, from a 1940s film noir or something?
Mystery! Jesus, I find that offensive.

Maybe I just won't change the baby's diapers. I don't want to ruin the mystery of the defecation process. I wouldn't want to be repulsed by my child. I mean, how would I ever get that image out of my head?

Anonymous said...

As a guy yet to have a wife let alone children and having come out of a "conservative" church, I find all your comments extremely enlightening. Well done.

Delia Christina said...

well, thanks, damien.
'preciate you stopping by.