Plan B is the equivalent of an F - Failure

Crossposted from A Work In Progress - (Yes Villager, Alaine does post). As always, she takes mindshare.

Plan B?

The morning-after pill -- made by Duramed, a subsidiary of Barr Pharmaceuticals -- is intended to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex. It works by stopping ovulation and decreasing the chances that a fertilized egg will attach to the uterus. When used within 72 hours of unprotected sex, it can lower the risk of pregnancy by almost 90 percent, the maker says.

The casual nature surrounding the Plan B pill is extremely interesting to me. The pill will be available to "women age 17 and older" the FDA announced today. What child do you know classifies as a woman at age 17. I'm not even opening the conversation for true debate - I'm really just reflecting on what I know to be the case. Every memory of being 17 reminds me that 17 year olds are not women - they are children in more mature bodies. When I look around at the family members, church members, neighbors and friends who are 17, they too are not women. Young women in training maybe, but do we want Plan B to be part of their educational process?

For the most part, we're talking about young people who still rely on their parents for food, clothing and shelter. When, and if they work, they earn what my mother used to affectionately call "play money." Even when I worked as a young "woman" I wasn't responsible for my living expenses and upkeep, I was really just offsetting the tremendous expenses I was incurring. When I look at who I dated, the decisions I made and the person I thought I wanted to be - I realize that I have evolved into a much different person. Thank God. Instead of allowing young girls the time, space and ability to evolve into who they aspire to be, we have created a society that believes fast and easy is the answer for everything. And we're producing a generation of fast. and easy.

Planned Parenthood and every group that supports them may very well consider this a victory, which is a sad commentary on our evolution as a society and a community anyway. The real concern that I have, however, rests with the false premises associated with pseudo abortion as a family planning method. Since when does someone who doesn't qualify as an adult in any other context become woman enough to obtain medical treatment without parental consent? At 17 I had already graduated from high school, started college and moved into my "higher education experience". At that time I couldn't get an antibiotic without using the insurance card that was directly tied to the medical coverage my mother paid for. Allergy medicine required authorization. How in the world do we go from that to Plan B.

I surely wish we'd write more articles about Plan A. I imagine Plan B, Plan C and Plan D could have many alternatives other than the "Oops pill." Oops I shouldn't have had unprotected sex, so let me ingest an emergency (cough) contraception (cough) pill (cough), so that I don't have any of the consequences. If we continue to believe that the only damage done by poor judgment is physical, we are doing a disservice to the young ladies we are bringing up as the next generation. We have authored and labeled alternatives as if we are oblivious to the historical, cultural, societal, personal, emotional and financial implications of the choices being made. I know that someone will write, or think, its a woman's choice. I dare say, we aren't talking about women at all. This isn't a choice in my book - plan B offers more stunted growth in decision making. No wonder we can't problem solve or plan strategically, from an early age we're taught that there are no consequences to our choices.

We live in an oversexed society that trains young girls from birth that their value is tied to their sexuality and virtue, or lack thereof. When they are tweens we are preparing them for being teens. The new teen looks like the equivalent of your average 20 something - with less fashion taste, and even less sense. We try to make it better by saying that 17 year olds are women and spouting about their rights. With rights come responsibility, and I don't see very many children at age 17 being ready for all of those either. What can we expect of the women we are raising, when Plan B is covered in the media like something to celebrate as a culture. Plan A could be Abstinence. or Adoption. or Academics. or Athletics. or Aspirations. or the ability to actually grow up.

A better name for Plan B would be Plan F - we keep failing our girls.

Islam & the West: there is a cultural divide

Hat Tip: Booker Rising

Ayaan Hirsi Ali's op-ed piece in the New York Times highlights recent incidents in the Islamic world that underscore the deep divide between Islamic values, as applied in Islamic countries, and western values.

Her op-ed piece focuses on two recent high profile cases: the British teacher who allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad and the Saudi government's imprisonment and intended caning of a rape victim. These two cases highlight what I think is a tremendous cultural divide between muslims and westerners who are predominantly Christian. People often refute critiques of Islam by saying that what we observe in these instances is not really what Islam is about. I beg to differ. These responses are what we see in in the heart of Islamic countries where the faith is practiced by the majority of people. So I just don't buy the argument that this isn't how the faith is expected to be practiced by its adherents. Ayaan Hirsi Ali in her op-ed piece asks the question, "where are the moderates?". I wonder if they exist at all.

Because here is the thing. When we hear about incidents like the muslim woman gang raped and then thrown in jail, I keep waiting for outrage to break out across the muslim community in response. I never see it. Maybe I'm not tapped into the right news, blog or web sources, that could be. I never see an outcry or a sense of horror at these incidents from the muslim community. Seeing no response, I'm left with the impression that this is considered a reasonable outcome, an expected, even desired outcome. The Kingdom practices the active suppression of its female citizens. And the Islamic faith writ large seems to agree. How could we think otherwise, when Saudi Arabia is the site of the holiest places in the Islamic world? Every year, millions make pilgrimage to Mecca. This is the place where muslims go to renew their faith, yea to fulfill one of the very tenets of their faith. Why should I not draw the inference from that that the muslim world considers this response to be completely in line with their faith? By the way, its interesting to note that the woman and the man she was found with were both raped and were both imprisoned and sentenced to caning. There is a divide here. I don't think its one that can be crossed.

Black Women First in Line to Sell Out Obama?

Poll: Black support helps Clinton extend lead - CNN.com CNN put out poll results today which indicate that more blacks are supporting Clinton than Obama, with black women seemingly leading the charge. According to the poll;

Among black registered Democrats overall, Clinton had a 57 percent to 33 percent lead over Obama. That's up from 53 percent for Clinton and 36 percent for Obama in a poll carried out in April. The 26-point difference between black women and men underscores the fact that the nation's vote is divided not only by race, but also by gender, said CNN political analyst Bill Schneider. "Black women don't just vote their black identity," he said. "They also vote their identity as women." The former first lady's strongest support among blacks came from black women, 68 percent of whom identified her as their likely choice, versus 25 percent who cited Obama.

I've done my own informal polling of sisters and much to my dismay, I find many of them wanting to go with Hillary. They are voting their gender and I guess they are going to rejoice when and if Hillary wins the nomination and/or the presidency. They express lack luster interest in Obama. They seem to think that Hillary is going to have their back. I find it very hard to understand. Somehow, 68% of black women figure that Hillary (who's top advisor will be Bill) is going to have their back more than Obama (MARRIED to an educated, accomplished, sho nuff sister that epitomizes the kind of baller many sisters aspire to be) who will have a black woman advising him every day about policy issues.

We supported the cracked out DC mayor, we cheered when OJ won, we lift up the race hustler, media hog preachers Jesse & Sharpton on the regular, but Obama cannot get any love from the sisters of America? This brother is a fine example of everything brothers in America should be doing. Michelle Obama as the First Lady will be a beautiful light for all the little black girls of America and a First Lady's power is very real. This accomplished brother who is DEMONSTRATING his respect for black women by being married, monogamous, raising the children and taking care of the family he created together with a black woman is being rejected by 68% of them. Obama is doing the right thing by a black woman RIGHT NOW, which I think makes a good case that he will do the right thing by black women as President. But 68% of the sisters can't give him no love? Cause they think he won't have their back, but Hillary will?

What is wrong with this picture?

The Trouble with Rudy

Giuliani Meets High Expectations - Yahoo! News

Ross Kaminsky, a writer for Yahoo News opines on Rudy Giuliani:

"Seeing Rudy in the room of supporters of which half were women reinforced my opinion that Giuliani has the best prospects among suburban women, soccer moms, and single women because of his focus on security and his ability to couch deep political principle in language that relates well to just getting things done in every day life. The women were at least as interactive with him and as engaged by his answers as the men. Rudy simply does not come across as the same generic power-seeking white-collar male as the other candidates do."

Uhhh, I don't think so. Here's the trouble with Rudy. I'll grant that right now, Rudy looks good. I like him. I like that his thinking appears to be very pragmatic. But we are still quite early. And while Ross seems to think Rudy's got a good shot with women, I think its an achille's heel issue. The conventional logic says that women will vote for the alpha male protector Giuliani as exemplified by his 9/11 image because they want security and to be protected. I'm starting to think this is a lot of wishful male analysis. Because over and over the women I know or talk with (an unrepresentative sample to be sure) count him out with contempt. However favorable their opinion of his 9/11 leadership may be, I've yet to see it outweigh their judgment of a man who moved his mistress into the Mayor's mansion and who's children have nothing to do with him. That says volumes to woman on a score of issue points they care about as well.