Equality and Differences

The debated surrounding access to healthcare products and reproductive choice has jumped from a question of religious liberty to one of sexual liberation and sluts over the last few weeks.

Democrats have responded to the atrocious attack on women's rights by attaching rectal riders to abortion ultrasound bills and hairy palm reduction amendments to so-called personhood bills to "prove a point." (Mind you this is because we have Republicans seriously putting forth forced ultrasounds for women seeking legal medical procedures and the codification of religious doctrine in states' legal codes.)

I believe the reactions don't make sense. Men and Women must have equal protections under the law. However, men and women are different. These games being played belittle the harassment being put forth by the right under the thinly veiled name of religious freedom or whatever else they are calling it today.

While these masturbation prohibitions and pre-Viagra-Rx prostate exam regulations attract a whole hell of a lot of media attention, they don't address the issue. I get that without the glaring light of public outcry these horrific bills will be come laws, but is joking about this the only way to do it?

The power of social media and the nearly unbearably divided nation should give to some powerful outcry. There is time for jest, but I have trouble with this being that time.

The Best Gift of All

My friend Saint Tigerlily paid me a very big compliment today: She called me the only true male feminist she knows. While I am sure she knows quite a few true males, ones of the feministic variety are truly hard to come by these days.

But there are those who try. And especially in this season of giving and joy, it would make sense that people want to look out for one another. We want to show that we care, that men can be in touch with both their feminine side and still take care of their responsibilities. The good folks at CBS Cares wanted to prove that there are just a few men out there who understand, who get it.



Yup that is right; men know when it is best for “their women” to get lady tests done.

Here are the main reasons I was paid this compliment; in our conversation about this unreal video I brought these points:

1. If a woman delivered this message, saying something to the effect of “give yourself a gift of good health this Chanukah and schedule your lady test” it would have been fine and a very smart PSA.
2. The fact that a man is using the possessive —“your woman” — to describe your wife, girlfriend or partner (whatever you may call that person in your life) is as if he was saying: “At this time of year it is good to check your anti-freeze, your smoke detector batteries and your woman’s good parts, because CBS Cares.”
3. DUDE THE CREAM CHEESE REFERENCE IS JUST NOT COOL.

Come on folks! Aren’t we past this kind of pejorative sexist crap? I suppose the entire point is to get men to the point that they would be comfortable speaking to “their women” about female health issues such as cervical cancer. But this isn’t the way to go about it.

Women should have control of their bodies. Men should not tell women what to do with their bodies. (Yeah I am I am talking about that too but we are going to stick to busting on the YouTube thing and leave abortion for another day.)

In the end I suppose more people are talking about cervical cancer, but they aren’t having bagels with shmear anytime soon.

(H/T Jewschool)

~$105.00

“Now you will have something to blog about,” said my lovely wife as we waited to take the turn in the Emergency Room parking lot at 8:25 pm on Sunday. My response at the time was heavily influenced by my lack of hydration. “I will never blog about this.”

After four hours in the ER in Southern New Jersey and a few days of felling pretty much like death-hung-over I decided it was time to find a teachable moment here within my food poising. Once again, my lovely wife was right.

Here is the timeline:

Friday night – Eat Evil Food Never to be Consumed Again
Saturday morning – Feel not so hot; consume Gater-aid and pepto and hope for the best as we leave to go to our friend’s wedding in South Jersey.
Saturday night – Attend rehearsal dinner; feeling a bit better; ate stupid food for my condition, goes way down hill very fast
Sunday morning – Sick like dog
Sunday afternoon – Get ready for wedding; a sudden and dramatic change in condition that makes me worried
Sunday night – Condition unchanged; Go to Hospital
Sunday night/Monday EARLY morning – Enjoy two lovely bags of IV drip, get tests taken, find out not much, given meds, sent to Pharmacy, get drugs, go back to hotel and sleep.
Monday – SICK, travel back to NYC, sit on couch, sleep
Tuesday – SICK, see doc, he said ER was right
Wednesday – Back to something that could be considered human

Ok, now you know what happened. Needless to say it was a tough few days.

(Quick sidebar: My wife was 100% supportive, holding my hand when it sucked (it sucked a lot), laughed at my really pathetic jokes, made me feel better and helped me make the right choices about the care I needed throughout this process and I would have been totally screwed without her help. Thank you honey.)

I am blessed to have a great job where I am challenged every day, where I have to work hard, think in and outside the box and a lot is demanded of me both personally and professionally. However in exchange for this commitment my employer has supplied me with, among other things, fantastic health insurance.

This insurance that I got because I work for a fantastic company, allows me to walk into any ER when I need to go and get treated with a co-pay of $60. I was prescribed two sets of pills each costing $10 and were filled right away at 1:45 am on Monday. I saw my Doctor on Tuesday for $25. After not being able to eat or drink for two days, I was treated in two facilities, was given what I needed and now I am on the track to being healthy again for a grand total of about $105.

If I didn’t work for a fantastic company, I would be broke now, possibly in debt for years. But I am not because I have a wonderful job and a fantastic company.

So we reinforce in my story, the story of a very well off young white man who ate some very evil food and got what he needed quickly and manageable cost, the need for a national healthcare system. The care I received should not be a privilege of my job, my status or my checkbook.

I am so lucky to have been in the situation I was after eating the evil food. Who knows what would have happened if I was one of the millions of people out of work across this country when I made a poor choice for dinner.

So all five of you reading this blog: the time is now to act. Call you people in DC and demand action. There can be no more excuses from the right wing nuts jobs. Stand up to the stupidity and demand a reasonable, logical and useful healthcare system in our country. The President called upon Congress tonight and I call upon all five of you now.