Guess what I got for Christmas? A used copy of Dr. Dobson's What Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew About Women. I realize my in-laws were trying to be helpful, but this book is the biggest pile of shit imaginable. It contains all the stereotypes about how men are good at math and women are good at talking, men are turned on visually and women are turned on by romance, etc. It contains the usual criticisms of radical feminists (we're angry!). Before writing this book Dr. Dobson surveyed 5,000 church women at various church functions in order to determine the major problems women face in marriage. So right away, you can see how this book is fundamentally flawed. Of course the women he surveyed cite self-esteem as the biggest source of marital discord. When your life is reduced to being a helpmeet*, when you're told your purpose is to help somebody else fulfill their dreams, of course you're going to feel worthless. It's possible that this book would be useful for somebody who isn't me. However, a far more useful exercise than reading this book would be to divorce your husband, kill your children, and practice witchcraft throw out archaic and inaccurate notions of what men and women can or should be and start over. This book tries to fix the problems the patriarchy creates with an extra dose of patriarchy. It makes no sense.

*The idea of a helpmeet has always baffled me. There are a lot of obviously talented and brilliant women out there. Were all those women created by god to be helpmeets regardless? Because a lot of women have talents that aren't suitable to that way of life. Or are only mediocre women supposed to be helpmeets? The world would be a very different place if Lynn Margulis had been a housewife, for example. And the idea just totally breaks down when talking about homosexual relationships.

Bridal Shower!

Not for me, for Sara(h), my brother's fiance. They're getting married in Alaska this summer, and we're having a bridal shower for her on January 2nd. You're all welcome to come, meet Eric's fiance, and entertain me. :) You might get to meet Laura too, I'm going to try to drag her along.

It'll be in the Rapids area.. I think in Kellner. Let me know if you're interested & I'll get you the info. I'd post it here but in all of the packing-for-the-big-move craziness, the invite wound up in a random box.. somewhere.

Tis The Season

In honor of my sister's birthday (which I have not been present for with her since she turned 15), I am flying to Milwaukee tomorrow.

During the week of Christmas, I will be at my parents' place in Rudolph, and that weekend, I am going back to Milwaukee to catch my 8:30 am flight back to SFO.

When will you be back in ol' Whiskey Rapids?

After doing a bit of reading and a bit of thinking, I've come around to agree more with children's rights activists. On the one hand, kids need to be taught how to be full human beings. On the other hand, they are already humans with thoughts and feelings and rights of their own. In general, we like to treat children as property with no right to bodily integrity or conscience. In some cases we do this because they are not old enough to make informed decisions. In some cases we do this because we don't really think about what we're doing. And in some cases we do this because we want to enforce our will, whether or not it is in the child's best interest. And because children are property, unless a parent does something really, really awful, it's supposed to be nobody's business what you do to your kids. In fact, most people will think you're a ginormous asshole for daring to suggest that a parent has done something wrong.

Actually, there is one special case in which you are allowed to interfere with the parenting decisions of other people. If you're a Christian you're allowed to convert other people's kids without their consent.