Hectic Day News Roundup

A little bit of weekend news you won't want to miss: Talon News to close in wake of Gannon/Guckert scandal. Couldn't happen to more deserving folks.

Our hypocrisy knows no bounds: US state department criticizes Saudi Arabia and Russia in annual human rights report.

Respect thy elders: Oral History saves island inhabitants from Tsunami. Snip: "SIMEULUE ISLAND, Indonesia - The ground shook so hard, people couldn't stand up when the massive earthquake rattled this remote Indonesian island — the closest inhabited land to the epicenter of the devastating temblor. But unlike hundreds of thousands of others who thought the worst was over when the shuddering stopped, the islanders remembered their grandparents' warnings and fled to higher ground in fear of giant waves known locally as "semong." Within 30 minutes, Simeulue became the first coastline in the world to experience the awesome force of the Dec. 26 tsunami. But only seven of the island's 75,000 people died — saved by the stories passed down over the generations.

Tell me it's black when I know that it's white

How do you communicate, let alone come to any kind of a working dialogue or consensus with people who see reality as the exact photonegative version of what everyone else sees?

Uganda's HIV rate drops, but not from abstinence Study concludes basis of Bush policy apparently irrelevant .

“Research from the heavily studied Rakai district in southern Uganda suggests that increased condom use, coupled with premature death among those infected more than a decade ago with the AIDS virus, are primarily responsible for the steady decline in HIV infections in that area.”

The study is pretty clear that Bush’s favorite components of the plan (and the part he continues to push in American sex ed policy) – mainly abstinence and monogamy have had little or no effect. But tell this to the Christians, who are somehow coming to the exact opposite conclusion based on the same study:.

"It is becoming apparent worldwide that the "safe sex" program through the use of condoms is not working. Even in our own country the "safe sex" agenda is failing miserably. From the example of Uganda, the Christian abstinence and fidelity approach does work. Changing the hearts of the people is the ultimate answer to the HIV/AIDS dilemma. Only through the work of the Holy Spirit can the actions of sinful man be changed"

He wants names!

Echidne spotlights the Kansas AG's recent attempts to get a hold of the medical records of women who have had late-term abortions.

What's not made clear in any of the articles I've read about this is what late term abortions have to do with child rape? Are these two issues supposed to be linked in some way? The article says Kline has been pushing to make health care professionals report the sexual activity of 16yr olds and under... is this latest attempt an extention of those efforts? Looking between the lines (because once again, the mainstream press has left a hell of a lot out); they refer to the patients whose medical records the AG is seeking as "women" and not girls or children. As bad as journalistic integrity has gotten recently, I don't believe the copy editors would let that slip if he were wanting to get the medical records of 16 yr olds.

I'm not against compiling better statistics on abortion and possible child rape. I've made it clear I'd love to have better statistics on the cases of violence against pregnant women, too. The critical difference here, people is that the clinic has offered to give the AG the information he wants but with the names edited out... and that's not good enough. That makes it perfectly clear that he's not interested in unbiased investigation of a troubling trend in order to try to curb that trend. His only interest is in criminally prosecuting individual women who have had late term abortions.

The things you learn

Charles Kuffner has solved the mystery of the missing traffic statistics on TTLB. (Thank you!)

Apparently, you not only have to have Sitemeter (which I assumed - but didn't think you could get the link stats without it, either); your privacy settings on Sitemeter have to be set to "Low" so your daily visit stats are available to the public. I thought a setting of "Medium" would do that while still protecting the privacy of my readers (by hiding the referring URLS's I get) but apparently it doesn't.

Maybe when/if I start getting over 10,000 hits a day I'll modify my security settings but right now I still don't see that it's worth it.

Bad Timing

If nothing else, the latest "In search of Female Bloggers" shitstorm has given me quite a few more blogs to explore, and add to my blogroll once I get some time. As it is, I'm still trying to finish up a few projects at work before the Fry comes along and I'm increasingly worried he's accelerating the timetable. I've been having some rather unpleasant contractions of the Braxton-Hicks variety for a couple of days now and think he's finally dropped a little. We go see the doc. this afternoon and hopefully she'll tell me I have nothing to worry about.

In any event, not to let imminent labor get in the way of good blogging (and since I won't have more time to linkwhore for awhile), I wanted to share one more thought on the female blogger issue before focusing on life offline, which I posted over at Ezra Klein today.

Everyone equates the TTLB or Technorati rankings as explicit rankings of "importance". Obviously, the more readers you have, the more exposure your ideas will get (and possibly even by folks in the MSM) and the bigger impact you will have on public opinion. So when somebody says "why aren't there more women in the top TTLB rankings", they are in effect saying "why aren't there any women bloggers worth paying attention to?". Because worth is determined by readership, though for some reason... that's supposed to be determined by incoming links and not traffic. Which is funky.

Anyway, I've been doing a little research and there seems to be a BIG problem with TTLB's rankings by traffic stats. I've been looking up the blogs on my own blogroll and notice that while most do appear on the rankings by incoming links (of other ecosystem members, I believe which is inherently self-fulfilling in & of itself), at least half have blanks in their "Average Daily Visit" stats and do not seem to appear, on the rankings by traffic list as a result (inluding my own, which pathetic as my daily traffic rate is I can understand why I wouldn't make the top 5,000. But my measley stats should still be available).

If the traffic stats aren't accurate, then it's ridiculous to rely on TTLB rankings as any indication of actual popularity. For instance - I know Dooce one of the hugely popular "Mommy Blogs" who gets a hell of a lot of mainstream press, is ranked #82 in the ecosystem based on unique incoming daily links . But she is nowhere to be found on the traffic ranking list - because her average daily visits isn't being reported for some reason.

She was kind enough to reply to an email I sent her yesterday and as it turns out, she gets 52,000 unique visitors a day to her site. Which would put her at #10 on the TLB traffic rankings (right below Wonkette) and well above Yglesias if it were being reported correctly. And she says it's the same deal on technorati. She gets twice the unique daily traffic of other blogs that are consistently ranked higher based on links, instead.

I'd really like to know why those stats are coming up blank. Is it due to differences in the code on each website or what? Do you have to subscribe to premium Sitemeter service or something? The answer could give us a big clue here...

Second (or tenth) verse… same as the first!

It’s time for everyone’s favorite singalong – “where have all the female bloggers gone?”. If you’re a true glutton for punishment dive into the comments. If you’re interested in the personal thoughts of a crawly amphibian, continue reading and I’ll expand on the couple of comments I left there. More thoughts from last go-arounds here .

The more I think about this the more I remember I didn’t start this blog to compete with Drudge or Kos. I started it because I was frustrated that I wasn’t hearing many voices like mine on the internet – outside of a few private (thanks to the trolls) mostly feminist-centered bulletin boards. And it got really old preaching to the choir. We’d wonder why our message wasn’t being reflected anywhere in the mainstream. Certainly not in the mainstream media, but also not in so-called progressive political streams among people who claim to care about women and claim to be our allies.

So RiverRocks was born, to provide the cyber equivalent of a “this is what a feminist looks like” T-shirt. This is my life, these are my thoughts. This is why these issues matter to me. But more importantly, to the casual visitor - this is why you should care. My goal is to provide real-life context for the political issues that are too often totally disregarded just because they’re championed by women who have been tagged with the scarlet “F” that has become the “Feminist” label.

The more this dead old nag gets beaten around the racetrack again and again, the more I realize that frankly I don’t give a shit if my rankings ever reach Instapundit or Atrios levels. Or even those of Drum. I don’t care if the same male readers who get off reading political mags that compare stats of inside the beltway professional politicos like some kind of football game start using my site for their mental masturbation instead. These are guys like my two dittohead coworkers, who snort derisively a dozen times a day as they partake of the crack that’s called Drudge and launch into long John Stossel-ian “can you believe that?” diatribes. But as much as they support Bush and the Iraqi war they’ll never volunteer themselves. As much as they bitch and moan about the state of our public schools they’ll vote against district bond measures everytime, and will never go to a school board meeting to try to provide any kind of a solution to that problem. In short, they’re all talk and no action. What’s worse – be they from the left or right side of the aisle, they’re so wrapped up in their moral and mental superiority that nothing I write stands a chance of percolating through their closed minds anyway.

What I do care about is actually having an impact on the hearts and minds of everyone else. The great uninformed masses that turn to the miracle that is the internet to learn more about things the talking heads on TV or radio gloss over, or ignore entirely. While it’s nice to see the names of blogs I respect on my sitemeter referrals list, I’m more thrilled to see the referrals that come from search engines. Because that means that someone who was curious about a subject I cared enough to write about found *my* thoughts on the matter first. I was actually able to share my perspective on that issue with a total stranger. Someone who hasn’t yet made up their mind about it, and is actively trying to understand the significance.

I’ll take #1 on a google search return over #1 in the TLB Ecosystem anyday.

New meaning to the phrase "Toy Drive"

Rhetorical question: why are people so damned afraid of women actually enjoying sex? Supreme Court lets stand law banning sale of sex toys in Alabama. "The law prohibited the distribution of "any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs." First-time violators can face a fine of up to $10,000 and as much as one year in jail."

Here's the capper: ACLU lawyers said the state of Alabama has never explained "why sales of performance enhancing drugs like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra and even ribbed condoms are not similarly prohibited." No shit. Apparently little blue pills don't count as a "device"?

Anyway - there are similar laws in Texas and Georgia. I would propose we start an annual toy drive for the women of these states whose legislative representatives apparently have nothing more important to concern themselves with than women's orgasms. Not domestic violence, not child abuse, not crime rates. Not the abyssmal state of their public education systems. Nope. Dildo's and vibrators are what they're most concerned with.

But I'd be afraid it's not just the sale.. it's the "distribution" of such products that's illegal. So maybe the toy drive will have to be across the state line, instead. I think a sequel to Smokey & The Bandit is in order. This time with Sally Field in the lead as a sexually frustrated Alabama housewife. Only without the Thelma & Louise-esque ending.

President's Day Ponderings

Have you, too been recently spammed by eager conservative Christian in-laws who are jumping on the revisionist history propaganda machine and forwarding you all kinds of blatant untruths about how this country was meant to be governed on Christian ideals? I mean, did you KNOW that the street plan for the nation’s capitol of Washington D.C. was laid out in GASP!! a perfect cross??? Which PROVES beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the founding fathers had a pro-Christian agenda*?? (Apparently, who ever originated this lovely email forward has never heard of compass points… or looked at a street map. Or taken basic algebra. Because if they did, they would know that the easiest way to locate a specific location in two dimensions is via a cross of two straight lines crossing perpendicularly). Of course if they did, they would probably try to argue that the fact that we use the cross for basic navigational purposes around the globe is perfect justification for the militant spread of Christianity to all points reachable via those compass points…..but I drift.

Anyway, if you too are a recent victim of the Christospammers, then you might check this post out for some good, old fashioned – what do we call them? Oh yeah, “FACTS” about how the whole concept of Separation of Church & State came to be in our country and you might pass them back to said Christospammers in the interest of providing them with the basic history lessons they apparently missed in elementary school.

And you might ask them, at the same time (just for the hell of it)...say they get their way and the 10 Commandments are posted in every courthouse in America. Say legislators are allowed to codify Biblical passages into law. What then? Which particular brand of Christianity do they intend to codify into law? Since they were apparently too busy praying in class to listen to basic religious history, you might explain to them that the Church/State Separation was intended TO PROTECT PEOPLE LIKE THEM from OTHER PEOPLE LIKE THEM who happened to go to a different church down the street.

You might remind them that the majority of religious colonists came here to escape the hundreds of years of Catholic vs. Protestant wars (in all of their incarnations) that were sponsored by state-sponsored churches that resulted in the loss of life, liberty and property of thousands (if not millions) in the Old World. You might remind them that while the Puritans came here to escape religious persecution in Europe, they then proceeded to persecute their own dissenters – especially Quakers** . You might remind them that the original colonies of Rhode Island , Pennsylvania, and New Jersey were all founded on tenets of religious freedom by so-called ‘heretics’ who were liable to be tortured and killed by a majority of other colonists who – much like today’s modern Christospammers – believed in governing by Christian ideals. Then you might remind them that those “ideals” entailed burning people alive at the stake who were a little strange (i.e. witches) and executing people who didn’t happen to agree with their particular interpretation of the Bible.

*What amazes me is the Christospammers have to look to the street layout of Washington DC to try to prove this point. Just scrolling through some of the links above, a rudimentary perusal of any basic text of US history will show you that there has been a strong pro-Christian "agenda" to America from Day 1. It's called Manifest Destiny, folks. I wouldn't be here plugging away at a keyboard on the West Coast if it weren't for the historical belief that the promotion of religion - specifically the Christian religion was in the best interest of the developing country. But at the time, religion (in what ever form it took) was seen as what set us apart fro the "savages" of the Native Americans and African slaves we were systematically wiping out and/ oppressing. It was the builder of community which was essential for survival on the frontier. And the conduit for education and communication at a time when we had no public schools or regular postal service.

The issue of how much religion should be incorporated into the government has always been a thorny issue. But whenever push came to shove, civic leaders always realized that as much as their constituents might want to have their own religious beliefs codified in the law of their government - any attempt to do so would cause irreparable division along denominational lines. There would be massive civil discord (and, maybe even war) the likes of which we've never seen. Just remember - as bloody as the battlefields of the Civil War were, it was never about religion. Just think of the death and destruction if it ever came down to that.

Prego Update ( T - 3 weeks)

I know, I know - I suck. I keep trying to find the time to come up with something wonderfully blogworthy, and keep crapping out. So it might be time for another prego update.

We're coming into the final stretch, folks - due date is March 6, 3 weeks away if you're playing along at home. I'm feeling pretty good all things considered. Wobbling like a pro. Though as Curt pointed out "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down!" He now introduces me as "my hugely prego wife" everywhere we go instead of just "my prego wife". I still find it pretty cute, though you'd think I'd be offended that he seems to be taking all the credit: "Look what I DID!!". He's so sweet and conscientious though. Actually made me sit in the car in the driveway after dinner last night while he moved my car into the carport so I would't have to scrape ice off the windshield this morning. And he hasn't complained at all about my horrific prego-induced snoring driving him to the couch nearly every night for the last few weeks. He still comes to bed until I fall asleep then quietly sneaks into the living room.

Statistically the Fry could make his debut as early as next week. They're big into this "due *range*" and not "due *date*" theory these days since only 2% of women actually deliver ON their due date. 45% deliver in the 2 weeks prior, 45% in the 2 weeks post. On the one hand, I'm really shooting for an early arrival. I want my body back, dammit and don't know if I can take another weekend like the last where the Fry was partying all fucking night long, and holding my bladder - and my sleep - hostage in the process. I swear he was doing disco in there at midnight. And then a congo line at 2 am. Then some sort of gymnastic routine full of flips and spins at 4 am. I hope the East German judges were kind. Curt tells me to be thankful he's more of a tumbler than a boxer. And everyone else says this is nature's way of getting me prepared for the upcoming sleep deprivation. But I'm selfishly hoarding every minute of precious sleep time in the meanwhile. And seriously jonesing for a Cadillac Margarita and a hot tub.

On the other hand - ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod I'm not ready to be a mommy yet! So later might be nice, too. And would give me some more time to wrap up the couple of big projects I'm rolling out at work right now before I go on leave. Yes, I'm blaming work for my pathetic posting lately. But it's the truth. I'm actually having to, you know - WORK lately and it's seriously cutting into my surfing/writing time. One bit of good news, though. We got our taxes done early and thanks to the outrageous interest we pay in student loans and mortgage expenses (including a refinance); along with the monumental medical bills we racked up last year - we're getting a very nice refund. Enough to where I won't have to get my ass back to work in 3 weeks like I thought I would. I'll be able to stay home for at least a month, and maybe only come back part time for a couple of weeks after that. Time enough to get the breastfeeding thing goin' on and avoid incarceration by the La Leche League et.al. for premature nipple confusion (really - I hear they have their own jails and everything!) Actually, I kid. Our Breastfeeding Basics class was very educational and I'm sure the lactation consultants will be wonderful.

I'm now on the once a week visit to the doctor schedule. Last week I was already dilated about 1 cm. So that's a good sign! I also managed to gain a whopping 6 pounds! WOOHOO! And my blood pressure was great. 100/60, I think. Though the Fry freaked us the hell out when he decided to play hide and seek with the doppler heartrate monitor. The Doc. couldn't find a heartbeat for nearly 5 minutes. I think he was hiding under my pancreas. Coy little shit. Nursery completion and baby paraphenelia acquisition is nearly complete. Signed up for the diaper service yesterday. Even have the hospital bag packed. Now I just need to schedule my pre-admission appt. with the birth center. And Curt needs to figure out the car seat.

Other than that I think we're as ready as we're gonna get!. I was even a good little girl scout and thought to buy a waterproof mattress pad last week just in case my water breaks at night. Curt thinks I'm going to pop this kid out with no problem. He could be right. Mom was only in labor for 8 hours with her first baby (my bro.) and only 45 minutes with me. I was a speed demon right from the get-go. Must have been my aversion to hospitals kicking in early.

On myths and meth use

Echidne reminds me of a story I read on a local news feed that I’ve been meaning to pass along. Basically, prosecutors in Bend, OR are trying to charge 3 women with forcing their babies to ingest methamphetamine – 2 in utero and one while nursing.

Now, while the breastfeeding situation concerns me from a pregnancy rights standpoint, it’s not nearly as alarming as the 2 cases of exposure via umbilical cord. The fact of the matter is, many children have died due to an overdose of meth they received via their mother’s breastmilk. An already born baby can be formula fed. Child Welfare services can intervene and remove that baby from the potentially harmful environment the mother is providing. She can be charged with child negligence. And perhaps most importantly – an already born baby clearly has full legal rights of personhood. None of which apply to the unborn fetus.

But unlike direct meth exposure via breastmilk, or dangers from neglect/ abuse from meth-addicted parents, the effects of in-utero exposure are still very much up in the air. Doctors who are trying to study the effects are facing serious obstacles from law enforcement and well-meaning legislators, who are trying to force them to report mothers who they know or suspect are users.

We have a tendency to get all riled up about behavior the mother does while pregnant that exposes her unborn child to potential toxic substances and wholly ignore the effect of other environmental hazards have on the baby - hazards that the mother has absolutely no control over. And we also tend to get more than a little overexcited about the potential danger of those toxins. Remember the whole “Crack Baby” epidemic of the 80’s that started this whole hyperawareness of what Mom’s doing with her body? Turns out, it didn’t happen. Or rather, it wasn’t anywhere as serious as the media made it out to be.

These folks, in fact point out that the use of labels like “Crack Baby”, “Ice Baby”, and “Meth Baby” are media spawned labels that have no basis in scientific research. They contend that the media’s continued use of these labels is not only counterproductive but dangerous, as it allows caretakers to starve and abuse children and then tack on the “crack baby” label and have it excused. Some journalism watchgroups are seeing the same level of hysteria used today to describe so called meth babies, and they’re quite concerned as well.

Now, meth might affect the fetus in utero more so than cocaine proved to do. But what we can learn from the crack baby myth is that a lot of the dangers confronting so-called ‘meth babies’ aren’t necessarily due to the drug itself. The living conditions of the mother – especially poverty and abuse - are likely a significant factor. You see a clue in one of the anecdotes of a meth addict who gave birth prematurely to twins mentioned on the above link: “The fact I was in a domestic violence relationship and getting beat worse during the pregnancy could have been part of it. Yeah, and then the drug use, they don’t know.”

Yet interestingly enough – the article doesn’t address probable consequences of physical abuse of the mother an unborn fetus at all. Even though it’s estimated that 1 in 5 women will be abused during pregnancy; and it’s known that homicide is now the leading cause of death among pregnant women. Even though it's known that the immediate effects on the pregnancy and fetus are: Blunt Trauma to the Abdomen, Hemorrhaging (including placental separation) , Uterine rupture, Miscarriage/Stillbirth, Preterm labor and Premature rupture of the membranes. Most of which also happen to be assumed symptoms of meth addiction.

That’s not to say that we as a society should not take steps to prevent maternal drug use. But I do worry about the hypocrisy and potential slippery slope aspect of the ways societies are attempting to do so. Don’t forget, it’s also illegal to provide alcohol or cigarettes to a minor. So by the logic of the Bend, OR D.A., a woman could be held criminally responsible for having even one glass of wine; or a cigarette during her pregnancy. So begins the slippery slope. We begin by prosecuting women for knowingly exposing their unborn children to controlled substances. Then we begin to prosecute them for exposing their unborn children to other known or even suspected pathogens. Like OTC or Rx drugs. Caffeine. Aspartame.

But – we still refuse to hold companies liable for exposing the born – let alone the unborn – to environmental toxins which are also known . Like mercury! And 2nd hand smoke! And we refuse to even document, let alone acknowledge the much higher dangers facing both mother and unborn child from domestic abuse. Therein lies the hypocrisy.

I was thinking about this story this weekend when Curt and I had a nice little dinner at a cheap Italian restaurant. Right as I walked in the door I saw the ubiquitous “Alcohol and Pregnancy don’t mix!” sign. Every time I see that little placard I am sorely tempted to order a glass of wine while lovingly patting my belly just because it pisses me off so much to have some restaurant manager telling me what's best for me and my baby. But I drift.

According to the U.S. CDC (who maintains the "no level of alcoholic consumption is safe" p.o.v.), the incidence rate of fetal alcohol syndrome is 0.2 - 1.5 per 1,000 live births. That's 0.02 - 0.15% folks. Less than one tenth of one percent. The FAS victim advocacy groups however call this an "epidemic" . Compare that to the 20% of pregnant women (and their babies) who are at risk of domestic abuse/ homicide. I’m sorry, but until those statistics reverse I’ll be much more worried about the partner of a woman who orders a glass of wine possibly going home and beating the crap out of her (and the fetus) than I’ll ever be concerned about her child contracting FAS from the occasional glass of alcohol. As these European folks point out – pregnant women have been drinking alcohol in moderation for millennia in other countries/societies with no hint of the “epidemic” of developmentally disabled kids the FAS hawks are so worried about.

What really kills me is the CDC's recommendation that any woman who drinks on occassion but who isn't on a reliable form of birth control should go on the wagon, "just in case". Their only recommendation to potential fathers is that they should "encourage" their partners to quit drinking and be supportive. Guess they haven't caught up on the latest studies, which show a father's consumption of alcohol and cigarettes and exposure to environmental toxins like drugs might very well have just as much of an affect on fetal survival and development rates as maternal exposure to those substances. Perhaps more so - since sperm cells are continuously made throughout a man's life, they are at more risk of mutation than a woman's eggs, which are all formed before she's born.

Pudentilla has much more on the College Republicans' ill-conceived "adopt a sniper" fundraiser I linked to briefly the other day - including some fabulous analysis that I couldn't have put any better.

mud baths

Is it my imagination or in the wake of Abu Ghraib are women in the military starting to be singled out for 'bad behavior'? Female soldier demoted for mud wrestling. Apparently it was a party that had absolutely nothing to do with the prisoners. One of the women who participated was demoted for "indecent exposure" while 4 or 5 "spectators" (presumably men) were only sent to counseling. But the one woman was not only singled out and personally identified in the press, it also looks like they published photos of her.

Yes, horrifically bad taste to put on a mud wrestling show even amongst the soldiers themselves while deployed in a war zone. Stupid to particpate, obviously. And I could probably go off for quite awhile about how the military continues to act like female members are there for the sexual gratification of their male comrades (citing rape statistics & all).

But - how many male soldiers are caught with their 'pants down' and/or drunk off their asses doing stupid shit around military bases all over the world? They may receive disciplinary action, too - but you sure as hell don't see their names and faces plastered all over the national news.

Is the press so terribly stupid they just hear "photos + partying + detention center in Iraq" and think they've stumbled onto something as controversial as Abu Ghraib again? I'm sorry but unless I'm missing something - these two situations aren't even in the same realm of outrageousness. Anyone who tries to draw such an equivalence is really belittling the seriousness of the Abu Ghraib offenses. Tasteless does NOT = Torture.

I hereby nominate this guy U.S. General Says It Is 'Fun to Shoot Some People' as the perfect faculty advisor to this group: School Halts Adopt a Sniper Fund-Raiser.

Wow - I'd've never thought this would happen in Idaho: Idaho Senate defeats same-sex marriage ban. snip: "A proposal to ban same-sex marriages has failed to pass the Idaho Senate for the second consecutive year in Idaho. The measure was defeated 21 to 14, after conservative supporters could not muster the two-thirds majority needed to send the measure to residents, who would have voted whether to write the ban into the state constitution."

Maybe there's hope?

Just when you thought it was safe to miscarry

Getupgrrl at Chez Miscarriage tells us Kansas has now taken up the mantle of Virginia's failed attempt to criminalize miscarriage. She also provides great detail into the ridiculous doublestandard of sperm donors vs. egg donors.