Lesbians of Lesbos, oh my...

Three Lesbians (residents of the Greek island, not women-loving-women) have taken to court the gay organization, Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece. The three Lesbians claim that the organization "'insults the identity' of the people of Lesbos, who are also known as Lesbians."

"My sister can't say she is a Lesbian," said Dimitris Lambrou. "Our geographical designation has been usurped by certain ladies who have no connection whatsoever with Lesbos," he said.

Lesbos, the birthplace of the anciet poet Sappho, is a widely popular destination spot among gay women.

I would be interested to see what anti-gay groups have to say about this.

http://fallacyfindings.blogspot.com/2008/03/help-celebrate-keep-bigots-home-day.html

Back from vacation, and I've been tagged...

By Fannie's Room, who by the way has posted an excellent article on Title IX.

Here are the rules of the tag game:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 (or more) pages.

Glass's Office Gynecology, Fifth Edition

2. Open the book to page 123 and find the 5th sentence.

"Imaging is most useful when an intrauterine pregnancy is seen, thus making the existence of an ectopic pregnancy unlikely."

3. Post the next 3 sentences.

"Using transvaginal sonography, the most reliable predictor of an ectopic pregnancy is the failure to visualize an intrauterine pregnancy at the appropriate gestational age and/or beta-hCG level. Do not rely on seeing an ectopic pregnancy to establish the diagnosis. Findings that may suggest the presence of an extrauterine pregnancy are an endometrial thickness of greater than 10mm and uterine area greater than 20cm squared but no intrauterine pregnancy."

Hmm, good to know.

But honestly, in a book about gynecology, the possibilities for something more exciting that ectopic pregnancy diagnosis were virtually endless. Maybe next time.

Vacation

I will be taking a week break from the blogosphere due to a much-needed vacation.

SO enjoy yourselves while I'm away... I'll be at the beach, or the pool, or the bar... sipping drinks and enjoying my time away from work and school.

Gender roles, schmender roles...

Or so would say Thomas Beatie, a transgendered man who is carrying a baby for himself and his female partner, who is unable to conceive children.

The full story was originally published in the LGBT magazine, The Advocate.

Beatie used anonymous frozen sperm, and he and his partner inseminated at home. They are expecting a daughter on July 3, 2008. The couple decided Beatie would carry their child because Beatie's partner had to have a hysterectomy due to severe endometriosis.

This story, I'm sure which has caused huge amounts of outrage and backlash by transphobic people, is full of legal, ethical, medical, and moral issues.

If this story is legit (he is scheduled to make a public announcement tomorrow on April Fool's Day), Beatie will become possibly the first father to ever bear his own child.

The gender-bending at work here is nearly mind-numbing. In other words, can those who oppose two biological women as parents on the basis of "needing a male and female role model" oppose this couple?

Is gender behavior so set in stone by biology that this child will not have a father figure and a mother figure? (as a healthcare professional who works with a large portion of transgendered people, who has been fooled several times, I can assure you that most of you would not even know if you were talking to a transman).

Since the focus of most opposition to same-sex parenting lies in the fact that these children are denied their natural father by two lesbian mothers, are Beatie and his wife an acceptable alternative?

Let's take a gander at some of Britain's right-wingers:

quite outrageous really
pauls patter 26 Mar 2008 09:10

"To quote a well known comedienne, "Ooh, it makes me so angry I could go....... tut!"
It is a poor reflection on our society, that this 'Brave New World' rewards perversion, rather than promoting heterosexual marriage and the nuclear family."


Birth
Ricks Rants 26 Mar 2008 09:31

"will be like squeezing toothpaste from a tube.

A shocking story and it shows we have gone too far."


abelian 26 Mar 2008 10:08

"The fact that she/he/it still has a womb should remind her/him that she/he will always remain woman no matter what she does... it is all in the chromosomes and no amount of tinkering can change that"


This poor child..
The Locksmith 26 Mar 2008 10:45

"..will grow up with a perverted and contorted view of life and the world around it.

If these people want to ruin their own lives then so be it, but to ruin the life of an innocent child should be a criminal act and they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves."

*end of quotes*

Mkay, so they aren't much different from U.S. conservatives.

Oh wait, I missed one more. A view that I think a lot of transphobic people share:

This is insane
Dr Finlays Casebook 26 Mar 2008 15:45

"My opinion of "transgender" people is that they are nutcases that society, science and the medical profession are pandering too by inventing procedures to allow them to "change sex". They always use the excuse that they feel like a man/woman trapped in the opposite sex's body. How do they know what it feels like to be the opposite sex, are they just going by what is written and shown to be the stereotypical images used by the media. If people are gay or lesbian that is up to them but to have people who I honestly believe are insane given rights and anti discrimination laws is itself insanse and I don't really think that I would feel happy or safe having to work with someone who has mental issues as bad as this. I was reading about the magazine that originally carried this story, it is a magazine for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders. Don't gays and lesbians feel a bit patronised by having all of these groups lumped together in one journal."

I see the same types of arguments coming up against gay people all the time. How do people know they are gay? There is no way to refute this because it is all based on individual perception and experience. There is no way to counter this without saying, "It's just something I've felt my entire life." We hear stories of little boys dressing as girls from the time they were able to choose what they wore.

For gender identity and sexual attraction, it IS often unexplainable. It IS often just a feeling, albeit one that is wrapped around so many other social situations that we can not escape it. The same way heterosexuals are "just attracted to the opposite sex," so are gay people "just attracted to the same sex." I guess without a sense of empathy or compassion, it is impossible for opponents of GLBT persons to get. If science could prove a "gay gene" or what part of the brain makes people heterosexual or gay or bisexual, perhaps some of our opponents would lighten up. Perhaps if science could prove what makes certain individuals transgender, they would feel a little more compassion for them in world that has often treated them THE MOST harshly of any "outcast" group.

Yet, we should not need science to prove that being gay or transgender (because I have no problem "lumping" transgender persons into the GLB category) is not simply a lifestyle choice. People are. They always have been. So the argument goes, why would anyone choose to live a life that society is so strongly against?

And so what if their child has some confusion initially about how she was conceived? I would bank on the fact that millions of children of heterosexuals also have to wonder who their true parents are. If Beatie's daughter has a loving, happy home, who is anyone else to say that her parents do not have the right to conceive her? Heterosexuals consistently bring children into this world that they have no intention of raising or loving, at alarmingly high rates.

Yet, gays and lesbians (and now transgendered people) are held to stricter, arbitrary standards of morality that heterosexuals are not. And, even further than that, they are simulatenously blamed for the problem of unwed mothers and banned from helping to prevent it. Convenenient dichotomy for the mega-churches.

Anyway, if this story is indeed true, then I wish Beatie and his wife the best with their family. If this turns out to be an April Fool's Day hoax, I applaud them for making everyone stop to think about the true meaning of "gender roles" and the "need" for them in society.


(Thanks for sending me this article, John!)

A different Castro champions gay rights in Cuba

As unlikely as it sounds, the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro, Mariela Castro is championing the most liberal gay and transgender rights law in Latin America (in all of America?).

Does anyone else think she is kinda foxy?

Vaccines and health care, in general

I recently ventured back to Vox Popoli's blog, where an article/rant on the Evils of vaccines, which I knew would garner much fan-fare from his all-too-eager-to-please-the-master-Vox crowd, caught my attention.

Spoiled trust fund baby, Vox Popoli, rants a predictable conservative, religious diatribe on the evils of vaccinations.

In his typically hateful anti-female rhetoric, Popoli writes a response to Megan McArdle's article "More parents forgoing vaccinations." In her article, McArdle discusses the public health dangers that ride along with parents' refusals to vaccinate their children (which was based on a New York Times article about the same topic.

Popoli states at one point, in typical misinformed, unresearched fashion (in regards to McArdle):

"But your health isn't at risk if you've been vaccinated, right? What a loathsomely liberal fascist little cow! I truly don't know understand why Instapundit likes McArdle so much, she never writes anything even remotely intelligent and regularly coughs up hairballs of asininity like this. If the vaccine industry wasn't hiding so much information about the children being harmed by vaccines, if Congress wasn't indemnifying both the industry and the medical personnel who inject vaccines into non-consenting children, if millions of dollars weren't being paid out by VAERS, if there weren't very good medical reasons to avoid going along with the insane U.S. vaccination schedule, she still wouldn't have a point."

Note to Self #1: Self, if your "argument" isn't strong enough or backed up by any scientific sources, it is acceptable to call your opponent a "liberal fascist little cow" to try to prove your point.

Observe Popoli again doing this in Example #2:

"And there is no more evidence that vaccines are safe than there is that they cause autism, since the vaccine industry has resolutely resisted proper double-blind scientific studies into the safety of its products in favor of population surveys and metastudies of those surveys.

Don't get me wrong, vaccines aren't inherently bad. A limited and voluntary schedule of individual doses at a somewhat older age, spread out over time, is a perfectly reasonable program... in fact, that's how most adults over thirty today were vaccinated. But pumping infants full of toxins that have never been tested in combination with each other, 19 shots in the first six months, isn't just asking for trouble, it's demanding it."

I guess, once again, we should just take this Mensa member's word for it, regardless of the fact that he has no public health, medical, or scientific training or education. Or perhaps the fact that he is a man, and believes himself to be all-knowing, we should just take his word for it.

Bringing us to Note to Self #2: if your argument still isn't strong enough, it's acceptable to fall back on the trusty ole' "she's a woman, I'm a man, hear me roar" argument.

Anyway, the point of my article is not to debate the merits of vaccination programs. But, for the record, I think the benefits of requiring vaccinations for most vaccine-preventable diseases are in the best interests of public health. For libertarian-minded folks (as some of those who frequent Popoli's blog) this breaches their interest for society free from government control. A couple of them had decent points, for example a commenter named Bethyada:

"Beelzebub, I am very pro vaccination (though the US schedule sounds a little excessive). Yes the benefits for many (not necessarily all) vaccines are a group benefit. So what? You can't force law abiding citizens to place into their persons something just because you see the benefit.

Don't you see how draconian your position is? I would rather live with much more risk and less security and have my freedom. How much is life worth living as a slave to the well intentioned?

bethyada, do this because it is in your best interest even though you don't agree with me and it is best for the society.

You don't care for me other than how my cog best fits into your machine."

(I agree to disagree based on my own knowledge of public health and vaccines, but I can see his/her point from a libertarian ideology)

I will not, however, engage in the debate with obsessed uber-parents who are extremely misinformed on the topic and convinced that their primary care providers and their vaccines caused the slightest imperfection to their precious, previously perfect little Lambs of God. And luckily, in my job (public health for adults), I never have to.

Observe many of the comments over at Popoli's blog:

"For the children who are affected negatively by vaccines, it is definitely not in their best interest to have been vaccinated.

Obviously, the State is willing to take the risk of sacrificing some individuals. As usual, the risk for the individual is catastophic, while the risk to the State is negligible."

.
zeno | 03.25.08 - 7:40 am | #

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kids need to eat more dirt!
Rory | 03.25.08 - 7:22 am | #

I ate dirt when I was a toddler. I got sick every April and September.

...But it turns out that those months were the blooming seasons for the hedge in our backyard, to which I'm allergic. If my mom had paid a little more attention, I would have been VERY healthy.

Instead, my parents assumed that I was a "sickly child," and I got every shot known to man--which also made me sickly.
Mrs. Pilgrim | Homepage | 03.25.08 - 7:40 am | #

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STDs are a real current public health crisis. Perhaps chastity belts for the unlicensed?

Should people who engage in medically risky behavior be in the public venues?

If Abagail Adams saw today in 1776, she wouldn't write about the lack of women's representation as a glaring omission, but as the blessing of God's providence.

Men too can be stupid, but most don't insist on parading it in public.
tz | 03.25.08 - 8:12 am | #

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So what's the big deal with a few hundred or a few thousand kids being born autistic in a country of 300 million?
Eddie

So what's the big deal about a few thousand people getting (fill in disease here) from not getting vaccinated?

So what's the big deal about a few thousand people (out of a country of 300 million) getting killed from being in Iraq?

Something about having to break a few eggs.....

And the "big deal" is that the incidence rate of autism has risen exponentially over the past 10-15 years, indicating a direct cause-effect relationship.
Inquiring Minds | 03.25.08 - 9:23 am | #

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Well more droolie kids give them liberal douches more opportunity to show just how compassionate they is by having the police state stick a gun in my face and ask for some more "contributions" for "public health issues".
Michael Maier | 03.25.08 - 9:42 am | #

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...At the "two week check-up" (check-up for whom, exactly?) that same doctor informed us that she had a batch of "shots" ready for our two-week-old child and intended to administer a battery of vaccinations. I politely refused. She politely refused to accept my refusal.

I got less polite. And so did she.

I said, "You told us that you would support our decisions on these matters. That's why we chose you as our pediatrician!"

To which she replied, "It is your choice. But I never said I would support your decision. If you refuse these mandatory vaccinations, I can no longer be your pediatrician."

I calmly said, "Please hand me my child." When the child was in my arms, I said, "You can no longer be our pediatrician. It has nothing to do with mandatory anything. It's because you're a liar and a shill."...
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*end of comments*

It is sometimes frustrating to talk to people when it comes to their own health, and it is usually futile when it comes to talking to them about their children's health. The best we can do, as medical providers, is to give them current guidelines and practice current standards of care, and be up-to-date on the current research in our fields. But usually, people will follow where their prejudices lead. The mistrust and misunderstanding of the health care system and providers is so great in this country that it makes it difficult to establish a rapport between patients and providers.

I'm going to take a leap here and say that most health-care providers have a genuine interest in helping people be healthier and remain illness-free, or at least enhance quality of lives for their patients. Yet, those in private practices rely on money from insurance companies to turn a profit in their businesses, all while paying malpractice insurance with annual premiums that are sometimes in the six-figure range. In such a litigous society (especially one that makes it so easy to sue doctors and nurses for malpractice), they are bound by fears of losing their licenses, incomes, and means of support for themselves and their families.

Most medical practitioners maintain their practices under the current standards of care for their profession. If those standards (the CDC is the gold standard for immunizations, for example) are not met, then a patient may have a legal case against the provider for not following the currently accepted standard of care. The CDC's immunization schedule is the one that Vox Popoli and other, more adamant vaccine denialists disagree with. For medical providers this is often a no-win situation. Patients like the commenters on Popoli's blog are probably the same ones who would bitch and moan if there were a new epidemic of polio or measles and their children weren't vaccinated for them. They would probably then sue the medical providers for NOT mandating the vaccines.

I think further education is necessary. There are many, many misconceptions on the dangers of vaccines. (the autism/vaccine "link," expect an article on that topic later)

Doctors and nurse practitioners, while often accused of "playing God" in a negative way, are at the same time held up to those God-like expectations by their patients when they are sick. It is a double-standard that we have to accept. Patients expect their medical providers to know immediately what is wrong with them with often vague symptoms and tens of thousands of illnesses to choose from. If we get it wrong, they threaten a lawsuit, and at the very least, they leave the practice as patients.

From my perspective, the one thing I would ask from my patients, is to expect your medical provider to stay up-to-date on the latest professionally-accepted research and standards of care, and to remember that healthcare is a cooperative process. We will usually give you as many options as possible under the current standards of care. Most of us are no more trying to "play God," than we are genuinely concerned for your health, AND trying to avoid any potential lawsuits from an over-litigous society. Don't start your visit with your health-care provider on the defensive before you give them a fair chance. Don't go into the visit with a chip on your shoulder, because you will already alienate yourself from your provider, who would probably like to work WITH you to a better health outcome. While many aspects of health-care in the U.S. suck, don't take it out on your doctors and nurses. We are usually here to help.