paging Margaret Atwood...

Handmaid's Tale isn't here yet, but it's in the post (link courtesy betnoir) >:(

No provision for the health of the mother. If you're dying that second, your doc might be able to do something, but otherwise all bets are off. To wit: (via Feministe):

if giving birth is going to cause massive kidney damage which will likely kill her after childbirth, no exception. If giving birth is going to force doctors to perform a hysterectomy, no exception. If the fetus has such a severe birth defect that it will die before, during or immediately after birth, no exception — the woman will be forced by the state to bring a doomed pregnancy to term, and to go through the dangers of childbirth for a fetus that will never live when she could have had a safer procedure.

For the benefit of socially liberal sorts in SD (and I know there are at least two), pass around: Princeton's emergency birth control site, including how to use regular prescription BC as morning after pills, if need be.

bigger, harder, faster, more

Found this over at the delightfully named blog "Granny Gets A Vibrator": Fifty two year old woman gets buff. Opinions differ. Namely, people either find her muscles disgusting or sexy, when for her it's not about looks - it's about being strong. She also quotes from the woman from Stumptuous, who inspired me to lift heavier things, so extra cool points in my book :)

I don't lift anywhere at this woman's level, but I've already heard a few misgivings about the possibility of bulking up. Specifically, when I told my mom I was starting to lift freeweights she expressed a fear that I'd start to look like a woman bodybuilder.

I could understand if her reservations were about my health. The way I understand it (from Stumptuous and elsewhere): female bodybuilders only look that huge during competition, and the extremely muscled ones are possibly taking steroids. Being that ripped all the time would be unhealthy and unattainable for most women, so if that was my aim it would be a valid concern.

But Mom said "look" like a bodybuilder. Not that it would be possible for me to bulk up that much and still be healthy, but would it matter that much if I didn't meet her (or anyone else's) ideal of beauty? It wouldn't be the first time :P

No, what interests me is having a body that is able to do things. I admit I've not been lifting much or regularly of late, partly out of laziness and partly out of time constraints, but I want to make more time for it because even though my upper body strength has improved enormously over what it was, say, two years ago, I still find it woefully inadequate for my purposes. Over and over again my problem is endurance - I start out strong but can't keep it up. This is an impediment in all sorts of activities, from fencing through taking out the garbage and more. When someone says "hit harder!", I want to be able to! (Speaking of which, anyone got any good tips/tricks for improving endurance?)

And the oddest thing about my interest in fitness is that I have it at all: I was the stereotypical "kid picked last for kickball" through my entire kindergarten-high school career and only took jogging in college because it was a requirement, and now I've done a near 180 on my stance about fitness! I never did learn to appreciate team sports, but I can definitely see the benefits of regular physical exercise. Especially for young girls - it's good that they learn that their bodies are capable of doing things other than be looked at.