tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post275652051748336533..comments2023-10-07T22:37:49.244+13:00Comments on The Hand Mirror: Your daughter will probably have sex one day, kindly deal with itkatyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15742280289613450293noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-12356588337115239902008-05-08T13:04:00.000+12:002008-05-08T13:04:00.000+12:00Further to Steve and Ari's comments re the standar...Further to Steve and Ari's comments re the standard and attracting more women commenters - writing about issues that are pertinent to women is a good one but two other things spring to mind - try to get more women you know to start commenting and be open about being female while doing so. I reckon women don't often want to engage in flame-wars (I don't mind it but it can get really reductive) so if you get more women commenting you might be able to break up the commenting behaviour that is currently exhibited and allow different commenting behaviours to grow which are maybe less confronting/a waste of time for women. This will necessarily change the flavour of the standard and may alienate some readers. The other thing to do is to make it more obvious that women are writing on the blog. In my experience we tend to assume someone is male unless they identify otherwise. I speculate that women will feel more included as readers and writers if they know there are women writing for the standard, and the rest of what you want may in fact roll out from there. I did a few posts about the gendering of the net which might be of interest:<BR/><BR/>http://greylynnsinglesclub.blogspot.com/2008/04/slight-update-on-whats-in-name.html<BR/>http://greylynnsinglesclub.blogspot.com/2008/04/colonising-net.html<BR/>http://greylynnsinglesclub.blogspot.com/2008/04/whats-in-name.htmlLynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11965797820563028086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-66974825584700264322008-05-08T09:49:00.000+12:002008-05-08T09:49:00.000+12:00@Steve - didn't mean my comment as a criticism of ...@Steve - didn't mean my comment as a criticism of The Standard, at all, more as a barb at some of your trollish commenters who were pissing me off in that thread ;-) Will shift The Standard to the women's part of our blogroll, I wasn't sure if you had any XXers on board, glad to hear you do!<BR/><BR/>In general, I think it's important to note that HPV is not just spread by penetrative sex, it is also spread by other forms of sexual contact that involve touching the genitals, even with the hands or mouth. I would say that it would be a pretty rare 20 year old who hasn't engaged in that kind of activity, even if they are a virgin. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for the feedback on this post folks.Juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08977150346842277994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-52848814916885363192008-05-07T18:01:00.000+12:002008-05-07T18:01:00.000+12:00You know, on second thoughts, lesbians are at risk...You know, on second thoughts, lesbians are at risk too. Duh. I'm apparently not on the top of my game today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-53027952672364217632008-05-07T17:50:00.000+12:002008-05-07T17:50:00.000+12:00Julie- excellent as always, I wanted to say someth...Julie- excellent as always, I wanted to say something very similar while my computer was dead and I get back and find you've covered the important stuff better than I could. :)<BR/><BR/>Anna- I'm completely with you, in fact I'm rather aghast at the idea that some parents seem to think they can hold off talking about sex with their children until an age where they're becoming independent of their parents and sexually informed/active, and thus have two new motivations not to listen to their parents. I'd imagine it must be... intimidating to have that kind of talk, but surely you talk to kids about road safety before you first take them out when they can walk independently? The same principle would seem to apply here.<BR/><BR/>Besides, with some good third-party information on the seriousness of the consequences of sex, you can probably scare them off making the decision lightly. I know it worked on me! ;)<BR/><BR/>And you're right, Anna- HPV can be transmitted vertically from mother to child, meaning that even if a couple are both virgins when they meet and only have sex with each other, one of them could infect the other. Not to mention that odds are good any given person you have sex with will already have HPV if they've <I>ever</I> been sexually active before, so any woman who sleeps with a man who's ever had another partner is potentially doubling her risk of cancer without this vaccine. Even if you believe that casual sex is deeply wrong, I think you still have very good reasons to support this vaccine, as there is probably a heterosexual girl you care about somewhere in your life, maybe a daughter, a niece, a cousin, or a friend- and I doubt you'd want her to double her risk of cancer just by getting into a relationship with a man who's broken up with a previous partner.<BR/><BR/>Steve- just being open to female perspectives on your writing and treating them seriously is the biggest step to make, in my own experience, and it sounds like you've done that already. :) Post more issues that are pertinent to women, (which is not the same as posting more issues that men aren't interested in) and you'll be read by more women.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-81267273600882653472008-05-06T22:13:00.000+12:002008-05-06T22:13:00.000+12:00Great post. Regarding your comment on The Standard...Great post. <BR/><BR/>Regarding your comment on The Standard. Yeah, probably not many of the commentors on that post could develop cervical cancer, and it is an issue we concerned about. We would love to get more women involved commenting and reading (several of our writers are women) but we're fighting against the fact that both politics and the internet are traditionally male-dominated spheres. If you've any advice, I'd be glad to hear it. steve-pierson@hotmail.com<BR/><BR/>Cheers,<BR/>Steve PiersonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-70094419595219590242008-05-06T20:16:00.000+12:002008-05-06T20:16:00.000+12:00Thanks A and Luke. I just find it so frustrating ...Thanks A and Luke. I just find it so frustrating that the debate about the HPV vaccine is centred around sexual mores, when actually this is a health issue.Juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08977150346842277994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-13726038176613454472008-05-06T17:28:00.000+12:002008-05-06T17:28:00.000+12:00"... - and that any discussion promotes sex..."Qui..."... - and that any discussion promotes sex..."<BR/><BR/>Quite! Clearly worried parents should be trying to ban conversation before marriage :)<BR/><BR/>Great site, look forward to reading more of your interesting articles and comments.<BR/><BR/>- LukeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-59962325833621004182008-05-05T16:59:00.000+12:002008-05-05T16:59:00.000+12:00It bothers me that some parents believe that keepi...It bothers me that some parents believe that keeping children ignorant about sexuality somehow safeguards them - and that any discussion promotes sex. That's led to so many shocking outcomes for women and men alike. And it's not as if HPV can't be passed on within the confines of traditional marriage, after all. I understand that sex-talks can be difficult, but coming to terms with cancer or infertility isn't a barrel of laughs either as you point out. Besides, a candid talk about genital warts doesn't exactly get most people in the mood. It's funny - AIDS came to prominence when I was was 11 or 12, and the public health campaigns about condom use really stuck with me into adulthood. The whole HPV vaccination would be better viewed as a chance to teach children than as an encouragement to underage sex. Good on ya Julie!Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06076244041878300351noreply@blogger.com