IVF and other property crimes

[the0lady]

 
On Monday, 20 June, 2005, one Professor Ledger ("a leading UK fertility expert"), via the BBC, warned of a "reproductive time bomb" threatening the UK if women continued to put off having children until their late 30's or early 40's.

Last Sunday, he proclaimed the bomb detonated from the front page of the Observer. A staggering, frightening,

Comments

[ailbhe]

Ew.

The Irish version of an MOT is called an NCT, which is what the National Childbirth Trust is called over here.

Men, of course, have nothing to do with IVF.

[martinoh]

Since the term "MoT" is applied to any number of health check initiatives, including male-targeted campaigns against testicular or prostate cancers and innumerable schemes applicable to both sexes, it does seem somewhat disingenuous to suggest that it transforms into a dehumanizing metaphor when applied to women only. But then, I'd hate to see consistency get in the way of righteous fury.

The Guardian website shows the article as having been edited today, which presumably accounts for why almost nothing in the line "Last Sunday, he proclaimed the bomb detonated from the front page of the Observer. A staggering, frightening, threatening, unsustainable number of women were forced to resort to IVF." actually relates to the current text. The BBC website does still have two single line quotes that seem to fit your areas of complaint - Bill Ledger is quoted as saying "The sustainability of the population of Europe is at risk because there are too few children being born. It is a threat to the future." and Allan Pacey with the view that the

[the0lady]

And for my next trick, I will be burying the lede so deep that I will fool those pesky hysterical feminists!

-- "On the issue of whether women and men are treated equally in considerations of fertility issues, I'm not quite sure what the "invasion of privacy" that women suffer but men don't is supposed to be. Certainly it would be difficult to argue that fertility problems in men are treated any more sympathetically than those in women - erectile dysfunction, low sperm counts and poor sperm motility are the stuff of sitcoms and (ahem) stand-up routines."

I know! Let's talk about Teh Poor Menz!

Or not.

Talk to the numbers, refute the numbers, bring new numbers... Or STFU and stop trying to derail the conversation. I've been a feminist and online for more than five minutes, you know. This hissy fit is not enough to make me see the error of my termagant ways.

[martinoh]

Sorry, but I went to college with Derek Draper; there isn't one of your tactics of playground name-calling, refusing to answer legitimate queries, misrepresenting other peoples' comments and pretending that your own deficiencies are those of your opposition that I haven't seen being done and done better. I despised them 20-odd years ago and still do

[the0lady]

Meh. You came into this spreading your net wide: I had a choice between completely diluting my point by replying to each and every one of your many implicit and explicit points, or get accused at a later point of "ignoring" something crucial. Either way, it was a gambit, a point scoring trick; a game.

I saw you coming, called bullshit, and wouldn't play. I also gave you the opportunity to shift the conversation on track. You chose to flounce out, tossing endgame sleeve-aces about "temerity", "diatribes" and "you and those who share your views" over your shoulder.

*shrug* What can I say? Careful the coffee table don't hit your shins on the way out.