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Strollerderby
Stephanie Fairyington has written a fascinating feature for Elle magazine that centers around a couple named Greg Bruell and Sandra Hedrick. Greg and Sandra are both divorced parents; Greg has two children and Sandra has a daughter – well, make that two daughters. The second, conceived with Greg, is at the heart of an intense debate about the reproductive rights of men.
Lisa Belkin, on her Motherlode blog, deciphers the two key questions asked in Fairyington’s piece. “If a man makes it clear before a child is conceived that he does not want to be a father, and if a woman agrees in advance that she will terminate an accidental pregnancy, should he have to pay child support when she changes her mind?” and “If a couple find themselves unexpectedly expecting, and she wants to terminate but he says he will take full responsibility for the baby after it is born, should he have a legal right to require her to carry to term?”
Over the course of their relationship, Sandra’s been pregnant twice with Greg’s child. She aborted the first pregnancy, even though she didn’t want to, because Greg thought their lives were too unstable. So when Sandra decided in early 2009 that she wanted to keep the second pregnancy, Greg was indignant. She’d ”vowed to Greg that if she conceived again, she’d immediately terminate.” But at 39, she realized “that this might be her last chance to have another child.” Continue reading »
For most of us the word “ultrasound” conjures images of a pregnant woman getting a peek at her unborn baby. We might have a whole new, and opposite, set of associations with ultrasound soon.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina are starting human trials on using birth control as a safe, effective, reversible form of birth control for men.
Today’s fathers do more childcare than our own dads probably did. They’re in the grocery stores with their toddlers, picking the kids up from school, riding with them on the subway.
But they’re still seen as special cases when they do. In his memoir, Manhood for Amateurs, Michael Chabon talks about how women would come up to him in the grocery store and gush over what a great father he is. Not because he was doing anything special, but just because he was with his kids at all doing a simple everyday task.
Stranger’s reactions aren’t always so positive. In a moving essay on Transparental, Michel – who gave birth to two daughters before beginning his transition to manhood – writes about being confronted by a woman in a cafe who took him to be a Dangerous Stranger with his girls, until the little one called him “Mommy”. After a decade of parenting as a woman, he’s seeing the other side of this sexist coin.
According to a survey of 1,279 five to 16-year-olds in the UK, kids are happier when Mom drives.
The survey, which painted dads as impatient and reckless and moms as competent and chatty, was performed by GEM, a motorist assistance company — sort of like the U.S. version of AAA. Read the rest of the results and tell us if you agree:
Sure, women have a tough time of it when they get pregnant — there’s all that weight gain, mood swings, and strange cravings (pickles and ice cream?). Clearly it’s not easy creating another life inside your own body. Don’t think for a moment, however, that guys have it completely easy during pregnancy. There’s a lot that goes on with them as well and, as if that weren’t enough, they have to deal with a pregnant woman for nine months.
Men are primitive, or so goes the popular opinion. Thousands of books authored by men and women hinge on this notion. However; new research indicates males are the more “advanced” of the species.
Today on Babble:
Men, Women, and Money: If Mom Earns More Than Dad, Who Changes the Diapers?
Writes Nell Casey:
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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