The Menstruation Ban Trilogy: Rick Santorum Edition!

Revised with Rick Santorum as president!

THE MENSTRUATION BAN TRILOGY

© InYourFaceNewYorker, 2006, 2010, and 2012

MENSTRUATING WOMEN CAN BE CHARGED WITH MURDER

(Washington, D.C.)

April 12th, 2013

Following the introduction of a new law outlawing menstruation passed last month by President Rick Santorum, all American women were ordered to have sexual relations with their husbands, boyfriends, or male friends/acquaintances, or go to sperm banks to ensure fertilization of their next egg. Failure to do so could result in a fine of up to $100,000 plus up to 45 years in prison.

"So many eggs... that have the potential to become human beings, are being flushed down the toilet or absorbed in sanitary napkins every month," said recently elected American President, Rick Santorum. "It disgusts me that so many babies are being killed every month. Imagine that your 25-year-old daughter has been getting her period for 14 years. That's at least 168 babies that have been tragically killed. This cannot go on. God will not stand for it. In fact, His purpose for making women menstruate is so they can see the blood of these poor babies being passed into the toilet."

Women were given a month in which to get their latest egg or eggs fertilized or face murder charges.

"A month is more than ample time," said Santorum. "If you can't find a way to fertilize that egg in that amount of time, then you're a murderer—plain and simple. We need to start choosing life."

The passing of the new law was met with outrage when pro-choice groups demanded to know why their daughters, some as young as ten, had to get pregnant.

"I don't want my ten-year-old daughter to have to get pregnant already," said a Philadelphia mother whose daughter just got her first period in February. "No kid that age should have to carry a baby around for nine months. It's bad enough this new law will require her to do it every year until menopause."

When asked if masturbation and nocturnal emissions are murder, as millions of sperm are wasted at a time, Santorum said, "Yes, it is murder. Masturbation is a sin. If I could outlaw it, I would. But I can’t. And nocturnal emissions? That can't be helped. You can't help what you do in your sleep."

Many people responded in outrage at Santorum’s implication that menstruation should be easy enough to prevent whereas nocturnal emissions "can't be helped," and that he can do "very little to outlaw [masturbation]."

"Why don’t either of Rick Santorum’s older daughters have children?" asked a San Francisco woman who asked not to be identified. "Are they sterile, or are they just murderers?”

When this question was asked again by a New Yorker at a recent press conference, Santorum refused to comment.

MENSTRUATING WOMAN CHARGED WITH MURDER, POSSESSING TAMPONS

(San Francisco, CA)

October 21st, 2015

It started with a landmark act that was passed over two years ago by President Rick Santorum, a law outlawing menstruation and requiring women to fertilize every egg that they release from menarche until menopause. Anybody in violation of this law could be convicted of murder.

For the most part, women don't want to spend the rest of their lives in prison— or have to submit to the death penalty—and thus followed the law with surprisingly little protest. Those who didn't agree moved to Canada.

"Good riddance," said Santorum, when asked what he thought of women who moved to Canada to avoid arrest. "We don't need vermin like that here. We're a good, God-fearing Christian nation, and I intend to keep it that way."

However, Jane Smith, 25, was arrested last week on charges that she obtained illegal birth control, stopped getting pregnant, and started menstruating. Her sister, Jessica, immediately alerted police when she discovered boxes of condoms, birth control pills, and tampons in the cabinet under the sink in Jane's bathroom.

Smith, of San Francisco, is a mother of four and should have been pregnant with her fifth child by now. When questioned by police, she broke down in tears.

"I already have four kids, and they're hard enough to control," said Smith. "I can't handle any more, and I can't deal with postpartum depression. I just don't ever want to be pregnant again."

Smith was ordered held without bail when she confessed that she didn't want to have any more children. Her four kids were immediately placed in foster care.

"If she willingly kills a defenseless little egg," said Federal Judge Hubert Jones, "who's to say where she'll draw the line? Who's to say she won't murder her own kids if she doesn't want them anymore? This is a very dangerous situation."

If convicted, Smith faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Some prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty.

TEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL LOOKING AT POSSIBLE LIFE SENTENCE, DEATH PENALTY

(Corpus Christi, TX)

March 25th, 2017

A ten-year-old girl who got her period for the first time last week refuses to get her next egg fertilized. U.S. law, following President Rick Santorum’s 2013 national ban on menstruation, requires that all girls, following their first period, immediately arrange to get their next egg fertilized. They are required to fertilize every egg they release until they reach menopause.

"It's a shame we can't figure out when a girl will get her first period," Santorum had said when the law was first passed. "Otherwise we would require girls to fertilize the very first egg they release. It's a shame to see human life get flushed down the toilet like that, even if just once in the woman's lifetime."

President Santorum, who has just begun his second term in office, is hoping that science will find a way to determine menarche so girls will waste no time in getting pregnant. "There should be a way," he says. "I have faith that God will guide us towards that."

All other girls who have begun menstruating are wasting no time in getting pregnant—the punishment for menstruation is life in prison without chance of parole, or the death penalty.

Linda Stevenson, 10, of Corpus Christi, Texas, just got her first period last week and insists she's not ready to get pregnant.

"I don't want to... you know... do it with a guy. That kinda scares me," said Stevenson. "My mom didn't do it until she was in college."

This particular fear instilled in girls today is of increasing concern, but President Santorum has said several times that sexual activity isn't necessary, that one can go to a sperm bank instead in order to get pregnant.

"That still freaks me out," said the girl. "And I don't want to have to carry a baby around for 9 months and then have to take care of it. Why can't I just ride bikes with my friends like my mom did when she was a kid?"

"Of course someone would say something like that," says Santorum with a shake of his head. "It's the temptation of the Devil, not the path to Christ. The path to Christ involves doing things that you don't always want to do. But that's an important lesson of Christianity, that hardship and suffering brings you closer to Christ. And one key rule in the Bible is to be fruitful and multiply."

"Doesn't the Bible also say that doing it before you’re married is a sin?" asked Stevenson, knowing that many girls her age would be having sex in order to satisfy the anti-menstruation law.

That is a question that many people are afraid to ask. Santorum declined to comment.

Linda Stevenson has been ordered to go to a sperm bank in time for her next ovulation or face life imprisonment or even the death penalty.

"We can't afford to lose any precious human life," Santorum said. "We need to nip this in the bud and get on the path to Christ before judgment day when it will be too late."

© Me, all names came out of my head. This is satire only and any resemblance to any real person, living or dead, bla bla bla, is coincidental and unintentional.

Rick Santorum and "The Menstruation Ban Trilogy"

When reading "The Menstruation Ban Trilogy," please mentally replace every instance of "Sarah Palin" with "Rick Santorum." He makes Sarah Palin look like a beacon of enlightenment, and Rick Santorum's proposal to ban birth control is just one step away from "The Menstruation Ban Trilogy."

Seek and Ye Shall Find!

In my previous blog post about Dr. Kevorkian's death, I expressed sorrow that I would never know if he read the letter and the copy of The Menstruation Ban Trilogy that I sent him in April. I contacted a friend of his (I'm not going to disclose who) and expressed my condolences, saying that I greatly admired Kevorkian, for his individuality more than anything else. I then said that for me the kicker was that I would never know if he read my letter and the Trilogy. The person responded, thanked me, and said that they recalled that Kevorkian had read my letter and enjoyed reading the Trilogy just before he got sick.

Words cannot describe how much this means to me. I will never get to meet Dr. Kevorkian, but at least I know that he took the time to read my letter and satire and that I was able to make him laugh. That gives me a lot of closure indeed!

Dr. Jack Kevorkian Dead at 83 (5/26/28-6/3/11)

Farewell to a Great Mind!

Dr. Jack Kevorkian died this morning at around 2:30 EST of a pulmonary embolism, meaning a blood clot in his leg moved up to his heart and caused it to stop. It is said that it probably happened very quickly, that he died painlessly. His niece and his friend/lawyer were with him when he died. As things took a turn for the worst, the nurses were kind enough to play Bach (his favorite musician) for him. However, another friend of his lamented the fact that he had to die in a hospital, saying that if he had the strength, he would have insisted on going home to die.

Kevorkian, feeling weak, reluctantly agreed to go to the hospital on May 18, 2011. He had just been recovering from a previous hospital visit for a recurring kidney ailment. This time, however, he also had pneumonia. It was said that he wasn't terminally ill and that he was in a regular hospital room, not in intensive care. However, he had lost about 20 pounds over the past month, resulting in a BMI of 15.8 (18.5 is the minimum norm). Even though it seemed that he was getting better and was supposed to go home "in a few days," I had my doubts the longer he remained hospitalized. My suspicions began to be confirmed the other day when an article said that he was "weak" and "sleeping a lot, trying to get his strength back." As of yesterday, he was "feeling better." But I was still skeptical. There were simply too many things wrong with him, and I knew that, given his age, death could come to him (as the cliche goes), like a thief in the night.

As a young man, Kevorkian contracted hepatitis C while doing research about blood transfusions-- on himself. It was a weaker strain of the virus, but enough to cause complications. Over the years it led to myriad health problems that he was somehow able to manage for as long as he did (I suspect because he lived on 500 calories a day, not putting so much strain on his body): liver problems, heart problems, diabetes, kidney problems, cataracts, arthritis, adrenal insufficiency, even brain lesions, and who the hell knows what else. The pneumonia that he developed was eventually in check, but he still felt weak, and even though there were plans for rehabilitation, I thought... "Even if he is able to go home and recover, he's going to be back in the hospital before the end of the summer. And he won't leave." I still hoped for the best, however. I became a huge fan of his over the past two months and was planning on attending a book tour in the fall here in NYC and meeting him.

That will never happen.

How did this fandom start? How did Dr. Kevorkian make my ever-growing list of intellectual heroes, in some ways rivaling Richard Dawkins? Like many other things in my life, there was not a logical rhyme or reason for it but a weird chain of events that just happened. I was sort of interested in him last summer after seeing his biopic, You Don't Know Jack. Then in early April of this year, I happened to spot a documentary about him on YouTube and watched it-- right before going to sleep. That night I had an amusing dream in which my friend and I were on a road trip with him to San Francisco--and yes, we drove in a van. Kevorkian was doing the driving. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant where Kevorkian went temporarily blind. I told my friend, "I think you should drive the rest of the way." Kevorkian also complained about the lack of universal healthcare and that he had to sell gems to pay for his health insurance (which is amusing since he did not care for luxuries). And we drove across a bridge a few feet wide to visit Alcatraz. The day after I had the dream I started looking up things about him online, watching interviews, and so forth. While I found him to be a bit bullheaded and abrasive and overly simplistic about certain issues at times (euthanasia wasn't the only thing he championed), I found myself, more often than not, thinking, "That makes sense. And that makes sense. I never thought of that, but it makes sense. And that makes sense... And most people are stupid and don't think" (but the latter I already suspected as much!).

Then I read all four of his books, one of which he published himself online for people to print out for free (Amendment IX: Our Cornucopia of Rights; its purpose was to educate about the Ninth Amendment and he did not think it ethical to make money off of it) and his biography. In 1991, he wrote a book called Prescription Medicide: The Goodness of a Planned Death which not only championed euthanasia for terminally ill patients but also advocated an option of medical experimentation and organ donation under heavy anesthesia before death. But a lot of people didn't listen to him because it sounded too "grotesque." I, however, would opt for all three if I were a suffering, terminally ill patient. Why shouldn't positive things come out of my death for the living? While in prison, Kevorkian wrote GlimmerIQs (rhymes with "Limericks"), an anthology of his artwork, musical compositions, medical papers, and Limericks. Last year, he also wrote a book called When the People Bubble POPs, which, like many other things Kevorkian did, had a lot of good points but also oversimplified certain things. However, what I like the most about it is that it forces readers to think about the implications of another taboo subject-- human overpopulation! I am seriously amazed at how offended and judgmental some people get if I bring up that topic, even on places like richarddawkins.net.

I found myself continually intrigued by this odd, fiercely independent man (and I began to think he had Asperger's syndrome). He was a brilliant man-- and I think he may have had an IQ well over genius level-- who didn't care what people thought of him, never backing down from his principles for better and for worse, and extremely honest, sometimes to fault (he never even lied in poker games). He was interested in everything. EVERYTHING! He not only was a pathologist and a writer, but he was also an artist. He created a lot of wonderfully disturbing paintings that commented on issues like death and the absurdity of war. He even made a feature-length film that never got distributed and he later described as "stupid." In the '80s, he hosted his own one-man show on public access television. He played the flute, organ, piano, and harpsichord and even released a jazz CD called A Very Still LIfe which has become a regular part of my rotation on my iPod. In high school, he taught himself Japanese and German to the point of fluency in a matter of months. He graduated from high school a year early and got into medical school before finishing his undergrad. He was also an engineer. He created a water bike in 1970 and, yes, it worked. He constantly pursued one project after another-- art, music and, yes, the euthanasia campaign-- with what his friends and family described as "tunnel vision." He rarely dated, claimed to have never been in love, he never married, and never had children. He also lived alone and cheaply, buying all his clothes from thrift stores and, as stated earlier, living on about 500 calories per day. When he was in his 50s, he even lived out of his van for a while. Yes, he was like an old hippie in some ways.

I confess that I had tears in my eyes when I found out about Kevorkian's death. These days, 83 seems a bit early to die. But at least he lived, and at least he made people think. As I said, I didn't expect him to live through the summer, but I still held out hope that I would get to meet him at his book tour and give him a drawing of his funniest moments just as I did with Richard Dawkins (this will now have to take the form of a tribute that I will put online). I did, however, write him a letter in mid-April that basically said I was glad that he raised consciousness in America about taboos and forced people-- including me-- to think about certain issues they might have never otherwise thought about. I also enclosed a copy of my satire, The Menstruation Ban Trilogy. I will never know if he read the letter and my satire, and I suspect he probably didn't because he apparently got swamped with mail all the time; somebody else handled his mail for him. Who knows what got forwarded to him and what didn't? Even if he never saw it, I am still glad I at least thought to do it while he was still alive and (seemingly) well.

RIP Dr. Jack Kevorkian 1928-2011. Farewell to a great mind!

Are Doctors Cowards? Is the Medical Profession Corrupt?

Lately I've been fascinated with Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the infamous pathologist who helped over 130 terminally ill patients die between 1990 and 1998. When I listen to him speak, I generally agree with what he has to say. Sometimes, however, he says and does things that make me roll my eyes. For example, at a lecture he gave at a university a few years ago, he showed a picture of an American flag with a swastika on it. I thought that was a very simplistic way of defining the problems America has. Considering that his parents narrowly escaped the Armenian genocide, you'd think his perspective would be better than that.

He also often says something else that I thought was very simplistic and that I initially took with a grain of salt: Doctors are cowards and the medical profession is corrupt. They watch terminally ill patients suffer and beg to be put out of their misery. However, they turn their backs because they know that if they help these suffering patients die then they will be thrown in jail for murder. I thought to myself, "Well, yeah, they have to look out for themselves. Nobody wants to go to jail."

However, after reading Kevorkian's biography and a book that he wrote called *Prescription Medicide*, I began to wonder if what he was saying was valid and not just the rantings of an old hippie. I then read a book by Carol Loving called *My Son, My Sorrow.* Loving describes how her son, Nick, in his 20s, was at the mercy of Lou Gehrig's Disease. Eventually he was almost entirely paralyzed and was in constant pain. He could barely swallow. He begged his mother to help him end his life, even shouting in desperation, "Kill me! Kill me!" At one point, he was in a hospice for a few days (at his request) just for a change of scenery. There, the doctors were negligent, cold, and even forgot to "turn" him in bed. At that point his mother requested the increase of his medication to alleviate pain, not to help him die. However, the doctors refused because they were afraid that he would die. She shouted, "God forbid you should give him the only thing he wants." The doctors also saw that Nick was depressed and doped him up on Prozac, as if his depression were all in his head and not because of something external. They also wanted to put him in a mental hospital.

Finally, Nick's mother contacted Dr. Kevorkian who agreed to help Nick die. Mother and son flew to Michigan where Nick took his life by inhaling carbon monoxide. He died quietly and peacefully because there happened to be one doctor who was brave enough to do what was right.

Again, I thought to myself, "Well, we can't expect most doctors to have that kind of nerve." But then I thought, "Well, why not actually?" After all, doctors have a lot of power. They have the power to increase the human lifespan like never before, and with that kind of power comes great responsibility. This includes knowing when to say, "Enough is enough!" Apparently, many doctors in America help suffering patients die all the time. It's kept quiet, however, in a "don't ask don't tell" kind of way. How do they expect the laws to change if they keep quiet about it? They need to take the responsibility that comes with their profession and do what Kevorkian did and be open about it. No, not in terms of some of the publicity stunts he pulled, but just being open about his intentions in general. I also read that many doctors confided in Kevorkian that they supported what he did but did not say it publicly because they were afraid that it would hurt their reputations. It's amazing that only ONE doctor out of the thousands in America had the nerve to stand up and openly do what he did.

Don't get me wrong-- there are many great doctors out there. But between what I've read and, in retrospect from my own experiences with some doctors and experiences some of my family has had, I think there is a lot of truth to what Kevorkian says. Many of these doctors are merely gifted and intelligent people who just see their profession as a way to make money. Keeping a terminally ill patient alive not only helps their reputation but also ensures they will make more money. The same thing goes with unnecessary surgery and shoving unnecessary medication down people's throats.

Let's discuss.

Young Atheist in Training?

When I was nine years old, I wrote a story that I now see fits nicely into pointing out the stupidity of religion, although that wasn't its original intent. Out of the mouths of babes, as they say. At any rate, here it is, in its (slightly) misspelled and (slightly) grammatically incorrect glory:

A Bomb Bigger than Jupiter

Chapter 1: The Future

On the planet Mercury in the town Wemlington, in the year of 572,256,972,534, there is a civilisation that a scientist named Cranker calls "De'ja' vu. He calls it that because everyone in the world except him and his relitives that live on the other side of Mercury don't take a step into modern society when it comes to their behavier. They behave like people from the Amizon from a long time ago. They believe in great spirits,they hunt food, everything they do is ANCIENT! Anyway, in this particular future, everyone has a name that would sound weird in the past. Clothes are different. Homes are different. Clocks are different. Everything is different. (Except the behavior of MOST people.)

Chapter 2: I'm Warning you...

Cranker woke up to a baby crying for help. He quickly got out of bed, got dressed, and ran out the door. He saw a family with their baby crying in the distance and ran to them. "What's wrong with your baby?" he asked. "She's got 'Pnemonia'",said the mother. "Is there anything I can do?" asked Cranker. "Oh, no," said the mother, "The 'Great Hawk' will make her better." "BOLDERDASH!" said Cranker. "No 'Great' what's-his-name will heal your baby! Medicine will. I've got just the thing. (I always carry around medicine in case of emergency.") He took a bottle of medicine out of his coat pocket. "Here. This should heal your baby in a few days. "Okay," said the father. With that he poured medicine on Cranker's head and laughed. "Listen," Cranker said. "What you did to me was no big deal. But I'm warning you. This De'ja' vu stuff will get you into trouble someday." With that he went home to do his "Emergency" experiment which was an experiment he does everyday to make sure there aren't any emergencies in exactly 2 weeks time. And there hadn't been any - yet.

Chapter 3: The Emergency

Cranker tied 2 wires together and got an electrical shock. He put one end of the " new wire" on top of his computer monitor and blew on the other end of the wire. Then, he turned on the computer and some writing came on the screen. This is what he saw: "IN EXACTLY 2 WEEKS AT NOON TIME THE SUN WILL EXPLODE!" He switched off the computer and ran outside to warn everyone. He ran to the "Half World Address" (Which was a microphone that you could talk into and half the world would hear.) and said, "Listen everyone, you will all die unless we leave this planet in 2 weeks. I did my 'Emergency experiment' and found out that at noon in exactly 2 weeks, the sun will explode!" "Ha!" somebody nearby shouted, "The sun won't explode! Even if it will, the 'Great Tiger' will save us!" Cranker cursed under his breath. Cranker was going to have one tough time convincing everyone that he was right. He went home to call one of his cousins and tell him: 1. To use his computer to count out everyone on his half of the planet. 2. Make a rocket that goes 100000000 times the speed of light with enough seats for everyone one that side of the planet. 3. To get everyone off this blasted planet before it's too late!

Chapter 4: Getting Prepared

It was a week and 6 days after Cranker warned his cousin, and Cranker had FINALLY finished a spaceship with enough seats for half the planet encluding himself. Everyone still didn't believe him. He went to the "Half World Address" to try to tell everyone that his spaceship was ready although he was sure it wouldn't do him any good. When he got there, he said, "I'm ready to load you on to the spaceship now. Just meet me at Wemlington and then we can get into the spaceship and beat it!" Everyone on the WHOLE half side of the world laughed and said,"Did you ever hear of the 'Great Tiger'?" "Did you ever hear of 'Better safe than sorry'?" asked Cranker.

Chapter 5: A Tragic and Fatal Day

Cranker woke up and remembred: TODAY IS THE DAY OF THE EXPLOSION! Cranker looked at his clock. It read: 11:45 A.M.! Only 15 minutes to go! He got up, he didn't even bother to get dressed. He ran out to the "Half World Address" and said in a disguised voice, "Hey, get in line to see the 'Great Ones'!" In a few seconds, half the world was in line. Cranker got into his "Super Car" (Which was a car that went very fast.) and went to the back of line and in 12 minutes, everyone was in the spaceship except Cranker. Cranker walked into the spaceship and tried to find a place to sit but there was none. He couldn't sit in the piolt's seat because there was a robot piolt and you could get electricuted if you touched parts on it other than the buttons. He walked down the isle and saw his problem: someone had a baby that morning! The baby couldn't sit on anyone's lap, it was too dangerous! Cranker was the oldest, he had to go. He set the destination on the robot pilot, and ran out of the spaceship. The rocket took off and was away in a split second. In a few seconds they arrived at the new planet. The other people were saved, but it was too late for Cranker. He was dead. The other people heard the sun explode and realized Cranker was right about it and from that day on, they took a step into modern society.

Sexism and Consciousness-Raising

After reading *The God Delusion* in 2007, "consciousness-raising" became a regular part of my vocabulary in a variety of situations. One of them is sexism.

We already know, for example, that it's wrong to hire a male engineer over a female just because he is male, not necessarily because he's more skilled. We must strive to be gender-blind in these situations, even if it's not easy for some people. We know this, but there are more subtle situations where sexism may occur that people are not as conscious of but can be detrimental.

According to a book I read, *The Essential Difference: Male and Female Brains and the Truth About Autism*, statistically males are more likely to talk about things and exchange information and females are statistically more likely to talk about topics that are social in nature. This book also states that this possibly had Darwinian survival value for our ancestors. Males did the hunting, so it only made sense that they evolved to use language to exchange information-- the best place to hunt, for example. Females took care of the children and sometimes one another's children. Knowing who could be trusted and forming tight bonds thus made the most sense. Therefore, the art of gossip arose.

That said, let's look at a hypothetical situation:

Fifteen-year-old Jeremy's favorite movie is *Star Wars*. He talks about it all the time. Some of his peers think it's weird, and his parents may roll their eyes a bit but otherwise don't pay it much mind, but he has managed to find a group of friends who share his interest. They collect *Star Wars* action figures and trade *Star Wars* trading cards in order to complete their own collections.

Fifteen-year-old Abby's favorite movie is also *Star Wars.* She talks about it all the time. Her peers think it is beyond weird, and her parents think it is immature and tell her that this isn't what kids her age talk about. She has found one friend at school who shares her interest, but she is otherwise shunned for this behavior, gossiped about, and laughed at.

Now, I know that every situation is different, but I don't think it's far-fetched to say that this is generally how these two teenagers would experience reactions from their peers and family. I also acknowledge that a serious study would have to be performed to confirm this pattern, but for now let's just go with my observation. This is indeed what I observed growing up with (sorry to grind an old ax) undiagnosed Asperger's Syndrome, considered by some scientists to be a more "masculine" brain. I was never into *Star Wars,* but I did talk a blue streak about my favorite movies. My parents thought it was immature, and my peers, who once shared my interests to some extent, found it weird when they moved on to makeup and boys.

Where does the consciousness-raising come in? I am fairly certain that had my brother been exhibiting the same behaviors, my parents wouldn't have thought it as big of a deal, and my peers wouldn't have been as put off. This isn't because their mind is going through this whole logical process, thinking, "Oh, she's a girl. If she talks about movies all the time, it's immature, but for a boy, it's a little weird but still acceptable." No. The point is people are NOT going through this logical mental processes. It probably never occurred to my parents that they would have had a different reaction had my brother been exhibiting the same behaviors. My peers were likely not thinking, "She's a girl, so she shouldn't talk about movies all the time."

Once we raise consciousness, we start asking ourselves, "Am I annoyed at Abby for talking about *Star Wars* because I'm not into *Star Wars,* or am I annoyed because she's a girl and she's doing this?" Or "Would I have the same reaction if my son were talking about *Star Wars* all the time? Would I deem him immature? If not, then I'd better make sure I make a conscious effort to be gender-blind when reacting to Abby's behavior."

Here are some other double standards we should be aware of. You will notice that many of them involve women not being "perfect," imperfection being something men can get away with more:

If Albert Einstein forgets to brush his hair, it's cute. If a woman forgets to brush her hair, other people (interestingly, mostly other women) wonder what the hell is wrong with her.

Richard Dawkins can conduct a lecture for *The God Delusion* on a cruise ship in a T-shirt, shorts, and bare feet. Could a woman of equal celebrity status get away with doing the same thing?

If a woman speaks her mind and refuses to back down because she knows she's right, will people who disagree with her get more annoyed because she's a woman and doing this? Would they be more forgiving of a man?

If a woman tells a *South Park* style joke and people don't find it funny, are they going to get more offended because she's a woman and telling this joke, or simply that the joke itself offends them?

If parents have two overweight children, a boy and a girl, will the average parent put more pressure on the girl to lose weight than the boy, not realizing that they are putting extra pressure on her?

And so forth. Of course we will subconsciously have reactions to people based on the presence or absence of a penis. But that doesn't mean we should shrug our shoulders and say, "That's the way it is." It means we need to raise consciousness.

Let's discuss.