Good day, Woman UP'pers. On this All Saints Day, I'm wondering what the rest of you in the coven think about a couple of different pieces in the Washington Post. First, what a great obit of Michelle Marvin, who popularized palimony but never collected a dime of the $104,000 she was awarded for what a judge called "rehabilitative purposes'' after her companion (but not husband) Lee Marvin dumped her and she sued him for a share of the millions he'd made while they were together. (She did award herself his last name, which must have been more self-flagellating than self-aggrandizing after he left her for his childhood sweetheart.)
After an 11-week trial -- of marriage itself, according to her lawyer -- she famously said, "If a man wants to leave his toothbrush at my house, he bloody better well marry me." Then she spent 30 years with (but not married to) Dick Van Dyke.
I remember her as the cautionary, anti-role model of my adolescence, and do wish her obit had shed a little more light on the decades after the lawsuit; does anyone know how the story ended?
Also wondered what others thought about the woman addicted to abortion. (Here's a Post transcript of an online discussion with Irene Vilar, under the headline "Nightmare addiction: abortion.'' It's sub-titled: "Irene Vilar tries to explain the pathology that led her to abort 15 pregnancies."
So my question to my pro-choice sisters: If there's nothing wrong with abortion, either morally or physically, then what does sheer volume change? If, as Slate's Emily Bazelon wrote last year, "sometimes an abortion is a few not ideal hours that give you the rest of your life back,'' then at what point does it become a pathology? (Six? Ten?)
Melinda Henneberger is the editor-in-chief of PoliticsDaily.com. She spent 10 years as a reporter for the New York Times, in the paper’s Washington and Rome bureaus... more
God knows where that toothbrush has been. If he sleeps over, you are probably marrying the wrong man.
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acheapmom
4:01PM Nov 1st 2009
I read the attached links to stories about Michelle Marvin and Irene Vilar...
Abortion is supposed to be an empowerment for women; and the sexual revolution is supposed to be "good" for women...(so I am told)
Otherwise, it seems Marvin and Vilar were---sad patsies!!!
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Llama
4:09PM Nov 1st 2009
Men are starting to give up on Marriage. They are tired of carrying the freight adn being taken advantage of.
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oxbow99
4:24PM Nov 1st 2009
Why is this piece of paper (certificate) so important to women?
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RW&B
5:28PM Nov 1st 2009
So our children wont be bastards
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oxbow99
5:34PM Nov 1st 2009
Good answer
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Tammy
4:45PM Nov 1st 2009
"So my question to my pro-choice sisters: If there's nothing wrong with abortion, either morally or physically, then what does sheer volume change? If, as Slate's Emily Bazelon wrote last year, "sometimes an abortion is a few not ideal hours that give you the rest of your life back,'' then at what point does it become a pathology? (Six? Ten?)"
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Uh oh. I smell a Sarah Palin-like smear campaign in your future if you're not careful. Best keep those little seeds of moral doubt tucked deep in your pockets, or else....
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oxbow99
4:53PM Nov 1st 2009
She ask's the question, like one would ask, "How many lix does it take, to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?" Very casually.
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steelers2116
4:50PM Nov 1st 2009
Maybe Dick didn't brush his teeth....lol
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gere
5:16PM Nov 1st 2009
It seeems to me that women have lost quite a bit with gaining their so called equality. Although they are certainly benefitting during these huge lay off periods, holding onto high paying jobs while ytheir male counterparts are cut right and left. Its hard to call what we are currently facing today progress, and if its still considered such, at what cost to society as a whole? If having a career was the be all to everyone, why are so many powerful women complaining about their lack of personal time these days? Add to this the current phenomenon where men over 45 or so have been deemed irrelevant and marginalized at almost every societal level, while the number of single and living alone over 40 females is expanding with no end in sight. Now days, its rather obvious to anyone with half a brain that having it all entails making some fairly significant sacrifices after all. Men have seen what loyalty gets you in the workplace, not to mention on the homefront, anymore. Not much! If men are leaving their toothbrushes at your place maybe its because they actually like you? Its the easyist interpretation, but probably too simple for the experts to actually accept anymore. In my experience, women today are no more interested in getting marriage liscenses anymore, than men are. And especially if they have gotten divorced at least once. Divorce istelf exacts a pretty high toll on everyone involved, its just that women have been socially promoted so much by the existing powers that be, that it almost seems like either men will eventually be deemed only worthy of becoming slave labor, or lesbianism will see a significant increase as social progressives push on obliterating traditional values. The two women in this article surely led the way, but neither can hardly be described as a winner in my opinion. I wonder what the serial abortion seeker thinks about as she sits at home alone late at night? Probably a lot of regret. Look at all the old female rockers from the 60's and 70's. Their in their late 50's now, and 2/3's of them are single and lonely, living a solitary existence. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll was just a slogan, life had better things to offer after all. Like a family and grandkids in your old age. One question: just exactly what is it that you women want anymore? The crap you've been espousing for the last three decades is total bs, as I have yet to find a women yet really interested in a long term relationship with the sensetive type, no matter what the media tells us otherwise. Men have their biological purpose after all, its just that even that is being marginalized by technological advance. Thw war between the sexes rages on, its just that women have won the kegal battles in the courts and men are just tired of fighting them anymore, and prefer silence to nagging. Hate me for stating the obvious all you want, but its the truth.
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thomasswope
10:56PM Nov 1st 2009
i agree total yes sir i agree totally
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JP
6:11PM Nov 1st 2009
At what point does a few drinks become alcoholism? At what point does in vitro fertilization turn into Octomom?
At what point do we begin to learn from our mistakes and move on to a better way of doing things?
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Michelle
8:53PM Nov 1st 2009
As someone who believes in choice, I feel, that anything in excess is a problem. Just as JP was saying in their post. The procedure itself, can be very harmful on the body, and can cause future complications, it should not be taken as a standard procedure or used as a form of longterm birthcontrol.
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crossrabbswitch
11:29PM Nov 1st 2009
Well, if you could ask your aborted kid, he would tell you that one abortion is excessive.
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gatso27
2:09AM Nov 2nd 2009
Most men that goes through the court system to get a divorce will die and go to hell before they legally marry again. Some attorneys are evil and sidisdic. The courts do not favor the men but favor the women. Take child support for example; The men have to pay suport weather they are working or not,l remember asking the judge that if you give me permission l will go rob a bank and give all the money to the court for my support. If a man wants custody of the child and she is willing he can have the child only if she does not have to pay support other wise it is no deal. In Palm Beach County It cost $10.00 to purchase a modifictation for child support which consist of at least 50 or more pages that need to be fulled out. If a lady wants a loan modificatation form she gets it for free and it is only 2 pages long at a different location that only ladies can get. I seen this happen with my own eyes. Is it any wonder men do not want to get married? The courts in there own way is ruining the institute of marrage.
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john foote
9:25AM Nov 2nd 2009
Ok girls stop being silly. You don't even like each other and you also know that you are sex objects, that is why you dress as you do. Not too many men would hang with you if there was no sex. Mad yet. Well it is true, get over it you have the power and you love using it. As far as the abortion thing goes It is wrong to kill but the choice is yours at least for now. Hate me now?
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Ruby
9:45AM Nov 2nd 2009
Nearly three-quarters of the approximately 7 million people who have lost jobs in this recession have been men.
The unemployment rate for adult men stood at 10.3 percent in September, compared with 7.8 percent for women.
This is giving some men an additional reason to get married.
The other reason is that married men are wealthier, healthier, and happier than single men.
You are right Ruby, I am all male, and suffering financially from Obama's full frontal assault on private business. My girlfriend has become the breadwinner by 100k a year, and if it were not for her, I would be in bad shape. It would behoove me to marry this wonderful woman.