I'm 5'2" and in medical school, I was told that I dressed inappropriately because patients could see down my button up shirt (I had left the neck button unbuttoned, but everything else was buttoned). Newsflash: when someone is sitting on a table ABOVE you, everyone can see down your shirt. I refuse to believe that the…

Meh, I don't see the problem with this particular thing. It seems like snarking for the sake of snarking. I think that being proud of the things you do is better than being proud of what you look like.

No, I didn't say they should split 6 weeks. I think they should both get 6 weeks.

If that's the reasoning, then I think it should be x weeks of paid medical leave for anybody who needs it. Not FMLA. Paid medical leave. If it's not about family and it is about "physically healing from trauma," then everyone should have it.

Yes! This was a point that I had wanted to bring up but I forgot to. I think that people are overemphasizing the importance of "giving birth" and not recognizing that families happen in many ways. Just because somebody gives birth doesn't mean that they should be granted any extra protection over somebody who creates…

You have completely missed the point.

Ha, yes! I know, it's ridiculous. But that doesn't change my thought that it's just right to advocate for parental leave, both mothers and fathers, right from the beginning.

Yes, something like that would be perfect. I mean, I'm not married to the idea of "x weeks for mom, and x weeks for dad so it's exactly equal." The bill seems so focused on paid maternity leave, and I really want men to have that same opportunity to spend time with their kids. I don't think I could call myself a…

I think maternity leave is unlikely, for the reason stated in the article. I just don't think it hurts the chances to include men. I don't think there are any arguments that could be made about extending it to both parents that won't be made with extending it to women. I think the biggest argument against paid…

First of all, it's not a given that we can get maternity leave to begin with. Second, I think it would only increase support for this bill if we include the other half of people involved in parenthood. I dislike greatly the "women first!" attitude here. If we want men to be equal partners in childrearing, we need to…

I disagree fundamentally with "maternity leave first." I talk more about it above, but I worry that we pigeonhole ourselves into "mothers should be at home" if we only offer this to women. We also don't do ourselves any favors in the workplace by only advocating for women only to take paid leave for parenthood. Also,…

Yes, exactly. I was very careful to say maternity benefits, but I can see how the issue can be thought of as "leave" and not "paid leave."

Why do we have to start with one? I disagree that this must start with women, then extend to men later. It's to both parents' benefits to have parental leave instead of maternity leave. If you have a particularly difficult birth, who is going to be home to help you and also watch the baby? Without simultaneous leave…

I think it'd actually be great for us to sequentially take our leaves. I'd probably take it first (having given birth and all, and breastfeeding if I can), then he'd take it for the next period of time. That way, our kid could have a stay at home parent for a while before daycare.

I see no reason not to include men from the get-go. First, let's worry about one set of rights, then we can get around to working on it for men too? Sorry, I don't think that will actually happen. I think women will get paid maternity leave, but then we've put ourselves in the quandary of being the only ones who can…

Since maternity benefits are not applied nationwide from a federal level, paid parental leave is certainly not already applied nationwide.

Of course, there's no denying that it's harder on women, since men don't give birth at all. But if this is about a long leave of 6-12 weeks, then this should absolutely extend equally to both parties.

Yeah. I actually don't want to stay home, so I'd rather it be extended to both parties so that one of us can. Although I don't think he wants to stay home either, so no kids for us! Even better, EVERYBODY gets off 6-12 weeks paid per year to do whatever you want with. Want to have a kid? Go nuts! Want to go on a sweet…

I kind of think we should offer "parental" leave instead of maternity leave. Both mother and father should be eligible since it's just as important for fathers to learn how to take care of children and bond as it is for mothers. Hell, I'd want my husband take it for me even if only one of us got it.

Cool story.