@Grim Reaper of the Forest: This. Hearted.

"These groups are uniquely denigrated by the statement that women can get laid anytime, because the kind of man who says this is also likely to be the kind who would reject them out of hand."

@euterpe35: Thank you. Reading other comments, I am very disappointed at the tone of this thread. This is something few people are willing to talk about in a political manner. It just devolves into anecdotes and excuses for superficiality.

Thank you so much for this post. It articulates many of the problems I have during these conversations, even with progressive women. Too much of the time, the issue of men invading women's space with their entitlement and desire dominates the conversation, while any discussion of the way they invade "hag's" space with…

@la.donna.pietra: Sorry for being a killjoy. I think I was indicting my own lack of clarity in my original comment.

@la.donna.pietra: I was really railing against the latter part of that sentence. I don't think the man was genuinely offering "affection" as the opposite of "power struggle"; I think that, within the context of the conversation, he was implying that power struggles are inevitable in a relationship where the woman…

"I deserve to be able to come home to affection and not to a power struggle."

@LaurenIvy: Well, they are teenagers like anyone else, except that they are solely responsible for the welfare of an entire other human being.

@largirl is devastated.: My idiot sister-in-law had a baby this week, and I can't imagine anyone who deserves that kid less. If we lived in a lawless Mad Max-style distopia, I would smuggle him to your house without a second thought. I am so sorry for your loss. I hope that time washes away the sting in your baby's…

What is the point of trying to quantify something like a "personality" as being the "best"? Your real personality is the product of things completely beyond your control (genetics, childhood, brain chemistry, randomly-assigned temperament), so rewarding people for that is inherently unfair, since it's not earned. Your…

@wealhtheow: I agree. Even if the fetus did feel a few moments of pain, followed by certain death... it wouldn't factor in to my feelings about abortion. Abortion is for women, not fetuses.

@solidfever: Totes magotes, Joban.

@didntmeanto: Same here. I have adopted three cats in my life, and will be adopting one more, and I would never go anywhere besides a shelter.

@Allabouteve: It is not true that biological parents are just "stuck" with the kids they give birth to. Children's Services takes in relinquished biological children every day. Yes, it's terrible what this woman did, but "She would have been stuck with him if she'd given birth to him" is just not a good argument,…

@Buggie: Bio parents who cannot handle their children can surrender them to Child Services, or take advantage of Safe Haven laws, depending on which State they live in. The saddest are the parents with special-needs children who surrender them because they cannot afford their care.

@cassiemajestic: Some people are not interested in adopting from the foster care system because of the greater likelihood of the children being restored to their families. My Aussie in-laws are all foster-ers, and even though in most cases they had realistic expectations about whether the children would eventually…