I wonder about that as well. I worked so hard at my marriage which eventually failed. I am in a new relationship now which is weirdly easy. I mean, we have complicated lives with challenges, but I find the relationship itself gives me strength to deal with the challenges, rather that acting as another drain on my…

I agree that communication is so important. But people have to be willing to acknowledge that they have a communication issue, and I think that sometimes communication is a symptom of deeper root causes, like lack of trust.

YES. This is so important. I think one of the things that makes a relationship work is understanding your partner—understanding their family background and communication style and their triggers and trying to effectively communicate with them knowing this. If you don’t I think it is easy to become confused. I also…

I think that in general, yes, if it is rough in year 1 I would worry about it getting better; it is a big red flag.  

I divorced fairly recently after having been married for almost 8 years/together with my ex for around 10 years. I may need to get this book; I find myself reading a lot about marriage as I continue to process mine ending. As far as I can tell, what makes it work, at least for me is:

As someone who recently divorced, I agree about thinking you can change someone, that is asking for trouble. That said, I think understanding that change will happen and making sure you have the tools to weather the changes together. I was married for almost 8 years, and dated for 2 years before that. I changed…

I’m so happy that you changed together and were able to support each other!

Oh wow, how horrible. Marriage is really a leap of faith, we don’t know how or if our partner will change, or how we ourselves will change.

This is a really good point. I think that often Democrats/liberals aren’t very good at clearly and concisely communicating, and I think that doing thins like this would help a lot.

I remain cautiously optimistic about this movie and fully plan on attending opening weekend.

I LOVED the book The Mists of Avalon when I was in middle/high school. Would love to see a good minseries on HBO or STARZ.

I wish I could star this a million times. That is why I strongly believe that the pro life movement is about controlling women not about saving babies. If it were about saving babies it would promote IUDs, and other preventive measures. It would promote state sponsored, high quality day care and pre school.

Holy shit, I just read the cited op eds and I am enraged. What the fuck? These fuckers have no clue. None. This stupid man saying the women’s movement should include anti choicers? Who actively lobby against info that would help prevent unwanted pregnancies then act holy for helping mothers get state assistance while…

That is an interesting, and terrifying, analysis.

That story, and the fact that she brags about it, is profoundly fucked up.

This article is really thought provoking, as are the comments I read. Honestly it seems like an incredibly difficult situation. We only get one side of the story. Being a care taker is fucking hard. As is suffering from a chronic illness. I would love to see some follow up reporting and interviewing of other people…

Yes. I think that there are a few factors for the lack of birth discussion, but definitely one of them is to not freak out women who might be on the fence about giving birth. I don’t think it is manipulative or nefarious, but respectfully trying to not scare them. Plus as a society we are so squeamish about talking…

This is fantastic information! Thanks for sharing.

My C section scar and the surrounding area is still numb six years later. Childbirth is no joke. I’m so happy I have access to medical care or my son and I certainly would have died.

I think this is a really important article, and obviously many other commentators agree. As a society, I think we underestimate or under talk about how fucking dangerous child birth is, and how it has lasting complications for mothers. It really is. I am so happy for those women who have wonderful unmedicated births,…