I'm sure it HAS happened in the past, when people were less than hygienic, but it seems unlikely. The parents of young children I've been around lately make sure to wash a pacifier off if the kid drops it on the floor before giving it back to them, so I'm sure they'd wash their breasts off before letting a kid suckle.…

Love the "Belladonna" with either one of those names. Very earthy, witchy, vaguely Celtic.

in Soviet Russia?

I want to say something like "how bad could it be if there was chocolate?" but that's just because I'm a chocoholic.

I think sex work could exist in a non exploitative economic system. Sex is a need (or a want) that people have, and sex workers fulfill it. Presumably some of them are doing it because they like it, just like some people in any position we mostly think of as horrible like it (see: drive thru attendant at a fast-food…

One of my cats is named Tim and we regularly call him Timothy, especially when we are angry or feeling formal. The other is Suzy, and she doesn't really have a long form of her name. Maybe she needs a middle name! Although, she doesn't get into trouble the way Tim does.

On the one hand, I agree more with Helen that trust is important in a relationship, however Dan has a point about lies. We all tell ourselves lies, even without thinking about relationships at all, to make ourselves feel better or worse about ourselves or other people. I think it's kind of cynical, and maybe…

That makes sense, thanks. Because I asked this question of someone else, and their response was basically that you argue a lot on facebook. I felt like there had to be something more tangible.

As I understand it, too. But I think it's probably common to say that you were just "getting carried away" or whatever with passion during sex.

I saw an article yesterday about a man who literally punched a toddler to death. His own kid. He just punched the kid, and the kid died because of massive internal injuries. And the comments on the article were mostly "oh, the mother should have picked someone better to have kids with." Are you kidding me? He…

someone was trying to pick the lock on your bedroom door, and then left the implement behind?

How do they give up privilege though? I'm asking because that word comes up a lot in racial discussions as well, and while it's all good to think, yes, I have a certain amount of privilege, what do you do about it?

A friend on facebook asked once how many women she knew had been sexually violated. I forget the term she used exactly, but basically every woman she knew commented that they had. She was talking about everything from cat calling to inappropriate comments to actual physical contact and rape. Someone tried to disagree,…

Honestly, he probably had never even thought of it in terms of rape. I think it's wholly possible to get caught up in that sort of frat boy culture in college (or any other sort of clique) and completely forget how the outside world thinks.

"Rape victims need emotional support more than (it seems to me) anything else, which a courtroom is not designed to provide."

Good point. It essentially comes down to a he said/ she said scenario in almost all cases. Even if she's physically bruised or injured, and there's clear evidence, they can argue it was consensual and who's to say otherwise? There usually aren't any witnesses.

Yes. Empathy is lacking in a LOT of people right now. Show them pictures of starving children in Syria, and you hear "why are my tax dollars not helping vets in the US?" or some other similar response.

That's a good point re: favorites. It's connected to how, when someone is accused of rape, the media or their defenders point out the accused's good points, whether it be his charity work, sports achievements, whatever, as though to say "no, he couldn't POSSIBLY be a rapist, he donated to charity!" because those two…

I read somewhere that women aren't particular about a man's height - just that he needs to be taller than she is. Of course there are people who don't think that, but it's the traditional image, so shorter men and taller women have difficulty finding love.

there's a facebook group called "The Same Picture of Jeff Goldblum, Every Day." Do you run it?