Fuck the fucking fifth circuit

This country was supposed to be BETTER for my daughter than it was for me. Not worse.

It’s also worth noting that Planned Parenthood has been building a new facility in New Orleans that would provide abortions (the current facility does not provide abortions, but referrals) and it has been a shitshow. The local Catholic diocese literally told builders that if they worked on the building, the church…

I can’t internet anymore today. I’m too depressed. I need to go find some squee in my life.

Arrrrgh! The AOL chatrooms! a/s/l? The screen would always freeze up when some dude was being super inappropriate (the computer had no parental controls but it was in my parents’ bedroom so privacy was not guaranteed). It was the worst.

Oh I definitely partook in some sketchy as hell AOL chats with presumably grown men as a pre-teen. I’m talking To Catch a Predator sketchy. To be clear I never sent photos (was that even possible then?) or agreed to meet with anyone. It was more a curiosity for me than arousal I guess. I thought it was weird, kind of…

Could you share some of those books and charts? I have no idea how to address this in an age-appropriate way. I have a tendency to over-explain things in way more scientific terms than is helpful. My kids just look at me confused and go ask dad. I don’t want that to be the case when it comes to sex.

She’s your daughter? Wow. Never seem a mother/daughter Kinja combo.

Yep, AOL chatrooms. I had a guy hit on me when I was like 12. Obviously, he had no way of knowing that. He went from general flirting to what would now be considered sexting. I just shut off the computer.

She bragged the other day about knowing more than I think she knows about sex. And I was like oh yeah? And she said yeah I know everything. I ride a bus, mom. So I asked her about anal beads.

Maybe not! I was super honest to the point of being clinical with Hippie Chick (frequent Jez commenter, now a grown-ass woman). From the first moment she asked me a question about sex and bodies, we had books and charts and information, at a pace she could handle. I knew it was working when she came home from middle…

It’s the ongoing problem; we managed to make it through mostly okay, but in hindsight we can look back at all the massive bullets we dodged and think “Yeesh, maybe there’s a better way that that bullshit.”

Also, let your kid have sleepovers or volunteer to run the carpool for the friends. You learn SO MUCH more about how they think/feel about boys/girls/bullies/sex/preteen angst/etc than you will ever learn with even the most concerned one on one chats.

This. So much this. The only thing you can do is make sure you provide age appropriate, as correct as humanly possible, answers to whatever questions they ask, when they ask them. Both of my kids know that I am available (although my son, obviously, especially at 23, prefers to consult older male friends), and even if…

I think that this might be the most important reason to make sure that your kid has some good friends. I know that I could have talked to my mum but the reality is that all of my (accurate, sex-positive, safe) conversations happened with my same-age friends. I know how lucky I was to have that and I’d really do…

My child asked me recently THE question. We had a reasonably dry discussion about the technical aspects (She asked about boys who like boys and girls who like girls as well so I didn’t get to save that discussion for later), followed by a reiteration of inappropriate behaviors others cannot do to her, followed by a…

The question did come after a question about executive orders more generally (at least in reporting, I don’t know if they randomized the order), but the fact remains that all the other candidates got massively smaller percentages than Trump did.

Yeah, it’s all about states’ rights.

Eh. I mean, you’re right, that likely would be many voters’ reasoning for why they answered the way they did. And maybe this is me lacking “nuance,” but...