Also, who exactly were they studying - American Muslims and Hindus, who don't face legal repercussions for premarital sex? How can that then be a factor?

I think its more likely that they took down the blog because the family doesn't want any more public scrutiny or attention. Moreover, the blog, which was likely meant for friends and family to read, is now too painful and too intimate to share with the world and see repeated on every news site.

Troll?

Knowing now that the hormones associated with natural reproduction and egg donation aren't the same, I'm rethinking my position on egg donation for myself. I've had very very easy pregnancies, no trouble conceiving, no sickness, etc. I could have been one of those people on "I didn't know I was pregnant" except I was…

Which is why I don't think any part of this should be for-profit. Take money out of the equation and less women will donate, that's true, but those who do wont be doing so because they need the money. The money isn't likely to cover the medical treatments they might need after the procedure especially without a…

As other people brought up, the point of making it illegal to sell eggs in Canada is to discourage women from undergoing an invasive medical procedure for monetary gain. If you donate your eggs to a couple/individual who really want to conceive there is nothing to prevent that them from giving you a gift as a thank…

Why did I Google Saanvi Venna after reading your comment? WHY????

Good points. I know for me that when I had a child, I suddenly felt very differently and like I suddenly understood what my sister and mother had experienced as parents, but I don't think this makes me any better a person or any more loving than my friend, for instance, who helps look after my daughter on pretty much…

I had a really strong sense of my mother and father's concern for my well-being and I would burst into tears with a particular song my mother sang to me about ducks wandering away from their mother and not coming back. I just felt so bad for the mother duck to called for them and kept losing them one by one, until…

You know reading comprehension is kind of important to this discussion thread as Gynostar has presented a critique of what the author has both implied and explicitly stated. Challenging her interpretation is perfectly valid because that's what this discussion thread is about. If it wasn't a critique then you might…

Sorry, but where did she say you had to be a parent to feel this way? I must have missed it because I can't find the line anywhere.

Yes, thank you for saying this. It's really bothering me that one of the top comments is about how child-free people feel this pain too, blah blah blah. Of course they do! No one ever said they don't. URGHHHHH.

You can read about it in the beginning of A Secular Age - which is awesome btw, I wrote my Masters on it and I get to go to lunch with Taylor in a few weeks, so YAY! I have a signed copy and he's really an awesome guy, very friendly, personable ... I have a little crush, can you tell?

I never took a classics course and kind of regret it, so I'm unfamiliar with many of your examples. I do want to clarify that I wasn't trying to argue that Plato is not a religious thinking. For that matter, I don't think that being a religious thinker is problematic because there is no such thing as a philosophy…

Ah, defining the good. The term "the good" comes from Plato, if I'm not mistaken, and it's simply meant to represent the idea of something being of the highest value. While it is generally spoken of in the singular usually good it is that there are multiple goods. What is good is what has value. So it can be…

The point is that she was saying quite clearly, don't ask me out people and the guy did anyway. Maybe the point is that he's not supposed to ask her out. Maybe that isn't something he has a right to do by default just because she's a single female. If she's been saying pretty clearly, don't sexualize me, then don't…

It's the context. If a woman is talking about how being approached as a sexual object at these conferences bothers her, and then has drinks with people at the bar, says she's tired and going to bed, would you really get into the elevator with her and ask if she wants to come back to your place for coffee? If he was…

There's a really interesting analysis of the kind of "self" that gravitates towards atheist community by Charles Taylor in "A Secular Age" and it really centers on this idea "love of their own ability to rationalize their own existences". It's the overly strong evaluation of their own rationalizing capabilities and…

I felt I went from an hourglass shape to an apple. I lost more weight in my legs than I did in my torso. I'm back to my pre-baby weight, but my torso is just wider. I'm also three months pregnant again and it widened almost immediately. I have no idea why things happen the way they do, probably just has to do with how…

The part about not being able to ever get your pre-pregnancy body back is so true. It's just such a different body now in so many subtle ways. I was lucky not to gain more than the recommended amount for my body size during my pregnancy and less than a year after delivery, and 3 months into my next pregnancy, I'm…