To me, it's more like having a second adult person around makes me feel safer than being solo. Right now it's my male partner, before that it was my female roommate, before that it was my parents.

I don't get a lot of people bragging or whatever, but I did have people tell me they were sorry for my birth experience. One of the two best days of life and they think it's something worth pity. I find that very odd. I have also been told that I should never share publicly how enjoyable my c-section was because it…

Oh, the phenomenon totally exists. A doula of my acquaintance advocates so hard for natural birth her website says, "After all, don't you want a birth that matters?"

I think unless someone (who came away healthy and with a healthy baby, obviously) expresses frustration about how the birth happened, it's better, just as a rule, to not qualify it one way or the other.

Maybe they're not "lording over" stories, but a friend of mine faced lots of criticism for opting for an elective c-section, including a comment from someone who told her she would probably get sepsis and die. That woman was obviously extreme (and insane) - but my friend and I were on the same online mom user group,…

So I live in this wonderful city, the Paris of the Rustbelt. But seriously, there is a very strong Orthodox community in Squirrel Hill (one of the largest if not the largest outside of Israel and NYC, if I remember correctly), but there is also a huge Reform contingent as well (Reform Judaism has a strong following in…

It's most likely not you living in NYC, but your circle of friends. I definitely do *not* have a circle of friends where an 8k engagement ring is the norm.

I think it also comes down to what the wedding is actually about... a lot of people get married because they think that's the proper thing to do at that age and stage in their lives, others get married because they want a fancy ring and a fancy party where everything is about them for a day... those people end up…

This survey was nationwide, though — and a full carat (decent quality diamond) is not considered "modest" in most places in the country.

I think this is really regionally different and also something that is strange to most of my friends who did NOT spend a mint on or refused to have a mint spent on a ring. We're all academics, feminists, and rather opininated about blood diamonds, though. Very few people I know got a "real" diamond. Most opted for…

Our was $750. We're married now for 23 years.

how special and awesome it is to be surrounded by women friends and not be ashamed of womanhood

"You're a bitch for assuming that every strange man is a possible attacker." "You're a stupid and irresponsible bitch for not being more careful / not dressing more conservatively / not ignoring that strange man who talked to you."

I know. And someone's going to jump in here about how statistically unlikely this is to happen to us by whatever random guy is harassing us on the street, and I'm like WE DON'T FUCKING KNOW. Then it's like, if we get raped or hurt or killed, we are blamed for being alone on that street, or putting ourselves in a…

I didn't realize we'd come up with a list of what sex acts are 'vanilla' and thus expected of everyone. Care to share exactly what we're contractually obligated to upon entering into a sexual relationship?

What I really want to know it, why now? They're married. (For how long, it doesn't say, but in today's times one can presume they're had numerous sexual romps.) Did he think he would wear her down? She'd change her mind? If it was such a "turn-off" for him that she not do oral, then why is he putting his foot down…

Here's the thing: not everyone grows up in an environment where food knowledge is even a thing. Many people are just happy to get whatever their next meal is and to call them stupid when they don't know how to function as expected when exposed to your more privileged food culture is not cool.

I imagined him as a guy still living with his mother and who had only had eggs one way because that's the only way his mom prepared them for him. Yes, I'm buying into the whole Jersey stereotype, but full disclosure I moved here for school so I feel qualified make the judgement call :P