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I know it's about two weeks old, but this STILL pisses me off. Because a pregnant woman is public property and can't possibly expect people to keep their hands off her, doncha know! I was so pissed off by this that I wrote in to Dear Abby.
I am appalled by some of the responses to Pregnant and Paranoid's letter. It is beyond rude to touch a stranger (or anyone, for that matter) without their permission, and just because a woman is pregnant does not mean she becomes public property.
I am especially angered by the person who said she should "enjoy a little gratuitous physical contact" and the implications in other letters that she is asking for people to touch her belly if she is not covering herself up in loose clothing to "hide" her belly. A pregnant belly is hard to hide, and she shouldn't HAVE to hide herself to keep people from touching her. Saying that she's inviting it if she wears tight or "immodest" clothing displays the same attitude as saying "she was asking to be raped because her skirt was too short".
Why should she enjoy physical contact she never asked for? Is it unreasonable for Pregnant to expect to be able to walk down the street un-harassed? Or have people forgotten what personal space is? If I walked up to a stranger and started playing with their hair, it would be rude and creepy. The situation does not change if I am touching a pregnant stranger’s belly. In both cases, I am the one at fault, not the person I am touching.
Please, please inform your readers that it is unacceptable to initiate physical contact of any kind with a person without their permission. No one has the right to touch another person, regardless of what that person is wearing, and in many cases it can be considered assault.
It's a lot better than my initial reaction, which was "Fuck you all, you self-righteous assholes." I still think that pregnant women should be given big, spiked maces to swing at people who touch their bellies.
In other news, I think my interview went okay yesterday. I went over to Ashleigh's place so she could help me with my hair. While she was putting in the rollers, she asked where the interview was - turns out she had the same interview I did. It was a group interview, and while I thought I sounded like an idiot, Ashleigh told me I had some answers she wished she'd thought of. They'll be calling in seven to ten days - I really, really hope I get the job.
The guy who sat behind me during the interview was in a skirt, and I didn't even realize it until we were leaving. Ashleigh tried to point him out to me while we were waiting for the interview to start, but I thought she was pointing at someone else, and all I really saw of the guy was the skirt and assumed it was a woman. He looked pretty good in drag. During the interview he said it was the fourth time he was applying for a job at Kohl's, and now I really hope he does get the job. I can't believe I didn't notice sooner. What good is an attraction to cross-dressing if I can't notice when people do it?
I am appalled by some of the responses to Pregnant and Paranoid's letter. It is beyond rude to touch a stranger (or anyone, for that matter) without their permission, and just because a woman is pregnant does not mean she becomes public property.
I am especially angered by the person who said she should "enjoy a little gratuitous physical contact" and the implications in other letters that she is asking for people to touch her belly if she is not covering herself up in loose clothing to "hide" her belly. A pregnant belly is hard to hide, and she shouldn't HAVE to hide herself to keep people from touching her. Saying that she's inviting it if she wears tight or "immodest" clothing displays the same attitude as saying "she was asking to be raped because her skirt was too short".
Why should she enjoy physical contact she never asked for? Is it unreasonable for Pregnant to expect to be able to walk down the street un-harassed? Or have people forgotten what personal space is? If I walked up to a stranger and started playing with their hair, it would be rude and creepy. The situation does not change if I am touching a pregnant stranger’s belly. In both cases, I am the one at fault, not the person I am touching.
Please, please inform your readers that it is unacceptable to initiate physical contact of any kind with a person without their permission. No one has the right to touch another person, regardless of what that person is wearing, and in many cases it can be considered assault.
It's a lot better than my initial reaction, which was "Fuck you all, you self-righteous assholes." I still think that pregnant women should be given big, spiked maces to swing at people who touch their bellies.
In other news, I think my interview went okay yesterday. I went over to Ashleigh's place so she could help me with my hair. While she was putting in the rollers, she asked where the interview was - turns out she had the same interview I did. It was a group interview, and while I thought I sounded like an idiot, Ashleigh told me I had some answers she wished she'd thought of. They'll be calling in seven to ten days - I really, really hope I get the job.
The guy who sat behind me during the interview was in a skirt, and I didn't even realize it until we were leaving. Ashleigh tried to point him out to me while we were waiting for the interview to start, but I thought she was pointing at someone else, and all I really saw of the guy was the skirt and assumed it was a woman. He looked pretty good in drag. During the interview he said it was the fourth time he was applying for a job at Kohl's, and now I really hope he does get the job. I can't believe I didn't notice sooner. What good is an attraction to cross-dressing if I can't notice when people do it?
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And yay for possible job!
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And much yay for possible job! I think I heard them say they needed about fifty people, so there's a chance for me.
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Good luck with the job~!
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And omg. I don't ever plan on pregnancy, but something tells me complete strangers coming up to you and touching you is just a bad thing. Correct me if I'm wrong now. If they wanted to touch pregnant belly, let them get knocked up themselves or get their wife or girlfriend pregnant and see then. Whatever this Abby bitch wants to think, if someone walks up to me with the intent to touch me and I don't welcome it, I take it as a threat. Paranoid, perhaps, but would I rather be safe or sorry?
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I swear, if I was pregnant and a stranger touched me, I would stab them. Even if I only had a blunt object, I'd find a way to stab them with it.
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Is WANTING to touch it sick and wrong? No. Is assuming you can do so without having the damn common decency to ASK first?! YEEESSSSSSSS.
Bloody hell. The pregnancy thing is touchy enough to begin with, and there's a lot of gray areas. For example, as somone who is fat and mostly in a strategic location, I get asked if I'm pregnant and FUCK does it ever hurt my feelings... and not so much because it means they noticed my fatness, cuz um yeah, you gotta be blind to not notice the pudge... but it's like, shit, just cuz I have tits doesn't mean that I'm some baby factory, I have other uses in life and I'm sick of everyone assuming that any woman who CAN have a baby SHOULD and WILL... plus that, what business is it of theres even if I AM? What if I didn't WANT the kid and didn't wanna talk about it? LEAVE ME ALONE.
But touching a preggers lady? That's not gray. Either you know the woman so well that you know what she's comfy with, or else you friggin' ASK. Even with my sister (and we are VERY touchy with each other) I asked, because I have never been pregnant and didn't know if it would cause her physical discomfort to be touched, as she's a small person and the baby is taking up space that, by rights, her organs should be.
Sigh. If she wants to be polite to people who've simply overstepped her bounds that's fine but she should still have every right to tell them NO if that's how she wants it. If she doesn't want them to touch, they don't get to, end of story. There are other, more open pregnant women out there for the avid gropers to prod; it's not like she's denying them something they'll never get otherwise. GEEZ.