Lord Blackadder said:
For myself, in all honesty my first reaction to the first article was revulsion (Why are her PARENTS doing this to HER), then curiosity because the first article was so incomplete. I didn't have enough info but I felt angry at the parents. It's natural, I suppose, though a little embarassing in retrospect. After reading the second article, it seemed to make a lot of sense.
Same feelings here.
Blue Velvet said:
Because they represent a considerable challenge to people's cosy and simple view of reality, their world-view, by revealing the multi-dimensional aspect of humanity in all its guises.
So when that happens, you either adjust your reactions or lash out.
Don't recall this
ever happening. Well, there was this one time, in the 1940s, some dude named Adolf really did a good job at adjusting the world.
Only problem? He took humanity in all its guises and tried to reduce it to one, flat, image. Did a damn good job at it though, neat, clean, and efficient.
vniow said:
Biologically, the child is female. That's a big difference between actually being a girl (which is something few people seem to understand).
Using a rather cool Applescript, I got these definitions... and I'm now confuzzled...
"female" wn "WordNet (r) 2.0"
female
adj 1: being the sex (of plant or animal) that produces
fertilizable gametes (ova) from which offspring
develop; "a female heir"; "female holly trees bear the
berries" [ant: {androgynous}, {male}]
2: characteristic of or peculiar to a woman; "female
sensitiveness"; "female suffrage" [syn: {distaff}]
3: for or composed of women or girls; "the female lead in the
play"; "a female chorus"
n 1: an animal that produces gametes (ova) that can be fertilized
by male gametes (spermatozoa) [ant: {male}]
2: a person who belongs to the sex that can have babies [syn: {female
person}] [ant: {male}]
"girl" wn "WordNet (r) 2.0"
girl
n 1: a young woman; "a young lady of 18" [syn: {miss}, {missy}, {young
lady}, {young woman}, {fille}]
2: a youthful female person; "the baby was a girl"; "the girls
were just learning to ride a tricycle" [syn: {female child},
{little girl}] [ant: {male child}, {male child}]
3: a female human offspring; "her daughter cared for her in her
old age" [syn: {daughter}] [ant: {son}, {son}]
4: a girl or young woman with whom a man is romantically
involved; "his girlfriend kicked him out" [syn: {girlfriend},
{lady friend}]
5: a friendly informal reference to a grown woman; "Mrs. Smith
was just one of the girls"
I'm one of these people that don't seem to understand. "2: a youthful female person" is listed as a definition for "girl" so doesn't that mean that a girl is a female? And it says "3: for or composed of women or girls" as a definition for "female" which leads us back to 'girl'. So.... is a girl a youthful female?

Care to help me out? Just trying to understand...
