@am*3 wrote:
The letter about calling IVF babies 'commodities' written by a teen who was an IVF baby?
I would like to read TAs reply to that.
and this one
Dear Senator Bernardi
Gosh, what a racket you’ve made in the media with your book The Conservative Revolution! It must be hard to understand why leftie intellectuals are baying for your blood when all you want is to restore the moral fabric of our once-great nation. After all, you’re just trying to restore the traditional family model – the ‘gold standard’ as you so eloquently put it – to its prime position over those sub-standard types such as step-families, families of same-sex partners, single-parent families and families with children born via surrogacy or IVF. Why, without your intervention, single mothers everywhere will continue raising criminal boys and promiscuous girls, creating a nation of drug dealers and loose women.
Allow me to introduce myself. I am a happily married mother of three. I have a nice house in the suburbs and I drive an SUV. Problem is: my eldest child, a girl, comes from a previous relationship, which makes me fall somewhat short of your gold standard, doesn’t it? I mean, it’s not like I was a lesbian or anything, but I never married her father, and we separated when she was two.
Incidentally, I fell pregnant with my daughter completely by accident – does that make me a better parent than my friends who tried for years to have a baby and then found a way through science to finally conceive a child who was much loved and longed for well before they were born? Just wondering.
I initially ignored your judgemental ramblings – my (single) mother always taught me to ignore attention seekers because addressing them just feeds their need even further – but my nine year-old daughter heard some of what you said on the news, and she wants to know why you – a respected politician (I know, I laughed too – she’s so young) said her family isn’t as good as other families.
I haven’t yet told my daughter she is destined for a life of promiscuity, because I wanted to ask you a few questions about that before I sit her down to break the news:
- What is your definition of promiscuity anyway? Is it anyone who has sex before marriage? Or is there leeway for some limited experimentation during uni?
- Is it only the girls of single mothers that become promiscuous – are the boys somehow miraculously spared their virtue – or is it just okay (or celebrated) if the boys rack up a few notches on their bedpost?
- What business is it of yours if my daughter does become ‘promiscuous’? How does it affect you or anyone else if she enjoys her body without feelings of shame and guilt about her own sexuality? Does that make her less able to contribute to society?
Clearly, the first step in my case is to hold myself up as an example of all that will go wrong in my daughter’s life. As the daughter of a single mother myself who went on to have children with two different fathers, my face should be on billboards across the nation as a warning to other women.
(Incidentally, why are you pointing the finger at single mothers to explain these statistics of yours on criminal boys and loose-moralled girls? Why aren’t we asking where the fathers are and what they are contributing to the children that they took an equal role in producing?)
But Senator Bernardi, here’s what I think is truly a threat to our children: hate, judgement, unsubstantiated ramblings and an absolute lack of compassion. Oh, and having people in positions of power telling little kids on TVs in their very own lounge rooms that they are somehow worth less because their parents don’t fit your ideal of how society should look. That’s a really, really big threat to our kids.
How dare you say that to my child, Senator? She is loved as much as any child from a ‘gold standard’ family and her future is just as bright. She is lucky enough to have two father figures in her life who each teach her different life skills. She has a wonderful extended family, and the kid really cleans up at Christmas.
I am incredibly proud my daughter is growing up in a loving, judgement-free home where people are valued on their merits rather than their situation of birth.
The positive I take out of all of this is that most people seem to recognise your views are beyond ridiculous, and it has given me a prompt to talk to my daughter about loudmouths, bullies and bigots. Thank you for that opportunity, Senator.
Have a nice day.
CT
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