How did I miss this wingnut?
Somehow I missed this blogger. I probably shouldn't mention her since it's just giving her publicity, but it's just too hard to ignore.
Amy Tuteur posts on Open Salon as The Skeptical OB. She is no longer a practicing doctor but says she is an "obstetrician-gynecologist. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College and her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Tuteur is a former clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School.".
She's got that unfortunate belief system shared by some doctors that she's smarter than everyone else, no one's going to put anything over on her, we cause all our own problems, and everything she believes is supported by science and/or common sense, whichever fits her preconceptions best.
I was pointed in her direction by someone who sent a link to her blog entry on flushing babies down the toilet to a friend. Reading that post led to reading others, and Tuteur's wingnuttery just blossomed forth.
So far I've managed to reap the following gems:
Are fathers optional?
(illustrated with a sonogram just so we know IT'S A BABY)
(About a woman who was informed that her daughter had been given gonorrhea by her boyfriend, and was understandably devastated)
(illustrated with a ditzy, busty young woman apparently foolishly choosing organic food)
Amy Tuteur posts on Open Salon as The Skeptical OB. She is no longer a practicing doctor but says she is an "obstetrician-gynecologist. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College and her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Tuteur is a former clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School.".
She's got that unfortunate belief system shared by some doctors that she's smarter than everyone else, no one's going to put anything over on her, we cause all our own problems, and everything she believes is supported by science and/or common sense, whichever fits her preconceptions best.
I was pointed in her direction by someone who sent a link to her blog entry on flushing babies down the toilet to a friend. Reading that post led to reading others, and Tuteur's wingnuttery just blossomed forth.
So far I've managed to reap the following gems:
Are fathers optional?
"I believe that women should we stigmatized if they want to have children without marriage, because it is a self indulgent, selfish choice. Children deserve a resident father. Women do not deserve to have children simply because they want them."Are there any bad reasons to have an abortion?
"The right to terminate a pregnancy is a cherished right among those who are pro-choice. In an effort to support that right, they often portray abortion as a difficult decision, chosen only after anguished contemplation. The reality of abortion is far different. Women have abortions for any reason or for no reason at all."Is Rihanna asking to be beaten again?
"The sad secret of domestic violence is that it takes two people to sustain an abusive relationship, the abuser and the woman willing to be abused....Next time, it will be Rihanna’s fault as well as Brown’s."No, Ma'am, your 5 year old did not get gonorrhea from you
(About a woman who was informed that her daughter had been given gonorrhea by her boyfriend, and was understandably devastated)
"Yet, somehow this seemed among the worst: a little girl who had been victimized and a mother who refuse to see what was right in front of her. Until then I always wondered about the mothers who supposedly tolerated incest and sexual abuse of their daughters. I thought I wouldn't be able to contain my anger if I ever met such a mother. This case completely blindsided me, both because I couldn't see it coming, and because instead of feeling anger, I felt unspeakably sad."The organic food scam
She's surprised she was sympathetic to the mom even while assuming the mom already knew and was covering it up.
(illustrated with a ditzy, busty young woman apparently foolishly choosing organic food)
In response to '"In humans: In a prospective cohort study among 2800 children in the Netherlands (KOALA), investigating the relation of life style factors and allergic complaints, a 33% reduction of eczema was found connected to the use of organic dairy products at the age of 2 years. The mothers in this study, who used organic dairy, had a higher amount of CLAs in the breast milk.":
"A 33% reduction in eczema is essentially nothing."
Posted by oldfeminist at 3/20/2009 7:54 PM 
Categories: violence, medicine, sexist
Tags: violence medicine sexist
Categories: violence, medicine, sexist
Tags: violence medicine sexist
Regarding Amy Tuteur's rail against single and gay parents, I remember her saying that one of her children was autistic. Now I know many parents of disabled children who are wonderful and compassionate people. My aunt, who has a child with Down Syndrome, is one of them. But I think Amy Tuteur sees happy same-sex and single-parent families and is jealous of them because they remind her of her own misery. She's kind of like the little kid who's unhappy and throws rocks at other kids because he thinks they're having fun - though in Amy's case it might be threatening to break their arm (see a post of hers about an elderly patient of hers).
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Actually, Amy has one child on the autistic spectrum, another one who didn't talk when he was four years old. While she has the right to have as many children as she wants, sometimes I think that just as we who love animals do the responsible thing and get our cats and dogs fixed, with two special needs children (and two other kids) as soon as Amy had her first child with special needs she should have closed her baby factory then and there.
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Emilia Liz, there do seem to be a number of people who have difficult families who don't want to share the chance to have a good one with anyone who's "abnormal."
It's as if they think there's only a few happy families to go around and they can't go letting the "wrong" people have any of them.
It underpins that "women shouldn't be getting abortions when I want to adopt a baby and it's so haaaaard" mentality.
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I was corresponding with a gay acquaintance, and we noticed that while homophobic men are sometimes closet homosexuals themselves, homophobic women (and "family values" women in general) are usually not closet lesbians but women who have unhappy family lives but try to project this holier-than-thou image by appealing to "the children" and the sanctity of the family. A famous example is Anita Bryant, the country singer who headed the "Save our children" campaign to stop gays and lesbians from teaching in the schools. Anita Bryant later divorced her husband and revealed her marriage had been a nightmare.
By the way, it's heartening to see that many adoptive - and would-be adoptive - parents aren't being pulled into the "Adoption, not abortion" campaign. For example, my sister adopted a boy and a girl. I myself have one biological daughter and might look into adoption if I ever want to expand my family. But my support of adoption doesn't translate into the belief that women should be forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term in order to provide babies for potential adoptive parents.
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Unbelievable
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