Friends would agree, I'm sure, that I am a bit eccentric...how many women sit down and write histories of the condom, after all?? But, my book is not about rubber and latex, it's about human nature, about making connections. John Muir said that when we try to separate one thing in nature from another, we simply can't do it, as it is all one.
When my daughter and I visited a wonderful place called Monkey World yesterday, I kept thinking about that wonderful - and yes, many thought, eccentric - man, especially as those lovely, plaintive faces of macques, chimps, and Orangutans (meaning 'man of the jungle, I believe) looked back at me...most of them are "saves" from animal testing facilities around the world, but a few came from the wild, where there parents and their habitats are being slaughtered...for what? Farming plots that don't last because the soil is all wrong, out of horrendous cruelty (some call it sport!), and more, but the bottom line is the same: we are screwing up the planet for self gain, and at what a cost!!
And then, looking around at the people, looking around at the monkeys, with kids and adults sucking down coke in plastic bottles, smoking ciggies, shoving crisps in their mouths, I wondered who actually belonged in the cages! These magnificent creatures - the lucky ones, some would say - essentially are going away, in pain and terror, so that we can suck up their space...too many people, too little arrible land. So how come animals don't, as my mother used to say, poo on their own doorsteps the way people do?? Yet, we do and it's those animals, who are a part of us, who suffer.
Adopt a monkey through the link to Monkey World Link in the links page...
The Uk government keeps trying to fiddle out ways to cut the every-climbing std and teen pregnancy rate, and frankly some of their "answers" make me wonder just how detached they really are from thier own society. Just this week, the suggestion was made that in certain areas - those that are deprived - free pregnancy tests be made available to young girls. That follows the move to make condoms available to girls under 15 - free of charge - at most chemist shops, over ruling the common wisdom that that is too young for girls to be given protection without education. Whatever! The question, for me, is why is there no move to integrate the many competing policies into a cohesive program meant to work toward education, access, and empowerment of teens and young adults regarding their own bodies, and the consequences - social, economic, psychological, etc. - of NOT doing "what's right."
Education has failed kiddos, regarding schooling on sex, stds, and all that goes with them...Government - national and local - has failed miserably, in not providing that education (instead of pretending to do so), in not integrating NHS policies (how about, babies are not "free"!!), educational policies, and welfare policies. How about: when the 15 year old is bored and has no sense of her own future, she will NO LONGER be GIVEN a "free" council flat and all that goes with it! HELLO! Not rocket science here!!Parents are the biggest failures, as the abdication of parenthood is almost complete, with parents dumping responsibility on the schools, police, etc., and simply not teaching the values that lead children to believe in themselves their futures, and to respect themselves, to include their own bodies.
Did you know? That 80% of the young men in Britain's borstals were born to teenaged mothers?? Did you know that the majority of these young offenders are also parents in their own right (remember, the age range is 17-21!)
And the beat goes on!!
Today, a baby was seized from its parents by the police - the reason? They had put the eight-month-old boy up on Ebay - starting bid one euro - but instead of bidding, viewers notified the police!!
BBC radio asked listeners about the most appropriate music to have a vasectomy by, and here are some of my favourites!
* There Goes My Everything
*The Nutcracker Sweet
*The Deepest Cut of All
*I can't stand up for falling down
*I'd do anything for love, but I won't do that
and the best!
*Walk like an Egyptian!!
This article, in comparison with the one which follows, really makes one ponder just what is happening with the English and sex, but it is not rocket science to figure out that there are too many people living on a tiny island! Overpopulation is, when all is said and done, about sustainability. Perhaps too late, questions about unchecked immigration, birth control use, teen pregnancy issues, the lot!
Tuesday, May 6
England is set to become the most crowded country in Europe as its population grows by a third over the next 50 years, according to official projections.
iThe population density now is about 1,010. In London, the figure could rise from 12,377 to 13,910 over the next two decades.
The Tories, who obtained the data from the Office for National Statistics, demanded restrictions on migration levels.
Shadow immigration minister Damian Green said: "This demonstrates the real pressure public services are being put under as a result of Labour's immigration policy."
London aside, the biggest population rises will be in the East and South West of England, up 16% by 2029, while the North East is expected to remain static.
Scotland's level will remain the same at 171 per square mile; Wales will have 15% more residents by 2056 and Nort
hern Ireland will have a fifth more.
According to the sex therapy charity - yes, really! - Relate, there has been a 40% increase in men who just don't want to have sex with their wives (or female partners). This is a very different story that that of 1997, when the same kind of poll had it that middle aged men - 30-50-year-olds -were really enjoying it!
It's not a viagra issue, either, it's an "I don't care," issue. In spite of all of that "communication" stuff we have been fed since the 1970s, it turns out this age group really don't know how - or don't feel able - to talk to the women in their lives. Why? One expert says it's about the changing roles of men and women...men are no longer sure of their roles in the home, in relationships, even in the work place, which is leading to a "new" kind of depression. (Out of six countries studied, the UK has the greatest problem.)
It is true that women ARE in the work place in numbers not seen since WWII, but technology means the phone, the computer, the mp3, and the television seem to come before - and between - couples, parents and their children, friends, etc., so perhaps it is more about general communication and simple "quality time," rather than a new dynamic of confused roles?
Whatever the cause of this loss of libido, this could explain, in part, the recent drop off in condom sales!
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