In fact, I was so infuriated by the time I reached the second graf (I went to J-school, so I can say it like that!) that I could barely go on...
Witness the Douthat-pass-as-journalism?! spout:
You can shop for gametes the way you’d go shopping for a house or a car — buying ova from an Ivy League undergraduate, or sperm from a 6-foot-8, athletic, blue-eyed Dane. The person selling you the right to bear and rear their biological offspring can do so anonymously, with no future strings attached at all.
I will spare you the pain of reading the whole thing, unless you have some masochistic side.
SPOILER ALERT:
Douthat's thesis, supported by the most dubious "research" ever, is something to the extent that, I dunno, using sperm donors is bad for America? Ruins families? Breeds (no pun, haha!) resentful offspring?
The research (which is so shakey that it should be properly termed "right wing fantasy") that he cites says that using donors places a horrible lifelong burden of doubt and alienation on these children.
He then advocates for "restrictions [that] would reduce the pool of willing donors and create longer waiting times (and greater emotional anguish)for aspiring parents."
Seriously. Wanna go kick some Douthat-ass-come-with-fries with me? He has replaced John Tierney as my most-hated-misogynist of late. (Note that this is not because he is the WORST, but because he has a respectable and far-reaching plpatform from which he spews his bile.)
he's pretty terrible -- i read that when it came out, despite my rule against reading his columns (besides the parts excerpted for ridicule by wonkette). i am one of the commenters asking if he'd considered doing any research for this -- he seems entirely ignorant of the concept of ID-consent donors, for instance.
ReplyDeleteoy. you should see his date-rapey posts about college.
the man is a neck-beard douche-hat.
I saw this yesterday. Pissed me off too. Did you check out the comments? @10 - Amen!
ReplyDeleteI normally don't read comments, but I was curious this time...
ReplyDeleteBOO-YA!
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/opinion/31douthat.html?permid=10#comment10
I don't know why, but the editorial doesn't piss me off that much. One detail that does piss me off is the notion that a think tank called Institute for American Values could possibly be considered an entity that produces scientific knowledge, but the rest of it just seemed silly.
ReplyDeleteI made the mistake of reading the comments, though, and some of them are super offensive. I don't understand how people in the world of the internet live with themselves as human beings. They are despicable.
I have to admit, though, I'm not familiar with the columnist or his political leanings. I guess he has a lot of right wing fans?
YAY #10! It is funny that this came out just before all the articles based on research in an actual peer-reviewed journal about how children of lesbians do better in certain social and psychological assessments.
ReplyDeletePom-- Yes, Douthat is a hardline rigt-winger as are most of his fans. I think what offends me so deeply is that because he puts this tripe in the Times, so it confers some sort of legitimacy, which the research certainly does not merit. So, yes silly-- but in a serious context. That people believe this is probably at the root of my anger.
There exists the hazy-eyed belief in certain segments in an alternate Leave-it-to-Beaver reality in which all families are cookie cutter and perfect EXCEPT those which defy that norm, and those (we) poison the rest. But that is such a denial of the ACTUAL world that we live in! It just makes me crazy!
i couldnt even finish reading that garbage yesterday. so, yeah, im behind you.
ReplyDeleteblech.
ReplyDeleteUgh, this annoyed me so much -- I hate Elizabeth M.arquardt, the woman who runs the right wing Institute for A.merican Values (whose values?) and even more so because I have a douchey brother (I can say that, he's my bro, ha) who's always espousing her crap, much of which is not only anti-gay but anti-feminist, hardcore. She seems to be way into sperm donation lately and it's total anti-gay stuff cloaked in "science" and yeah, I hate her. So the fact that this Times writer would cite her dubious, non-peer reviewed, voluntary "study" - base his whole piece on it?? - pisses me off even more. But I LOVE that the kids of lesbians are fab study (which is for real peer reviewed) came out too! And got better nat'l coverage.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I stopped reading that pile of BS when I got to the citation of the "Institute of American Values." No thanks. I also hate that there are people out there who believe and agree, but I think they're a minotiry. Hope so anyway. Lalalalala, head in sand, perhaps...
ReplyDeleteThese people drive me nuts. If they took the time to realize that gays and lesbians arent the only people using sperm donors would they feel the same? What if he had azospermia and his wife wanted a child? I think if he was any more narrow minded his ears would touch! (saw that on a bumper sticker, but it fits lol)
ReplyDeleteOops, I made the mistake of reading the whole thing. This guy is such an ass.
ReplyDeleteHear, hear. This article made me so nuts when I read it. SO GLAD the "lesbians make great moms" report came out soon after!
ReplyDeleteyeah, i read the article, then had to call every friend willing to let me vent for the next hour plus.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell is that doing in the Times? Shame on you, New York Times. My primary reaction upon reading this is a somewhat exhausted "shut up, you moron."
ReplyDeleteAck! I'm so disgusted. How is it the biggest idiots always seem to have the most prominent forum for spewing there diarrhea?
ReplyDeleteSomehow I suspect that the "survey" they conducted had questions like this:
ReplyDeleteHow does being donor-conceived make you feel? (Mark all that apply; at least one option must be selected.)
A. Enraged
B. Distrustful
C. Alienated
D. Resentful
I think that there is room for thoughtful discussion on the subject of the rights of donors to remain anonymous vs. the rights of donor-conceived children to find out more background information. We deliberately chose a donor who was willing to be known when our children turn 18, and I know a number of other people who have done the same. But I don't think this columnist or his buddies at the Institute for Hetero-normative Values are going to be a part of any kind of discussion that involves thought.
All children are created either because their parents desired children or because someone made some poor choices. (More tequila!) How is it different for my wife and I to choose to make a baby than it was for my parents to do so? Other than the part where we're scary scary lesbians, of course. (Scary scary lesbians who, thanks to a reputable study, are known to be likely to be good parents, thanks.) Which is, I suspect, his underlying problem.
I being a straight woman who was/is all to fertile just that little bit makes me wanna scream.
ReplyDeleteI think in this world today I would much rather be born to a gay/lesbian couple who went to the donors and the doctors and through all the heartbreak to conceive me because that way I would know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I was in a loving home.
I hate to think of all these "women" who get pregnant and have all these babies and could care less that they even exist.
Kudos to you and every other couple who put your hearts on the line time after time to get your precious babies. Congratulations and I wish you all the happiness in the world.