'Lansley must listen to nurses on the front line' Why women want to be men, and the hospital that thinks it's a zoo
After a recent and well-deserved dressing down from readers, Beyond the Bedpan keeps a low profile by questioning women’s place in society and cockroaches’ place in Scottish hospitals
The pill - catalyst for the sexual revolution, scourge of the Vatican and a central plank of the feminist manifesto - whatever your views, there is no doubt that since it’s conception (sorry) in the 1960s, the pill has had an immeasurable effect on society and sexual politics.
Nurses will be all too familiar with debates on youngsters’ access to contraceptives, and whether they have become a substitute for emotional and sexual responsibility.
But today the pill stands accused of something altogether more sinister - making women love girly men. You heard. Apparently active hormones in oral contraception quash women’s interest in macho men and make them lust after big flouncing nancy boys, or words to that effect.
Putting the speculative science to one side, the study has made a huge impact in the national press. The Daily Mail, never off the pace with health stories, laments the rise of “girly” and “boyish” sex symbols like Zac Effron and Johnny Depp in place of the Burt Lancaster-esque hunks of yeasteryear.
The Mail’s readers aren’t satisfied with the explanation. Women are changing, says “Rabbit” in the comments section, but “insidious social engineering and ridiculous feminism” are to blame, not the pill.
What’s more, “women are simply being made to behave like men. They don’t really know what they want anymore, only what they are supposed to want.”
Where will it all end?
Creature discomforts
In other news, hospitals in Tayside, Scotland seem to have plumbed new depths of questionable hygiene.
When local newspaper The Courier submitted a Freedom of Information request regarding Tayside hospitals’ pest control spending, they were shocked to uncover an £11,000 bill incurred between October 2008 and July 2009.
Beyond the Bedpan hates to fan the flames of hysteria, but we’re not just talking mice here. Bats, seagulls, rabbits, cockroaches, ants, flies, silverfish, beetles, wasps and hornets were among the creatures requiring no fewer than 462 visits from pest control experts.
On the bright side, local families are delighted to be saving money on zoo admissions.
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Readers' comments (1)
Martin Gray | 15-Oct-2009 1:41 pm
OMG they [women] will be expecting us to take responsibility for THEIR indecision as well now! There is little doubt in my mind that the 'pill' has been instrumental in the changes in sexual behaviour, added to by the MAP and its easy availability - not to mention single parent teenager (or younger) families and the many benefits they become entitled to.
Men will obviously be to blame as we are the ones that wanted sex where and when ever we had the urge but didn't want the risk of pregnancy to be laid at our doorstep. Nothing to do with convenience for the women naturally! Now we are going to be accused of failing to meet the expectations and requirements of the females of the species.
Should I get a gym membership or ask for the gay men that did the make-overs on the TV (forget the name but was initially an American programme which got 'imported') to add me to their list of people in need of their services? Do I start wearing macho clothes or get a floral shirt??
Unsuitable or offensive?