Feminist Pub X: Regulars and new faces welcome, consciousness raising is a possibility.

[CaptChaos]

The old pub now has less than 10 posts to go, so I thought I'd start a new one. The old one can be found here

This is a place for feminist pom pom waving and talking about stuff which might not need a thread for itself.

Fill your boots.

good news annie! though you probably don't know whether you're coming or going now!

Just seen the news that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting again. And suffering 'very acute morning sickness' according to the BBC. Gives me the rage the way this is dismissed and belittled because it's a woman's thing. And not just that, a pregnancy thing. So with bloody Beckham's foot we are all expected to learn what a metatarsal is, but we can't be expected to learn 'hyperemesis'.

It is a killer illness if not treated. It is believed to have been the cause of death for Charlotte Bronte. But no, it's just 'bad morning sickness'. That well known comedy motif of pregnancy in films and tv programmes (which is another subject I get annoyed about).

And I've never even had HG or morning sickness. God knows how annoyed I'd be if I had.

Didn't she have HG last time as well and all the papers were like "She's a real princess - hospital for morning sickness!" like they were saying she was the character from The Princess And The Pea.

Yes. And cue lots of men saying "well my wife had morning sickness and she got on with things. "

Head. Desk.

women with HG have sometimes chosen to have terminations i believe, as the experience is so horrific

Yes. I saw a documentary some time back. Utterly horrific condition. But, you know, good for a giggle and some sly digs at a privileged woman.

Congratulations to Kate! Hope the HG is better than last time.

I didn't have HG but was getting quite dehydrated at one stage and losing weight through the first few months of pregnancy. I certainly thought about termination (briefly - at a low point) with my second because I knew this was going to carry on for 9 months. So all the sympathies in the world to Kate. She's brave to go through it again (I suppose you hope it won't happen the second time!).

Sadly, scallops, I expect she was given limited choice about going through it again. I imagine some kind of "understanding" was reached before she was allowed to marry Wills, which included at least two children.

DD1 suffered with HG throughout her pregnancy, so no piss taking from me.

Annie, I believe the phrase is 'an heir and a spare' which sounds a bit callous to me.

I think the spare is a bit unnecessary these days with lower infant mortality.

Plenty of women do go through the HG again for the sake of another child and I'm sure the excellent care and lack of money worries help a little - I really hope she wasn't forced into anything!

Not "forced", Winifred, "strongly encouraged".

I mean, surely no-one's naive enough to believe that she's anything other than a brood mare at the end of the day. When you really get down to it. Do you think Wills would have been allowed to marry her if she'd been infertile? Or a carrier of genetic disease? Or not white? I'll bet all the money I own she had to have a medical examination before the wedding went ahead, no matter how much they loved each other.

Don't say that, Annie! I'm in aristocratic persona now and I want to think well of My People!

winifred you're probably right in terms of reasoning is less to do with infant mortality. more likely is that you need more than one potential heir because chances are one may decide to reject the throne or not be suitable in some other way, so you need to hedge your bets by having other heirs to call upon

The Royal Family is an anachronism. That's all I have to say about it ...

Busy and pretty boring work ATM but hopefully only for a couple of weeks. Then interesting work. Hopefully.

I quite like the pomp and circumstance of the Royal Family. Sorry. I like a well turned out uniform and a rousing marching band.

Well, there's Harry, and then Andrew, and then Beatrice, and Eugenie. And Edward and his two and Anne and hers. Plenty of heirs, although all may not be ideal.

I think a King Henry is the main concern!

Capt I'm just the opposite.

How terrible of us not to agree! Cat fight etc etc.

i mostly just feel sorry for the royal family. i know when people are living destitute and in fear that sounds daft, but it sounds such a rotten, caged way to live. where you have to procreate to justify your own existence and prove your worth to the country as a whole in terms of income from tourists. the way they are portrayed in the media and discussed really highlights the prejudices that exist in our society

but i'm pretty cynical about the alternative (president presumably)

Henry IX and I

President Blair, anyone?

Feminist nightmare, but I love the royal family was stupidly excited to Kate is expecting again. I know several women who have gone on for a second (or more) despite hg.Kind of a shock any woman puts herself through birth and pregnancy when you think how horrible it is for many of us. They're just so cute though with their stupidly disproportionate big heads and inability to wind themselves.

these two posts are really interesting (apologies if they've been posted before):

feministkilljoys.com/2014/08/25/selfcare-as-warfare/ - i think this is quite relevant to some of the discussions about non-feminists, neo-liberalism/young white MC feminists and intersectionality

www.its-her-factory.com/2014/09/on-resilience-self-care-as-warfare/ - and this follow-up reminded me of some of the discussions around being angry following abuse

"They're just so cute though with their stupidly disproportionate big heads and inability to wind themselves"

this did make me laugh . that is exactly how i feel about babies given that i haven't had any!

it's nice news for them as a family, but i'm afraid i fall into the "woman of childbearing age is pregnant for second time? how is this news?" camp