Pope really worried about the damage rape scandals have done to the Catholic Church

The Prada Pope made some revealing comments, which were reported in yesterday's Guardian, revealing his true concerns about the priests who committed countless rapes in the States during the nineties.

"It is a great suffering for the church in the United States and for the Church in general and for me personally that this could happen," Benedict said aboard a special Alitalia airliner, nicknamed Shepherd 1.

Yeah, because when I read about priests raping little kids, my primary concern is for the Church and for the Pope. My heart is bleeding for those guys. Fuck those whingeing victims who have cost us so much money in compensation, and damaged our reputations!

But he does have a point, the child abuse scandals did damage him personally, as there is an increasing body of evidence which suggests that he was involved in trying to cover up the scandals.

Where is my Babydaddy?

The Guardian reports today that the Fatherhood Institute has published a report stating that 7 out of 10 people believe that fathers should be able to stay in hospital overnight to support the mother of the child, as well as develop a vital early bond with their baby. The NCT and NHS have both approved the idea in principle, but point to practical difficulties which could result in this idea not being introduced.

I think this is another way in which men can start to assume greater and greater roles in caring for children. I think that it is vital that men get all the opportunities that they can to take an equal role in the upbringing of their children. In my opinion, having the early chance to bond with their child, as well as to help to support their babymama, can only be a good way of furthering this aim. What do you think?

Groundbreaking research of the day!

The BBC has discovered that boys and girls choose to play different musical instruments to each other! What I really love is that the article makes statements like

"And it's somehow easier for a girl to cross over into 'boys' territory and play a trumpet than for a boy to take up the flute."

Hmm, I wonder why this could be? Perhaps because basically the worst thing to be called/associated with/likened to in our culture is a girl. Gendered insults like "slag", "pussy" and of course, "cunt" demonstrate this. However, it is easier for women to emulate men because there is a general assumption that they are the "norm", and women are somehow deviant from this. Therefore, it actually upholds a patriarchal values system when women express a desire to engage in similar activities to men, because it maintains the assumption that what men do has inherently more worth and value to society, than what women do, which must be regularly derided, and absolutely not emulated.

What is really sad is that children as young as 6 are able to pick up on these cues, and choices which they make are guided by these prejudices.

Review: Sex...with Mum and Dad

I know, I know, the title is horrendous. But actually I think that this programme on BBC3 is worth giving a chance, particularly for teenagers and their parents (who the show is primarily aimed at). The basic premise is that the relationship between the teenager and their parent(s) has broken down. They go to visit Maria Schopman, who is a Dutch "sexologist" and family therapist helps families to talk about sex and their experiences of it, and attitudes towards it.

As a family, they have to involve themselves with various tasks which involve a great deal of nervous giggling and red faces. Some of the tasks have included making clay penises, putting dolls into a variety of sexual positions, and drawing stick people of the number of sexual partners that you have had. But, despite the initial embarrassment that these tasks of course cause, they seem to work. Teenagers and their parents use these exercises as a way of opening up a dialogue about sex which has been missing previously.

One of the most positive things about this programme is that fundamentally it accepts that teenagers are sexual beings, and that that is OK. Whilst teenagers in the last show (who were using casual sexual relationships as a way of trying to seek intimacy) are encouraged to moderate their behaviour, I actually don't have a problem with this. Once they had been able to be honest with themselves and their parents about sex, then they actually made the decision for themselves that they did not necessarily want to engage in that particular behaviour any more. They were not pressured into making this decision, and Maria Schopman appears to be entirely unshockable and unjudgmental.

I think that not talking to children and teenagers about sex, relationships, STDs, pregnancy, and a wealth of other issues relating to sex means that they can feel lost. They engage in risky behaviour because they are not aware of safe sex. As Maria Schopman points out, in the Netherlands, teenage pregnancy and the rate of STD infection is significantly lower, and she believes that this is because they discuss these issues with their children in depth, giving them the tools to go and and enjoy sexual relationships safely, and knowing that they have the support of their parents. We should be doing this in the UK too, as this programme aptly demonstrates.

Hilarious!

via Shakesville

Unicef photo of the year

This picture just makes me feel sick. Melissa McEwan at Shakesville says all I would pretty much want to say. For me, this image, taken in Afghanistan and which has just won Unicef's photograph of the year, shows to me how far from success the Bush administration is in its supposed goals of spreading 'freedom' and 'liberty' globally. According to the Metro, 60 million girls every year are married whilst they are still children. How much more evidence do we need that Bush and his cronies do not give a shit about liberating people (perhaps especially women, given his stance on the Global Gag Rule), the only thing they care about is lining their own pockets.

One day, I hope that there are no more child brides, but I commend Unicef for once again bringing the world's attention to this very serious and distressing issue.

edited to add: the girl is 11 and the man is 40.