Jezebel 
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New York, 4:13 PM
Sat Nov 7
42 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/07/09
10/07/09
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10/07/09
A lot of the arguments seem to be around the idea that some things are best left private - which is great, if you believe that. That's why we all have the choice to keep things to ourselves or to share. Personally, I'm a very private person. But the reality is that we live in a world where people perpetually overshare and it's considered normal, so 1) it's not really fair to call Ms. Trunk out on it when everyone's doing it, and 2) it's not going away just like that.
Penelope Trunk's entire professional reputation is that of a person who commands her own career, takes risks, is bold and promotes herself. I don't really get the "shock" around hearing her talk about her miscarriage - she has made nearly everything else about her life public, and she's done it in such a way that it benefits her. She's built a name for herself as someone who knows about blogging, social media and networking. It's reasonable to assume that if something happens to her personally, she's going to share her experience. And as a result, she's gotten a lot of publicity. Which may or may not be why she wrote what she did - I'm guessing not - but it benefits her either way.
Her recent blog entries also talk about her own experiences with Asperger Syndrome and how she deals with it at work. Here's another topic that has carried a stigma in years past - people who live with Autism Spectrum Disorders have been misunderstood throughout history. Only through opening the dialogue has society begun to understand those people better.
How can we condemn her for speaking out about one thing but not another when it all contributes to creating a greater awareness in the world of people's unique experiences?
10/07/09
And she has Asberger's? That could account for a public reaction that might seem cold or indifferent or glib to others.
10/07/09
10/07/09
10/07/09
Is it feminist to be so self-involved and individualistic, that in her single-minded pursuit to exercise her admittedly perfect right to autonomy over her own body and experiences, a woman neglects to give a shit about other people's feelings, ie. the unsuspecting father of her never-to-be-born child?
I guess caring about and having respect for other people's feelings only applies when a girl calls another girl fat?
10/07/09
Second of all, you don't know the father of the child, and thus have no way of knowing if he was ok with her twittering about it, if he gave a shit that she was pregnant in the first place, or if he knew. I don't see how this is relevant.
If his feelings differed from hers, he's welcome to tweet them to his heart's content.
10/07/09
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10/07/09
OOOOOHH!
10/07/09
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10/07/09
I'm offended when people aren't the same as me.
10/07/09
10/07/09
You're horrible.
10/07/09
(Okay, letting it die now...)
10/07/09
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10/07/09
Her tweet was about HER. Not anyone else. People who make other people's thoughts all about them are distasteful.
Everyone is entitled to their own feelings and no one should censor their feelings because someone else might have different feelings.
FEELINGS! :P
10/07/09
10/07/09
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10/07/09
And, the issue of "feelings" is interesting, because I believe there are a number of feelings/personal views (one only needs to reference some of Tracie's past posts) expressed on this site that have been met with extreme hostility.
You can't have it both ways, people.
10/07/09
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10/07/09
P.S. Hearted for including Rich/Tracie.
10/07/09
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10/07/09
In the end, though, I think I just hate Twitter.
10/07/09
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10/03/09
Secondly, there's nothing about her tone and body language that is either teenage or bratty. Yes, she's slightly hostile but she's been put into a position where a slight air of hostility is actually warranted. If she'd acted coy or flirtatious, or - god forbid - humbled by that pompous ass, she would have looked like a silly bit of fluff who doesn't have the courage to stand by her actions.
Thirdly, I don't have Aspergers Syndrome so I don't claim to be an expert but using that to explain Trunk's attitude smacks to me of the myth that people with ASDs don't feel emotions 'properly'. Yes, perhaps having an ASD helps Trunk to retain her cool under fire in some way, but I feel like her reason for not caring about her miscarriage and who knew about it was that she JUST DIDN'T CARE. Again, I can't be sure, as I never had it medically checked but I feel that I had a miscarriage a year or so ago and I really don't give a shit. If anything I'm really super pleased. And me - or Trunk, or anyone, male, female, transgender, intersex, or otherwise - saying that does not in any way take away from the serious pain that unwanted miscarriages cause.
Finally, and most importantly: despite what I said above, I really didn't know much about miscarriages before watching that clip. I didn't know how long they can last (I just thought I was having an inordinately long period), I didn't know that they weren't invariably agonizing (except perhaps in the first month or so), and I have certainly never witnessed anyone discuss them on national news before, despite the fact that so many women experience miscarriage at least once in their lives (whether it's 25 or 75 percent, it's still a lot of women). It's not just men like Sanchez that are getting an education about this kind of thing, it's women like me, who think of themselves as educated and informed feminists. If me and my ilk don't know then clearly we DO need to talk about this kind of thing publicly.
10/01/09
10/01/09
I had never heard of her before; now I am a huge fan.