merridew

Tea towels for everything (drying dishes, drying hands, moving hot things), washed frequently.

You know, pretty much all of that website seems to be written by one guy. So I looked up some of his other work.

the myth that women primarily work for reasons other than economics or family needs distorts reality https://medium.com/@daviddemos/women-under-siege-quick-notes-on-the-rights-assault-on-women-s-work-choices-and-family-formation-c3b27c6266e6

It's hard to draw conclusions. Who knows. But what I will say is that this guy clearly spends a lot of time thinking about how certain women can be coaxed into having more babies.

Women in Europe, North America, and some countries in Asia.

You can increase social spending and still have contempt for women's right to bodily autonomy. The two don't go automatically hand in hand. In fact if your social spending is geared towards having more babies, it most likely won't be.

Not really. If your goal is to undo "retreating state support," you can do that without praising far-right regimes aiming to restrict women's rights to bodily autonomy.

The fact that they gloss over that little aspect is suspicious.

Their website is conspicuously opaque regarding its funding, and "stop population decline" is curiously close to (but notably more palatable than) the 14 Words, while still acting as an effective dog-whistle for people familiar with those words.

The UK joining the Common Market was a Thatcher thing. Old school lefties opposed it at the time because it put limits on state aid, and weakened the positions of the unions.

They have a bunch of stuff about "promoting fertility", eg

the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Israel offer lessons. These countries have managed to increase fertility rates by introducing pro-natal policies — a combination of cash incentives, subsidised childcare, and housing assistance

which all sounds lovely and idyllic, but in reality the far-right government in Hungary has been throttling access to abortion with new legislation that is

an extension of the government’s anti-abortion policies, aimed at boosting the birthrate

meaning that

legal abortions [have] become increasingly difficult as the compulsory counselling sessions were becoming more aggressive and difficult to schedule

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/sep/13/hungary-tightens-abortion-access-with-listen-to-foetal-heartbeat-rule

I can't definitely figure out the angle either. But they are a pro-fertility organisation praising a far-right regime that is implementing regressive "pro-life" policies at the expense of women's rights, and they are very careful not to highlight the true nature of these policies on their website.

They're also headquartered in Texas. So... draw your own conclusions.

Corbyn hated the EU, and demanded Article 50 be invoked the day after the referendum. Let's not forget that.

https://labourlist.org/2016/06/corbyn-article-50-has-to-be-invoked-now/

Gosh, but Jeremy Corbyn said the EU were the bad guys and we should leave asap to improve things for British workers.

Oh, I absolutely believe that people in America can accept it's "not as big a deal as you might think".

This is a thread about things about America that make no sense. So: I don't understand why America, seemingly uniquely, accepts this as "not a big deal".

It's weird. Land of the free, home of the public toilets strangers can see inside. So odd.

Thank you for your comment. I can't speak for the entire world, but in the UK a 1 cm" gap in the door of a public toilet would be massive and unacceptable. It's not enough that someone can only see into a stall through a gap in the door if they are "right up to it"; they should not be able to see in at all. Public toilets in other countries have doors with gaps you can't leer through at all.

Re. the "gaps meaning ventilation", surely the "big gap at the bottom" and the fact that the whole top is open will be contributing more to ventilation?

You say you think this might be a regional thing in the US. Okay, could be. I have personally encountered this issue in Washington, California, North Carolina, DC, Massachusetts, Georgia, Texas, Oregon, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Yes, maternity leave! The US approach is bonkers.

Oh that's true. American pints are a disappointment.