Pre-pregnant or sub-human?

OK, so the poem reading wasn't THAT bad. And they gave me a box of chocolates for my trouble which is more than I'm usually paid for poetry-related activities. In a way it was a pity that we only had 20 minutes, because it meant that I couldn't fully engage with the startling suggestion one of the students made, that male poets write about abstract concepts while female poets write about feelings. I don't know what evidence he was drawing on, but I think this view often has more to do with prior beliefs about men and women than anything in the poetry. If you expect male-authored poetry to be philosophical, abstract and rigorous and female-authored poetry to be emotional, concrete and woolly, then you will easily find examples to support you. But there are just as many counter-examples.

Even more proof that anti-woman sentiment is far from dead, and is in fact being written into law: the pregnancy police are watching you. This very disturbing article suggests nothing less than a return to state-sponsored biological tyranny the likes of which feminists thought they'd shaken off 40 years ago. We all want healthy children, but viewing women only in terms of their baby-making function, and criminalising them for failing in it, is hardly the way to ensure the best future for our society.

Weeks: 23+6