When Women Refuse Consent

Let’s talk about consent for a moment.  Consent is this important concept that derives from the basic principle of autonomy.  The relationship is thus:

1. I have the right and duty to exercise my free will (autonomy).
2. The existence and exercise of said free will means that I am an actor and not an object.  I acted; I am not acted upon.
3. Sometimes, I am acted upon – for example, a medical procedure.  Because I am an actor, I must give permission for this “acting upon.”  This permission is called consent.
4. I have a right, under ordinary circumstances, to know/be told what will be done to me, what the possible consequences are, and what my other options are.  
5. If I refuse to give this permission, I should not be acted upon.

It's Never Too Early

This morning, the Sleeping Dragon grabbed my bookmark (pictured above), which contains an image of the Divine Mercy on one side and Our Lady of Guadalupe on the other.  I enjoyed watching her play with it, telling her, "That's Jesus; that's Mary," as she flipped it back and forth.

I let her play until she went from putting it to her mouth to actually chewing on it.  "No, babe, we don't eat --" I started, and then changed the end of my sentence -- "Jesus, when He's in that form.  We eat Him in another form."

Because it's never too early to teach about the Eucharist, and I don't want to be spouting heresy to my child!

Once More, On Babycation and Maternity Leave

At the moment, I am a kept woman, and Babycation Part II is harder than Part I.  I start classes in a week and a half (eek!), so this week we are starting the Sleeping Dragon's daycare routine.  Part of this involves double-babying with a couple from our parish and part of it involves my mother -- so we are very blessed.

Thus, for several days over these two weeks, I am once more at home without work or childcare responsibilities.  The whole prospect is relieving, terrifying, exhilarating, and heartbreaking all at once.

In honor of Babycation Part II, I wanted to share some more happy news regarding maternity leave.  Netflix and Microsoft have recently implemented sensible parental leave policies.  Basically, both offer months of paid leave for new mother and fathers.  Yay for people who appreciate that employees who can meet their family needs are better, more productive employees who will stick around and do great things for the company!