The Ashley Treatment

[ayesha]

I made a New Year's Resolution to journal at least once a week, so I'm trying to start out on the right foot (wheel?) by taking up this bit of controversy in the news: The Ashley Treatment.Ashley is a 9-year-old girl with severe disabilities. She has the mind of an infant and cannot walk, talk, or feed herself. Her parents made the decision to keep

Comments

[plymouth]

She will never have the feeling of being in a woman's body, of having soft breasts and curves and an instinct to love and care.

I was following you up until this (in fact I started out disagreeing with you and have actually found myself largely convinced by what you said) but now I'm confused - you're saying it's my breasts and uterus that makes me capable of loving and caring? I know an awful lot of people without breasts and uteruses who seem awfully loving and caring.

Also:

It is true that she could never have consented to sex or pregnancy, but she might have engaged in self-stimulation.

From what I read, it sounded like she wouldn't even have been capable of that. Not saying that excuses any of it. Also, I didn't think they removed her clitoris. And self-stimulation isn't even a particularly adult bahavior - I did that myself as early as age 3.

(here via yndy who linked to rougewench who linked to you. hi.)

[velvetcactus]

Apparently this has been in the media lately and I've missed it since I've stopped watching tv

[ayesha]

I was talking about developing the body of a woman, the hormones, the experience of living in a female body. Men have their own version of that experience, so I suppose I should have said it was the living in a biologically ADULT body that she has been deprived of.

It's true that young children self-stimulate, but they don't have an adult sex drive or those strong urges. When I wrote that, I was thinking about a documentary I saw on TV about a 30-year-old man who had never been through puberty due to some biological condition. He had no sex drive at all, until he was given testosterone so he could go through puberty, and then it was like, BAM he was horny as hell.

[velvetcactus]

Btw: I have many people that would probably love to hear your opinion on this. Do I have permission to fwd or copy/paste/send this (with credits of course) to others?

[ayesha]

Of course! I'm happy to share my thoughts with others, in fact, I hope as many people as possible see my post since the media has been somewhat biased in favor of the parents.

Sorry you are not feeling well. I've missed you online! BTW we got the go ahead from our contractor to start packing/moving, so we'll finally be there in a few weeks!

[chantphantom]

By a complete coincidence, I was listening to Phantom of the Opera while I read this. And I found it powerfully appropriate!