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Feministing comments on mother accused of murdering baby over farmville game
Submitted by anthony on Fri, 2010-10-29 06:00
Article here. Excerpt:
'There is no doubt that this story is absolutely appalling and quite sad. The natural reaction is to ask how a mother could be so evil to kill her baby over a video game? But it can’t be just that simple. While I do not condone her behavior, what jumped out at me was that this woman must have been experiencing some severe postpartum depression. I am not excusing her actions but postpartum depression is real and often underestimated.
Women are expected to be all exuberant and glowing with the birth of their new baby but sometimes reality come crashing down on new moms. While they truly love their babies, sleep deprivation, hormonal fluctuations, or painful breastfeeding can trigger unpleasant feelings and hopelessness.
Tobias is a young woman and I wonder what type of support she had in raising her baby. There is no mention of the baby’s father or family in the story, only that she pleaded guilty to spare her family the pain of a trial. I also wonder what type of access she had to doctors and/or therapists, and if she had information or resources about postpartum depression. Was there anyone she could talk to about her feelings? Was she predisposed to depression anyway? Maybe her cries for help were dismissed as “baby blues.” My point here is that situations like this may be preventable when women are given support in childrearing and accurate information before the baby is born.'
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Comments
In sum
It's OK for mothers to kill their babies but not fathers, when in fact it shouldn't be right for anyone to go killing babies at any time.
Nymphotropism has no limits, including the creation of excuses for baby-killers.
Well there is SOME limit.
Well there is SOME limit. There are a number of comments pointing out that PPD doesn't usually manifest as violence, and that even if it did it's still no excuse. It's appalling that anyone is trying to defend these actions but it's unfair to suggest there's no counterpoint in their discussion.
Recalling the Yates tragedy
Andrea Yates methodically killed her 5 sons after their father had gone to work for the day. She then called the police and turned herself in. She had been undergoing psychiatric treatment but none of the doctors apparently believed she was a danger to anyone.
She was subsequently tried for murder, but I believe she used the insanity defense and was remanded to a psychiatric facility.
A short time later, a columnist (or activist) wrote a column in the Houston Chronicle titled "Preventing Another Yates Tragedy." I expected to find a discussion about how to prevent another mother (or father) from killing their own children because of psychological issues.
I was disappointed.
The "tragedy" was not the five boys being killed--it was the fact Andrea Yates was put on trial. Five boys being murdered. Not a tragedy. Their killer being put on trial. A tragedy. I penned a nasty letter to the editor but it was not published.
The incident was emblematic of our priorities. Making sure mothers are treated fairly is important. Making sure they don't kill their kids is not.
Don't bother
If you decide to start an account with feministing and comment on this post -- forget it. They moderate comments and only the ones they completely agree on get passed their censorship policy. This seems to be the norm with feminist blogs.
Ye Ole Double Standard Or Gender Politics As Usual
The defense will of course play the PPD card for this child killer and will get her off with therapy and no criminal record because she was temporarily insane at the time.
But a mentally ill man who gets caught with a picture of some naked brat on his computer will get years in a Federal hellhole. So called child porno is wrong and only a sick person (always males get arrested for it) would find it sexually interesting. Still he will not get real medical help he desperately needs only prison time for possessing a two dimensional image; no dead child, no molestation no nothing just an image made up of different colored pixels.
upchuck reflex of PPD...
I saw a story saying that fathers who murder their children are actually more likely to kill themselves than mothers who murder their children. That suggests that the male murderers are more likely to be the trully unstable ones. The female murderers on the other hand more often direct destruction towards others while preserving themselves, more likely removing something unwanted by means of murder for their own perceived benefit, which if anything implies greater culpability.
Instead its female child murderers who more frequently get off the hook based on the insanity plea.
endless blindness
It's incredible how women blindly only see virtue in the most vile of female criminals. As an example consider this snippet: "she pleaded guilty to spare her family the pain of a trial." So we are being told to believe that the perpetrator is really good, because, after all, she's doing things for others... women cannot admit that there is any part of another women that is destructive, that is evil. Those things of course exist only in men.