ya..... wrote:
This is a common justification people use when they feel shameful about something. It's a way to cope. Her perception is entirely wrong on this.
No, yours is.
ya..... wrote:
This is a common justification people use when they feel shameful about something. It's a way to cope. Her perception is entirely wrong on this.
No, yours is.
Old Wrestler wrote:
This is complete rubbish from someone trying to sell something. To say that she literally doesn't know anyone at her level who hasn't had an abortion is BS. So her entire relay team, training partners, they all had them and then confided in her that they did? Her statements are irresponsible and potentially harmful to female athletes and the sport as well. Someone (preferably a former teammate) should call her out.
Yeah, her statement is obviously not true. There is no way every single track athlete she has met has had abortions. I don't know if her intent was to rile up her audience by false pretenses or rather just a regular sight of woman exaggering and using the word literally incorrectly to glorify gossip. Probably a little of both.
It's sad that her and all the female track athletes that she knows don't know about birth control.
She really can't be right about this. Most elites actually train hard, and thus don't have the ability to get pregnant while they're in training.
Why is it sad? If abortion is supposed to be a basic women's right, and life doesn't begin until after birth, then what is so sad about having an abortion? I thought it was just a simple medical procedure....
I am not sure what the big deal is. If you are pro-choice, as Sanya seemingly is, what is the issue? Women having abortions? It is their choice so what exactly is the issue?
I do realize that pro-life folks will be appalled but that is not the discussion.
xcmets wrote:
Literally my first thought about Felix when I saw this thread.
Mine was Caster Semenya, followed by Caitlyn Jenner.
SSR is correct in her thinking that a lot of track and field athletes have had an abortion, but I suspect the numbers are much lower than she thinks. As a start, she probably 'personally' knows less than 20% of the U.S. athletes. She is extrapolating because within that percentage she knows quite few who have had an abortion; however she can't speak for the entire 20% and certainly not for the other 80%. Anyone who coaches knows that athletes have abortions, simply because the athletes tell them, else the athlete would have to somehow explain to their coach while they are experiencing somewhat obvious signs of pregnancy and/or why they can't train for a couple days which is what happens following an abortion. Females choose to have an abortion because of circumstances, which is not unlike the general population. However, unlike the general population, successful athletes have a unique circumstance in which a pregnancy affects their ability to train, compete and earn a living and potentially their contractual obligations. This perhaps precipitates a higher abortion rate than the general population and is especially compounded when a pregnancy happens during a major championship when you are expected medal. But again, based on everything I know, the percentage is much lower than SSR thinks it is.
contraception? wrote:
It's sad that her and all the female track athletes that she knows don't know about birth control.
Some birth control produce unwanted hormonal side effects for women, like acne, weight gain, low energy, and darker hair in unwanted places (i.e. face, belly). SRR talks about the pill - if taken incorrectly, you still have about a 5% chance of getting pregnant, and "perfect use" reduces the risk to 0.1%
If anything, equal "blame" can be placed on the male in the relationship. Hello, condoms! But guess what, some men don't like using condoms because they do not like the feel of condoms or they say interrupting sex to put the condom on "ruins the moment".
I can't imagine how challenging of a choice this was for SRR and how she managed to accept the choice later on. I never really thought about that aspect of women's athletics before.
There do seem to be double standards on balancing career goals and motherhood, regardless of what your profession is.
Dennis T Reynolds wrote:
ya..... wrote:This is a common justification people use when they feel shameful about something. It's a way to cope. Her perception is entirely wrong on this.
No, yours is.
you are probably right. Basic assumption is that SSR is hanging around mainly with black sprinters/throwers. Blacks have about 4x the abortion rate of whites. I am not to shocked to learn that a majority of the people she knows have had an abortion.
It isn't like abortion is some rare procedure. Something like 1/3 of woman will have one by the time they turn 45. It is just one that very few people talk about.
basic physiology wrote:
She really can't be right about this. Most elites actually train hard, and thus don't have the ability to get pregnant while they're in training.
Completely wrong. Female elites are fully capable of getting pregnant. Training only causes difficulty when it is incorrectly, such as if overtraining. You are more likely to see this from distance runners battling anemia or low weight as symptoms. SRR and well-trained sprinters in particular ask a lot of their muscoskeletal system, but not so much of their central nervous system or endocrine system the way a distance runner would. When trained in a healthy manner pregnancy should be just as possible.
Why do I get the impression that most of the posts on here that are in disbelief about a high percentage of abortions in T&F are being made by males. Her statement doesn't really surprise me and I'm guessing would be common amongst female Olympic athletes in a lot of sports where pregnancy would affect their ability to compete (and yes I realize this would be most sports but idk if women can still do archery or something like that while pregnant.) And I'd guess the rates would be similar no matter the race/ethnicity.
Lots of Testosterone wrote:
Why do I get the impression that most of the posts on here that are in disbelief about a high percentage of abortions in T&F are being made by males. Her statement doesn't really surprise me and I'm guessing would be common amongst female Olympic athletes in a lot of sports where pregnancy would affect their ability to compete (and yes I realize this would be most sports but idk if women can still do archery or something like that while pregnant.) And I'd guess the rates would be similar no matter the race/ethnicity.
I think a lot of posters were just taking issue with her saying she does not know a single female athlete who hasn't had the procedure. This just seems statistically nearly impossible, given the number of female athletes she must have come in contact with.
Considering the relative frequency (around 1/3 of women) of the procedure, coupled with the stakes (elite athletic performance, i.e. your livelihood) I would not be surprised at all for it to be extremely prevalent, but I would be more surprised it was 100% of elite females.
Somebody said about 1/3 of women have an abortion and I wanted to verify that statistic. "It is estimated here that, as of 2008, about 28% of U.S. women ages 15-64 have had abortions."
If it's 28% across the board, then it doesn't surprise me at all that the percentage would be significantly higher among women whose profession and livelihood relies on the use of their body. Like athletes I similarly assume that models and actresses probably have higher abortion rates. Beyoncé even lied about having a baby while staying skinny rather than admit she used a surrogate.
While SRR would be silly to assert it's almost universal, so to would it be silly for somebody to argue against her by citing somebody like Lolo Jones. These are extremes on the spectrum and the truth is somewhere more toward the middle.
I don't think she knows what "literally" means. Or........ she doesn't know as many track athletes as I do.
1. I've been sexually active for quite some time, and have never had an unplanned pregnancy. Perhaps knowing, without any doubt, that I would never have an abortion no matter the circumstances caused me to be more careful? I used all types of precautions, including knowing my own cycle... no birth control failures. It wasn't that difficult, really.
2. I think it is safe to assume some female track athletes are homosexual, so that brings down the likelihood that every pro female athlete has had an unplanned pregnancy.
3. Pregnancy on purpose with plans to abort for the hormonal benefits is certainly likely. Was it the Ugandan national coach who was impregnating team members on purpose?
DaneRauschenberg wrote:
All you ladies take note: give more blow-jobs and avoid this pregnancy calamity. Follow the lead of the good Catholic girls.
or take the ol' dirt road
So does she keep her TV gig?
contraception? wrote:
It's sad that her and all the female track athletes that she knows don't know about birth control.
Let me correct this for you, grammatically:
"It's sad that she and all the female track athletes who she knows don't know about birth control."
Let me correct this for you, perspective-wise:
"It's sad that her man and the other men of the female track athletes who she knows didn't know about birth control. Why didn't they use condoms?"
It's page 2 of this thread and the LRC Men of Narrow Minds (not all the men here have narrow minds, btw) are concluding the following:
1. She's wrong: the men posting here know better than she does who has and who has not had an abortion. The men posting here know the elite sprinting group... of color... several from the Islands... better than she does.
2. She (and others like her) are lying to make themselves feel better.
3. She is stupid for not knowing about birth control.
4. Pregnancy is clearly the woman's responsibility, and, its corollary, Men Who?
5. She wants publicity, she is nothing more than an attention grabber, because abortion is super high on a woman's list of ways to call attention to herself.
6. Her statement is about all female track athletes, everywhere on the planet, and therefore holes can be poked in her credibility. How dare she make a statement about her circle of friends/associates? WTF does she know about her circle of friends/associates, anyway? She's obviously lying, fond of hyperbole, or just plain dumb.
7. They took the time to carefully get pregnant and then have a medical procedure - an abortion - for performance advantage.
8. Sperm are equal to embryos.
[Human Reproduction 101: Sperm are equal to eggs, in terms of being 50% responsible for creating an embryo. There are notable differences: 1. Sperm are manufactured for 2-3 months inside the body, while females have 100% of their eggs on board when they are born, usually around 2 million of them. 3. About 250,000 sperm are released each ejaculation, while one egg is usually released per month for roughly 35 years, with breaks for pregnancy and breast feeding, and unused eggs are not released. 4. Sperm can easily be frozen and thawed for viable use, eggs are extremely difficult to freeze and thaw for viable use, but embryos are regularly, successfully and miraculously frozen and thawed and go on to develop into a fat, human baby.]
Sanya Richards-Ross is brave for coming out with this information. Maybe if all you hecklers quiet down, some other women will find their voices on this and other closely guarded women's topics, too.
There is a lot of talking about "baby-doping" in endurance sport, but this whole issue goes way beyond that on an emotional level. Please try to be respectful guys.