The Sword and Laser discussion

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Cursed Bunny
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CB: The Embodiment
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First, taking the pill "wrong" I could picture the words about "you should have known better, you took too muc..."
I really agree with this analysis. The lack of autonomy that frequently happens to women in medicine and especially during pregnancy really rang true. The fact that she starts taking the pill for pain relief rather than birth control made everything that follows all the more surreal and reminds me of all the ignorant rhetoric surrounding contraceptives in the news cycle. The fact that her life is reduced to finding a father, that she essentially has no identity but is just rushed from situation to situation with no control, to the ending where she (view spoiler) , yeah this one hit real hard for me. It reminded me a lot of Kafka's "The Trial," that sensation of suddenly losing control over your life for no real reason, the idea of how little stands between people, especially people with uteruses, and that reality.
First, taking the pill "wrong" I could picture the words about "you should have known better, you took too much" being a stand-in for "you should have known not to get so drunk" after being sexually assaulted. Tenuous, but given the rest of the short story, it goes with the vibe.
Then I think the rest is an exaggerated take on how women have it shoved down their throats that they're failing their children if they don't make sure the children have a father. The woman in the story doesn't express any desire of her own to have a partner and none of the people who are "helping" her mention her needs at all. There's nothing in her search that is for her. Everything that is being forced on her is demonstrating that the people she's surrounded by either care for her fetus (obstetrician, family) or her suitors (largely themselves). When she takes a minute to think about herself, the narrative literally hits her over the head. There is the *one* man that might improve her life, but even he is too late in the end (parallel to how children make scheduling things hard?)
I didn't get much out of the first short story, but this one will have me thinking for awhile.