So, gentlemen … the note from Rich Smith of The Stranger is required reading:
If you’re anything like me, you think of Planned Parenthood as a giant women’s restroom. No boyz allowed. It’s some kind of sacred vagina temple where mystic labia wizards lay their hands upon pregnant women and pass on the ancient tales of womanhood.
But it turns out that’s all crazytalk. Planned Parenthood is for men, too. They do dude stuff. And they do it cheap.
You can get screened for STDs. You can get a general physical for school/sports. If you’re an older guy, you can get your prostate checked out and your balls screened for ball cancer. You can get a vasectomy. If you’re having troubles getting it up or coming too fast, then you can talk to somebody about that stuff as well.
Go. Read. Think.
Or you can try this the more difficult way; Monica Hesse of the Washington Post told us a story, last week:
He reached down to the frayed hem of his shorts and twisted a thread between his fingers. “My mom is freaking out about this. I told her I would handle it, if it was positive. But she said I’m dead. She said it’s a death sentence. But even if it’s positive, I could still live for a really long time, right? A long time. It’s not how it used to be. She’s just worried.”
He pulled the thread from his shorts. “My fear is that — the pills that work, you have to take them every day and they’re really complicated. You have to do them exactly right. I used to need to take a heartburn pill every day, and I couldn’t even remember that.”
The door opened, and instead of Moore it was Schaefer, carrying a folder. She pulled a stool over to his chair and sat down on it, resting her elbows on a tray table and introducing herself as the clinic director. “Your HIV test did come back positive,” she told him.
He put his hands over his kneecaps and nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah.”
Dude ....
Okay? It’s time, boys. They ain’t listenin’ to your mom. Not your sister, either. Nor your wife. And what, who, your daughter? Give me a break.
I know, I know. Poor us. A noble man’s work is never done. Now get off the tit and read.
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Smith, Rich. “Bros: Let’s Talk About Planned Parenthood (Non-Bros Are Allowed to Read This, Too)”. Slog. 22 September 2015.
Hesse, Monica. “Planned Parenthood is a symbol. This is the reality of one Ohio clinic.” The Washington Post. 15 Septemer 2015.
This Is 