Why Can't a Pregnant Woman Have a Drink? by Margaret Hartmann, Jezebel.comIf the article and the related issues pique your interest, you have one more chance to see my play about a pregnant woman who really wants a beer: next Monday, August 30, at Theater Pub.
"Many medical experts say it's OK for pregnant woman to have one or two glasses of wine a week, and drinking while pregnant is common in Europe. So why is moderate drinking during pregnancy still taboo in America?"
I think it's interesting that the article, and many of the commenters, say that drinking during pregnancy might be OK if it is "an occasional glass of wine." Wine is sophisticated; wine is decorous. Beer, on the other hand... Well, that still has the power to shock.
How appropriately timed. Social taboo is such an interesting topic, couched as it usually is in superstition and psuedoscience. I think we Americans are, in general, bad a moderation as a concept-- as a society we have a tendency to indulge to excess, and when we find out that excess is not necessarily good, we take the reactionary track and banish it altogether.
ReplyDeleteAh, dear, your play really is wonderful; wish I could see it live!
I once made a pun that Americans are "prurient puritans"--that's kind of true! We can't moderate.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, darling; I know you'll see a play of mine SOMEDAY!