Soraya Nadia McDonald: "Two months after Dobbs, 22 percent of adults said they were uncertain whether eggs inside a woman’s ovaries have shells (they do not)." *rubs temples*

"Two months after Dobbs, 22 percent of adults said they were uncertain whether eggs inside a woman’s ovaries have shells (they do not)." *rubs temples*

Abortion Debate Shifts as Election Nears: ‘Now It’s About Pregnancy’www.nytimes.com Two years after Roe was struck down, the conversation has focused on the complications that can come with pregnancy and fertility, helping to drive more support for abortion rights.

Um, wow.

I've been saying society is getting more stupid every year. Problem is, I've been saying it for two decades or more

Stop saying it! Stop making society dumber! (That is how 'actualization' works, right?) I do want to know what portion of that 22% were men.

My guess is 95%.

110%

heh

Well 21% were unsure if a woman’s period starts on the 1st and that’s definitely not women unsure about that.

I’d like to say that’s for sure absolutely true, but somehow…

I would like to see the crosstabs on that one, but I am afraid to look.

I’m going to turn 63 soon. If I was asked to pass along one thing I’ve learned it is to never underestimate how stupid people can be. Second would be that despite how stupid they are, they always find each other and form groups that cause completely unnecessary problems.

20 years of abstinence only education that we are just beginning to claw back...

We need to get that Christian crap out of our achoolsschools and teach real sex ed again, this time better than ever before

Yes! That's why I'm proud to be on the board of @educateusaction.bsky.social

In college my sex Ed teacher called it GW Bush’s sex scandal because of how awful that approach was.

can't forget the great pollster Celinda Lake explaining to a voter in a focus group what a trimester is (the first third of pregnancy) only to have him say: What's that in months though? Dividing 9 by 3 was too much math. 'Don't know much about history/don't know much biology' 🎶

To be fair, it's not actually 9 months; human pregnancies are ~ten lunar months/menstrual cycles or 40 weeks/280 days long - much easier to count!

And a trimester is a group of three months. It's commonly, but not exclusively, used in reference to pregnancy.

As both a university professor and mother of 3, I am well aware.

I cannot stop laughing at the blatant mansplaining, absolutely wild

I did not think she needed it explained, I just thought mentioning the definition was a useful contribution to the discussion.

I choose to believe that those 22% were all just being pedantic about the definition of the word “shell” and whether a cell membrane constitutes a shell. Because the alternative is just too disquieting.

I started Googling and, nope. After fertilization a vitelline membrane forms around the new zygote, but that's different from an eggshell, it's really quite separate, as you can tell if you crack a chicken egg: it's there in the chicken egg under the eggshell. Do get "zinc sparks" though.

The zinc spark is an inorganic signature of human egg activation - Scientific Reportswww.nature.com Scientific Reports - The zinc spark is an inorganic signature of human egg activation

"in a poll in August 2020 whether it was true that “most women get their period on the first of the month,” 75 percent got the right answer — false — but a notable 21 percent said they were “not sure.”" It's definitely not 22% being pedantic.

To analyze it beyond a joke (either how dumb those dudes are or how I don’t want to live in a world where that number of people think that) we’d need to look at the actual surveys the article is referring to and I’m having trouble finding either.

I have had to explain to a pregnant woman that no, eating spicy food will not burn your fetus’s eyes; and no, your fetus cannot choke on popcorn kernels if you eat popcorn. I would bet real money that that number is really accurate.

That’s what’s weird about it. In the first example in the article 75% were correct, 21% weren’t sure, leaving only 4% having been confident in the wrong answer? As you point out, wouldn’t we expect way more than that?

25% not knowing something that is pretty basic science/information falls right in line with other research www.pewresearch.org/science/2019...

Oh, I see. No, I still think that’s fair. Most people haven’t thought about it, and are guessing, i would bet. The woman I talked to asked me, when she saw me studying

The quote is coming from the co-founder of a research company (PerryUndem, they're quoting Tresa Undem), so I'm willing to take them at their word that the question was worded as quoted with those results. You'd need a margin of error of 20% to have those results not be concerning.

Yes, but also bc we know fewer than that think babies are born in shells. I would be pedantic if faced with this bizarre question.

To be fair I wasn’t sure but that was because my immediate thought was “shell” referred to (as you said) a kind of membrane and not…literally, cause who would believe that 🤦🏼

Would really like to see that group exploded out: age, education group, Dem/Rep/non-voter, religion, etc.

Same. Context really is everything.

Why? It certainly wouldn't improve my perception of that 22%, no matter what the demographics.

Friend, I have to know. Does that list make up 80% of homeschoolers and likewise 73% of the homeschoolers polled said that? Or do they have an education? Or can make big decisions for other people? I know that number is much higher than “zero” than we’d like, but I need to know by how much.

Why? Every child has a right to an education in this country & no matter where it comes from, 22% is an unacceptable number.

Exactly.

If you want more than 80% of the country knowing about an elemental thing then you're in the wrong country (Earth round, heliocentrism, etc.)

*wrong planet

We're cooked. Scrambled, you might say.

Same poll, but this one's not amusing. "Just 34% of Republicans think a man who forces his wife to have sex against her will should definitely be prosecuted"

That explains almost everything except racism and it kinda explains that too.

Rape of slaves was accepted & legal. Wives & slaves were property.

back when America was 'Great'

😬

If that 22% did hatch it would explain a few things.

Probably 1% overthought the question and said "Maybe this is a trick question and there's a 2-nanometer membrane that technically qualifies as a shell or something."

yes, you’re right: the percentage of over-thinkers is so small as to be statistically irrelevant

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