Undeniably.
I recently viewed a show called Monster Inside Me. The show, documenting the journey and existence of parasites within the human body. Now let me tell you, I’ve seen some gross and disturbing things in my life. But I can tell you that Monsters Inside Me would rank very, very highly on this list.
“Mike Hale of The New York Times said that ‘there’s science amid the frightening stories and said that the series really grossed him out.’ Anne Louise Bannon of Common Sense Media said that ‘parents need to know that there is a lot of gross stuff in the series and the show has good educational content except for the tips on how to protect yourself from parasites because the information is vague.’” *
So I’m not alone in this. Most of us aren’t extraordinarily comfortable knowing that at the drop of a hat, our body may be taken prisoner by some sort of hungry parasite.
On a seemingly unrelated note, America loves pregnancy. A lot. Maybe as much as baseball. Or bald eagles.
But really, what is pregnancy? Would I be lying if I were to define pregnancy as, “[when] an organism that lives on or in an organism…known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment.” **
Hmm. Also the definition of parasite.
If someone were to develop a tumor that continually grew in size for 9 months, a tumor that fed off of what you ate, people would probably be slightly concerned, to say the least. But strangely enough, once that tumor is alive (and a fetus), we LOVE it.
While I’m on the subject, can I address the fact that sonogram pictures of fetus’ are about one of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen? A four-fingered see-through half-man half-alien doesn’t exactly induce feelings of irrepressible adoration for me. And yet. Some people look at sonogram pictures as if they just saw the Mona Lisa.
Just some food for thought. Next time you see an abnormally large-stomached woman, a pregnant woman, your intuition may tell you say “awww” and touch her. But just remember, a tiny person is floating around in there, sucking all of the nutrients from its host.
You wouldn’t say “awww” if you saw a tick would you?
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsters_Inside_Me
** http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/parasite
