Broadcaster admits eating detergent soap

GUIMARAS, Philippines - Broadcaster Eduard "Bebot" Gentova confessed that he ate a detergent bar when his wife was pregnant with their first-born child. Gentova, of Radio Natin 91.7 Cool FM in San Jose, Antique, was a participant to the workshop on responsible parenthood last April 5 and 6 by the Region 6 Population Commission in Guimaras. Among the topics discussed was the "husband's support system" offered to the wife during "infanticipating" period and where Gentova discussed his experience to prove the existence of male "infanticipation", as well. Gentova recalled that 17 years ago, when his wife was conceiving their first child, he ate a detergent bar and said the soap was "sweet." "My wife is not the demanding type when conceiving but unexplainably, it was I who seem to have some problems. I have mixed feelings then, I got excited at the same time 'judgmental' of what the future holds until unconsciously, I was already eating a white detergent bar," he said. When Gentova's case was opened for discussion, married women participants explained that conception or "infanticipation" is purely psychosocial in nature. They explained that biologically, there are hormonal disturbances during infanticipation stage, a time when fertilization and implantation of the embryo is forming. A demanding wife, asking a mango fruit in the middle of the night, has no biological explanation but a psychosocial one. They emphasized "psychosocial" instead of "psychological" because this involved the relational dynamics of husbands and wives going into a transitional stage of married life. "Male infanticipation," however, is a more complex phenomenon, which could be more of an anxiety "displacement," it was noted. PopCom information officer Xenia Serio explained worry and stress displacements in life as the likely explanation for Gentova's eating a detergent bar. - Sun Star