I was commenting on how packaged pregnancy tests resemble fruit roll ups when my mother told me scientists once injected bunnies with a woman’s urine to determine whether or not she was pregnant. “A rabbit?” I was a little stunned by the idea of poor, floppy-eared, innocent rabbits getting shot up with pee. “Oh yeah!” […]
What does a woman’s past sexual experience have to do with her teaching skills? Just about everything! That’s why the education department in Sao Paolo, Brazil gets all up in the ladybusiness of potential female employees. According to women’s rights activists in Brazil, as cited by The Washington Post, women are required to prove their […]
This is not a story of how abortion is right or wrong. Nor is it about what other people are doing with their bodies, or what I think about that (as though it’s any of my business). No: this is just my story of how Planned Parenthood made some hard times a little easier for […]
Tennessee law makes it legal to charge a woman with child abuse and assault if she takes illegal narcotic substances while pregnant. The first woman who was arrested under this new law was a 26-year old woman whose baby girl tested positive for methamphetamines after being born. The woman was reportedly arrested on her way out of the hospital. Although she […]
One of the most widely circulated myths about menstruation has been proven false by math. It turns out women don’t sync their periods when they’re in close proximity — it’s all just a lie. In case you haven’t heard it before, many people believe that women who are close, spend a lot of time together, or live together, […]
I don’t want to ruin your day or anything, but here’s something terrifying you’ve probably never thought about: scientists barely know anything about the long-term effects of tampons on our health. Did you know that? I didn’t know that! You’re putting a foreign object inside yourself that was only sort of studied for safety risks, and I’m sorry to have told you that, because now […]
It always amuses me when something concerning pregnancy, birth, or parenting pops up as a “trend.” Odds are, that “trend” has been in practice for ages, but most likely in non-urban, non-privileged, non-U.S. areas. Take, for example, the notion of using midwives to deliver babies over OB-GYNs. Only when it hit Brooklyn and the New York […]
Last month, I underwent surgery to determine whether or not I have endometriosis, a disorder in which the uterine lining grows outside of the uterus. For people with endometriosis, the symptoms and prognosis vary greatly, but patients most commonly suffer from pelvic pain and, in some cases, infertility. The only way to diagnose it is […]
I ended up in the ER gushing so much blood from my vagina that the nurses thought I would bleed out and die. “Are you pregnant?” they asked, thinking perhaps it could be attributed to a miscarriage. “No, I don’t think so,” I responded. They seemed perplexed – and remained perplexed even after doing an […]
