Tag Archives: womens health

Study: Female Genital Mutilation Ruins Sex Lives

Jessica WakemanOctober 19, 2012 //
Today's Lady News
  • Today in No Duh News: women who are forced to have their genitals cut as young girls have more sexual dysfunction as adults, according to a new study in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. FGM or female circumcision removes all or part of a girl’s clitoris and labia for the purpose of restricting her enjoyment of sex. One-hundred-and-thirty million women have been cut, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. [Reuters]
  • Why casual sexism in science matters. [Boing Boing]
  • This white woman wearing a huge black Afro wig and writing about it on her blog Before And Afro is a joke, right? [PostBourgie]
  • Mormon feminists exist and they are for Obama. [Reuters]
  • Nerds! What do we think of these new PCs designed “for women by women”? Unless it is a chocolate bar shaped like a PC, I am not sure why I need a different computer than a man. [CNET] Keep reading »

I Love My IUD, So Why Didn’t My Doctor?

Kate ConwayOctober 5, 2012 //
I Got An IUD
A first hand account of getting an IUD. Read More »
IUD Side Effects
A first person experience with the IUD. Read More »
On Birth Control
This woman uses birth control for medical reasons. Read More »

The first time I went in to get my intrauterine device, or IUD, my doctor asked me if I was in a relationship.

“Um, kind of?” I stammered. “I mean, no. But you know, I hear this is the way to go as far as, you know, protectiveness.”

“Hrm,” she said, flipping her chart closed. This was the first time I’d been to this gynecologist, who ran her practice in my tiny suburban hometown. I was 20, home from school on Christmas break, and tired of frantically eyeing the moon and waiting for my period once a month. Keep reading »

India To Outlaw Sex-Selective Abortions Of Girls

Daley QuinnSeptember 19, 2012 //
India's Feminists
Meet the Gulabi gang, India's feminist movement. Read More »
India Vibe Ad
vibrating volkswagen ad
Indian newspapers ran a Volkswagen ad that vibrated! Read More »
I Had An Abortion
A mother writes about choosing to have an abortion. Read More »
i'm just a girl

Even though India worships female goddesses, some of India’s expectant mothers have been pressured by a culture that privileges males into aborting their female fetuses. Authorities believe eight million girls may have been aborted in India in the last decade alone. Now the government is taking charge and planning to jail entire families for up to seven years if they abort a fetus just because it’s female. Additionally, clinicians will be fined from 1000 Rupees or sentenced to three years in prison if found performing ultrasounds to ascertain the sex of the fetus. Keep reading »

Doctors Complete First-Ever Mother-Daughter Uterus Transplant

Jessica WakemanSeptember 18, 2012 //
Today's Lady News photo
  • Doctors in Sweden have done the first mother-daughter uterus transplant, which can be useful if the daughter is experiencing fertility problems. Trippy! [NBC News]
  • Mitt Romney’s campaign debuted a new ad targeted towards women called “Dear Daughter.” [Feministing]
  • A historian at Harvard Divinity School has announced there is a piece of papyrus that refers to Jesus’ “wife.” [New York Times]
  • Did you hear Adele might design a line for Burberry? Here’s more on how fashion is expanding to accommodate plus-size women’s bodies. [Businessweek] Keep reading »
The Pregnancy Test
A brief history of the pregnancy, prior to peeing on a stick. 11 Photos »
I'm Doing IVF
IVF
One women's experience with IVF. Read More »
Craziest Pregnancies
crazy pregnancy stories
This woman claims she got impregnated by a 3D movie. 8 Photos »

5 Mysterious & Bizarre Symptoms Explained

The StirSeptember 17, 2012 //

One of the upsides to being a nurse is that I can generally tell you WHY you feel a certain way. One of the downsides is that I can generally tell you WHY you feel a certain way, which is why I rarely mention my medical background to people who don’t know me. After that one weird time on the train when someone wanted to show me their rash, I’m a little wary.

But you’ve got some weird symptoms going on, right? And maybe you’re scared because you don’t know what they mean and you’re REALLY hoping you don’t end up on an episode of “House.” Here are some possible reasons for your your bizarre and inexplicable symptoms. Read more…

Virginia Passes Regulations That Seem To Shut Down Abortion Clinics

Jessica WakemanSeptember 14, 2012 //
Rape As A Punishment
On wishing rape upon rapists. Read More »
  • Virginia’s Board of Health has voted to pass building regulations pushed by anti-abortion advocates on things like hallway sizes and ventilation systems that will force many abortion clinics in the state to close. Just awful. [Huffington Post]
  • More on the accused Central Park rapist’s history of attacking elderly women. [ABC News]
  • Another politician has compared abortion to slavery. That seems sensible. [Think Progress]
  • Proof that Goddess has a sense of twisted humor: Jessica Valenti, feminist and author of Why Have Kids?, was approached by a major news outlet to promote her feminist analysis of parenthood and asked to write about “how she lost the baby weight.” (The fact that she “lost the baby weight” by giving birth to a three-months-early preemie is another story entirely.) [JessicaValenti.Tumblr.com] Keep reading »

Teen Girl Escapes After Two Years Of Being Held Captive & Sexually Assaulted

Jessica WakemanAugust 24, 2012 //
handcuffs photo

Disturbing news out of Illinois today: a teenage girl from Missouri escaped from a home in which she had been held captive for the past two years.

The young woman, who was 15 when she went missing, said she had been sexually assaulted and beaten almost daily by an older man. She became pregnant by her rapist and gave birth to a two-year-old child.  Keep reading »

"Forcible Rape"
Behind Republicans' attempts to redefine rape. Read More »
An Exception For Rape
The problem with the anti-abortion movement's "rape exception." Read More »
Akin's Rape Science
Rep. Todd Akin says "legitimate rape victims" don't get pregnant. Read More »

Texas To Cut Off Funding For Poor Women’s Health Care At Planned Parenthood

Daley QuinnAugust 22, 2012 //
I Had An Abortion
A mother writes about choosing to have an abortion. Read More »
PP's Youth Organizing
Why "Twilight"'s Elizabeth Reaser is attending this PP event. Read More »
Support Planned Parenthood
How you can help protect access to reproductive health care. Read More »
Lady! You There! I Make Medical Choices For You!

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that Texas is now allowed to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood clinics that participate in Texas’ Women’s Health Program. Planned Parenthood performs abortions, which the state opposes, and therefore they are allowed to defund the clinics.

The program helps roughly 130,00 low-income women with health care; it aids women who would not qualify for Medicaid unless they are pregnant. The WHP has always funded Planned Parenthood clinics in the past; its mandate is not to fund “abortion-providing entities” and Planned Parenthood got around that by creating a separate legal entity to accept the funds to use for non-abortion health care. The state knew that and funded the clinics anyway. But then the state of Texas decided it was more de riguer and keeping with the times to defund Planned Parenthood over all this. It rewrote language saying WHP funding couldn’t even go to abortion-providing affiliates. Keep reading »

Paul Ryan Backpedals On His Politically Inconvenient Views Regarding “Forcible Rape”

Jessica WakemanAugust 22, 2012 //
"Forcible Rape"
Behind Republicans' attempts to redefine rape. Read More »
Akin's Rape Science
Rep. Todd Akin says "legitimate rape victims" don't get pregnant. Read More »
Who's Paul Ryan?
Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney Announces Rep. Paul Ryan As His Vice Presidential Pick
12 things to know about Mitt Romney's new running mate. Read More »
Paul Ryan photo
Don't Pay Attention To My Extreme Views!

Poor anti-abortion Republicans. It must be so hard having the general public pay attention to your extremist views. Case in point: Mitt Romney’s vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan is against legal abortion and joined Republicans — including Rep. Todd Akin! —  last year to try to rewrite language in the No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act (background here), saying government funding could only cover abortions in the case of “forcible rape.”

The language was rejected when more reasonable minds were horrified that a woman who had been roofied and raped would be told “no” if she asked for help terminating a pregnancy resulting from it. Because that’s rape, too.  The implication was, of course, that if a woman wasn’t “forcibly” raped — as in, a man jumps out from the behind the bushes — she might be lying and really doesn’t deserve to get help ending her pregnancy. You might even say she was not the victim of a “legitimate rape.” Keep reading »

Planned Parenthood Launches Breast Health Initiative

Daley QuinnAugust 21, 2012 //
PP's Youth Organizing
Why "Twilight"'s Elizabeth Reaser is attending this PP event. Read More »
How To Support PP
You can support Planned Parenthood even if conservatives won't. Read More »
Survivor In Pool
Breast cancer survivor fights to swim topless in public pool. Read More »
breast cancer photo

Did you know that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime?

This astonishingly high statistic is one of the many things I learned about breast health at Planned Parenthood’s Breast Health Initiative briefing yesterday. Surrounded by some incredibly influential and inspirational women, including Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards and actress/activist Gabrielle Union, I was informed about the lives that screenings have already saved and the ways in which Planned Parenthood is expanding their services. Keep reading »

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