So...

I said that I added "Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters" to my reading list. I just finished chapter 1 and I think I may stop.

Not that it's a bad book, but because it is too real, too truthful, and frankly, in some ways it's making me feel worse about myself.

Martin creates this timeline of a typical woman's day and all the time she would spend thinking about food & weight. And frankly, that's me. I sat on the couch tonight reading and thinking "I really could read this while on the elliptical...I could use a piece of the German chocolate cake I made for the hubby before it gets bad in this summer heat...no, I can't eat that!...I should go work out."

Yes, my dear readers, it's totally triggering every single bad thing I think about myself.

Yet, it's a freakin' good book. Martin isn't a psychologist or nutritionist. She's merely observing what she sees in her friends & her daily life. And it's good. So good.

Maybe after some cake, the Cubs game, and some Ana Castillo, I can return to this book.

Labels: Books, health

My current book selections include Courtney E. Martin's "Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body" I want to mention that because I'm going to do something vastly different with this reading.

My latest blog crush, Dewey, is also reading the book (as is fellow book babe, Rachel), but Dewey is blogging after each chapter. While I won't even attempt to duplicate the genius that is Dewey, I will be reading my chapters and then reading Dewey's commentary.

I rarely read book reviews as it is, so to read a commentary WHILE I'm reading the book will be quite an experience. Now on to the show...

x-posted at Babes and Books

Labels: Books, feminism, health

Robin Roberts has breast cancer.

FUCK!

When will this disease die?

I'm hopeful that she'll pull thru this and we'll be able to listen to her for many more years. I've loved her since her days on ESPN, perhaps BECAUSE of her days on ESPN.

Labels: health

From Kameron:

From the gyno at PP: "Going to the ER as a woman with pelvic pain is like showing up at Planned Parenthood with a heart attack. They might understand there's a problem, but they're not really knowledgeable or equipped enough to do anything useful about it."

I went to see my OBGYN yesterday for a problem visit. I've been having chronic side effects from the Seasonale and just wanted to make sure things were all right. I was pretty confident they were, esp since I had a great conversation with a new friend who works at a local women's health clinic.

I walked in and the nurse asked me what was wrong. I described my issues and she kept telling me, "But you want that!" or "Of course!" and smiling. Considering my past with fibroids, I was way nervous about a reoccurrence. So I did something I've never really been able to do to a health care provider before. "Um, why do you keep looking at me like I'm an idiot?" She so didn't mean to be and apologized over and over. I was pretty proud of myself.

My Dr. explained that things look fine, but let's do an ultrasound soon just to make sure there aren't any fibroids. So in 2 weeks I go in.

I'm sticking with the Seasonale. My migraines have been far fewer and that's the whole reason for going on the new pill. Sadly because one cycle of the pill is 3 months, that means it takes 3 times as long for your body to get adjusted. Ugh. Well at least I'm not pregnant!

Labels: health

Go to any feminist conference and you'll stumble into a debate on language and how the right is far better at it. "Family values", "pro-life", "Partial-birth abortion"...well you get the idea. So it was fantabulous to see that Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced a bill called the HIV Prevention Act of 2007.

How's that for using language?

Let's see how the right-wingers defend their vote against HIV Prevention.

What's in the bill? RHRealityCheck tells us:

...a bill that would remove the ideological 33 percent abstinence-until-marriage earmark from HIV prevention programs in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The earmark is the primary culprit in denying young people in PEPFAR countries from receiving honest, comprehensive HIV prevention programs. Ten additional Democratic Senators co-sponsored the bill including Senators Clinton, Durbin, and Feingold.

The HIV Prevention Act of 2007 also allows for greater flexibility within PEPFAR to respond more quickly and specifically to the local epidemic, and supports public health best practices that are tailored to local needs and culture.

WOOT!

Labels: feminism, health

Who is that adorable and feisty lil grrl? It's not Miss Ella. It is Milagros Cerron, Peru's Little Mermaid:

Milagros, who turns 3 years old next week, now takes ballet classes and runs around the playground with her classmates.

In June 2005 doctors successfully performed risky surgery to separate her legs to above her knees. The operation seven months ago was to separate the remaining four inches of fused tissue just below the groin.

Isn't this just amazing? She's so cute, so feisty, and obviously so strong. It just blows me away what our medical community can do and the strength of the human heart. I think she's going to be just fine.

This picture seriously just makes me heart sing.

Labels: health

Labels: abortion, health

Dear Dr. Kennedy,

I've been having this problem with my girly parts. Sometimes when my Aunt Flo comes for a visit I have some awful cramps. Sometimes when she visits, if I drink milk, I um, need to powder my nose for a long time. And honestly, sometimes I'm just not a nice person to be around. Do you have anything you can recommend or prescribe for this?

Thanks,
Roni

PS: I figured that since you voted to uphold a law that makes a medical decision that you were now practicing medicine. So why go to my OBGYN when I should just go to you?

Labels: abortion, feminism, health, politics

For years I've pinned my migraines on my birth control pills. I started to get them around my period, but since I started Seasonale (which, gotta say, it rawks not bleeding every 28 days.) I've still had migraines. My family practitioner questioned that the two were related, but only relented when I said I never get a migraine without my period being around the corner. And it was true.

I have a tiny one today and you know what? I forgot to take my allergy pill this morning. And it was HUMID as hell today. So maybe it is more the weather + my allergies?

I dunno, but I need to chart myself better. I had created a first draft of a woman's health calendar about a year ago. I should revisit it and PDF it soon. It could be a zine or it could be a PDF or both.

I also feel as if I'm reacting weirdly to something I'm eating. And I'm scared that it might be wine. Of course, this is all just my fears as I haven't been charting my eating either. Ugh...

Labels: health

We all know that Zell Miller thinks you white women aren't producing enough workers. What's the other side of the story?

The Guttmacher Institute has a new report out that documents that women under 21 who get pregnant and get an abortion have better educational outcomes than women who carry to term. Abstract:

CONTEXT: Young women frequently cite concerns about the effects of unplanned pregnancies on future life course outcomes, including education, employment and relationships, as reasons for seeking abortion. There is relatively little
evidence as to whether abortion leads to improved life course outcomes for young women who choose this option.

METHODS: Data from 492 women participating in a 25-year longitudinal study of a New Zealand birth cohort were used in regression models that examined the relationship between pregnancy and abortion history prior to age 21 and selected social and economic outcomes at ages 21–25.

RESULTS: Compared with young women who became pregnant before age 21 but did not seek an abortion, young women who had an abortion had significantly better outcomes on six out of 10 measures spanning education, income, welfare dependence and domestic violence. Adjustment for confounding factors indicated that most of these differences
were explained by family, social and educational characteristics that were present prior to pregnancy. Nonetheless, even after adjustment for confounding factors, young women who had abortions had higher levels of subsequent educational achievement than those who became pregnant but did not have abortions.

CONCLUSIONS: Abortion may mitigate some effects of early unplanned pregnancy. However, further study of its potential risks and benefits is needed so that women can make fully informed decisions as to whether to terminate unintended pregnancies.

Looking at the data tables, women who never got pregnant scored better on educational attainment & economic factors. That seems to have been lost when adjusting for family background...slightly.

The researchers do cite their earlier work that shows that women who have abortions do have "a moderate increase in risks of subsequent mental health problems." But the bottom line from them is that more research is needed AND that the final answer may fall in between the anti's wail of "we're going to hell" and radical pro-choice's cry "that abortion is good." Althou, I gotta say that I have never myself met someone who would say that abortion is good and everyone should have one. I myself look at this data and say this is why we need real comprehensive sex education so that we can REDUCE unwanted pregnancies and thus reduce the need for abortion AND reduce ending or disrupting women's educational careers. I'd also like to add that we need accessible and affordable child care. If women are going to carry to term pregnancies, they are going to need child care to stay in school.

There were a lot more reports that came out in this latest update. Including one that may suggest we Norplant teenagers after having an abortion. I haven't read that one...I'm a tad scared to do it. I've read way too much crap that says that Norplant & other long term contraceptives are misused, especially in poor communities, that I can't look at that report objectively. Hey, at least I'm honest.

Labels: abortion, feminism, health