About Beauty Standards

A girl’s letter to Vogue magazine.
I absolutely adore it.

Family Physician Terminates Fetuses Over 24 Weeks Old

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a doctor at a Women’s Clinic in Philidelphia, was arrested in January after his clinic was regulated by officials and dismembered fetuses were found. He was charged with murder, infanticide, conspiracy, abortion at 24 or more weeks, as well as the delivery of seven live babies that he later killed by using scissors.

Gosnell catered to the poor, minorities and immigrants who had no other medical options. He also catered to women who had been carrying a baby more than 24 weeks and were not legally allowed to get an abortion. “Authorities raided Gosnell’s clinic early last year in search of controlled drug violations and stumbled upon “a house of horrors,” bags and bottles holding aborted fetuses “were scattered throughout the building,” the district attorney said. “There were jars lining shelves with severed feet that he kept for no medical purpose.”

Gosnell’s clinic had no medically trained staff except for himself who had been trained as a family physcian not as a gynecologist or an obstetrician. Therefore, he was not even medically trained to perform procedures such as abortions none the less to perform them when the fetus is over the 24 week line. “Women came from across the city, state and other regions for illegal late-term abortions,” authorities said. They paid $325 for first-trimester abortions and $1,600 to $3,000 for abortions up to 30 weeks. The clinic took in $10,000 to $15,000 a day.

Gosnell usually did not inform his patients that they were over the 24 week line by training his employees to tilt the probe a certain way during ultrasounds so that the fetus looked smaller.”Few, if any, of the unconscious patients knew their babies had been born alive and then killed, prosecutors said. Many were first-time mothers who were told they were 24 weeks pregnant, even if they were much further along”.

When I read this article I was so shocked. This is such a horrific and terrifying article to read and to think somebody like this got away with doing these illegal operations for 30 years is absolutely crazy. What also surprised me about this article were the women who were willing to sacrifice their health and go so far out of their way to get an abortion when and after they reached  24 weeks of pregnancy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41154527/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/house-horrors-alleged-abortion-clinic/

Look at what I found…

http://www.womenhealthzone.com/

This is a website that speaks about some of the issues we have been researching in this blog. I though it would be interesting.

Where Are the Women?

The more topics that are covered in the news, the more women’s issues become seemingly insignificant.  This video is a compilation of interviews with women on this particular issue. It begs the question, “what is mainstream media missing?”

Where do we stand on these issues?

Women’s health issues are all over the internet. But why can’t we find them? I’ll tell you why. This is because there is hardly ever news about women in the mainstream media. Newspapers, televised news and magazines do not put emphasis on issues regarding our health or any female issues. What we do see are PSA’s on magazines about birth control methods and on Gardasil to prevent HPV or anything that has to do with breast cancer. And to find any other information on women’ health we have to dig deep to find it. There are many examples in which we can see how women’s health issues are permeated in society.

Often we walk around society thinking of our health but more often than not women do not have the resources to get a medical checkup. This a very sad reality. So women go on websites and even other blogs to find answers about their health. They ask questions like what are the symptoms of a certain STD, or what are the symptoms of bacterial vaginosis and a yeast infection. Women also ask questions about what should be a normal vaginal discharge and what is not. With asking questions like these we realize that not all women’s bodies are the same, so how are we supposed to know if we don’t have the resources? Why aren’t things like this very issue in the news or anywhere? Go on Google and type what are symptoms of and click enter and the first result is about tumors in a woman’s uterus. So what does that tell you?

So what can we do to solve this? There are many things that we could do. Things like keeping this blog active and spreading the word through social media and social networks and even talking to people in the streets. I do think that revolution is needed and that we women should raise consciousness among each other to have our issues spoken about in the mainstream media and not just on online forums and women’s magazines.

BIG NEWS!

As many of you probably already know, a recent study proved that earlier treatment of HIV greatly reduces the risk of spreading it to a sexual partner. This news, which is getting plenty of media coverage and gracing the covers of many news sites, is a great step forward for the prevention of HIV and AIDS. The study explains, “HIV medicines don’t just benefit the patient, but may act as a preventive by making those people less infectious. Earlier treatment in the study meant patients were 96 percent(!) less likely to spread the virus to their uninfected partners” .  This means that doctors will most likely now be urged to begin treating their patients earlier, with the hopes that it will prevent new infections and transmission.

While the best way to prevent new cases of HIV is education and safe sex practices, this new information will greatly help too. Patients need to be informed that they should be put on medications before they need it for their own health, in order to prevent giving it to their partner. Convincing them, however, might be difficult. A lot of these medications have severe side effects and therefore people only want to be on taking them if it is helping their health. But they have to look at the bigger picture. If all HIV infected people begin taking medications right after they are diagnosed, the rate of HIV will decrease drastically.

Post Partum Feud in Hollywood

Brooke Shields is an actress- famous for many things; modeling, performing on broadway or starring in her own sitcom. She has been a famous face of beauty for years. However, about six years ago when Shields was facing issues with postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter, Rowan, she did a very brave thing and told the world about her struggle with depression in her book, Down Came The Rain. In an article in the Times, Sarah Baxter wrote,

“After suffering a miscarriage and undergoing fertility treatment, she expected to be overjoyed when her daughter was born. Her hostile feelings came as a shock and affected her relationship with her husband.”

Shields spoke of her suicidal thoughts and the resentment she felt toward her daughter, but when she was  prescribed anti-depressant medication from her doctor she was surprised at how much better she felt.

In Tom Cruise’s interview on Access Hollywood, he felt it was appropriate to talk about Shields’ depression on-air while also tantalizing her for using medication rather than vitamins to ward off her postpartum.

“These drugs are dangerous. I have actually helped people come off them… when you talk about postpartum depression you can take people today, women, and what you do is you use vitamins” Cruise stated in his interview.

In response to his comments, Shields responded with

“Tom should stick to saving the world from aliens and let women who are experiencing postpartum depression decide what treatment options are best for them”.

A man will never experience postnatal depression and therefore, should not tell a woman how to get over her disorder. Excercise and vitamins are all good and nice but is that really enough to overcome suicidal thoughts? Cruise crossed the line with his comments toward Shields. “Cruise’s remarks were a reason why people found it so difficult to speak openly about their mental health problems.”

This feud was all over the media when it occurred in 2005, mostly because it was between two celebrities over a very common and personal disorder. It all boils down to the fact that Tom Cruise crossed a very thin line with his comments and like most women, Shields was offended. At the same time this was a very good way for women who may have been dealing with the disorder to come out and find help. It is rare that an issue such as this one is prevalent in the news.  I commend Shields for her bravery in sharing her story and hope that the news coverage allowed more women to feel that they weren’t alone in their struggles.

Here is the link to the article.

Every 15 Seconds, A Woman is Beaten

Domestic violence is one of the many issues that seem to have become taboo. Victims of domestic violence are either ashamed, embarrassed or uninformed of where to go and/or whom to turn to when in need of help.  However, the more informed we are about domestic violence, the more likely we are to speak up and seek help. I’ve come across several statistics on domestic violence that should be used as a means to not only educate one’s self but others as well.

• Women of all races are about equally vulnerable to violence by an intimate partner. No one race is prone to violent partners.
• One woman is beaten by her husband or partner every 15 seconds in the United States.
• The average prison sentence of men who kill their women partners is 2 to 6 years. On the other hand, women who kill their partners are, on average, sentenced to 15 years.
• Domestic violence does not only occur in low-income households.
• Women who stay with their abusive partners are not masochistic. There are, instead, numerous factors that inhibit them from leaving. Some factors include economic dependency, not having anyone else to turn and fearing further abuse once they leave. Over 70% of the women injured in domestic violence cases are injured after separation. And, this is not to say that men are never victims of domestic violence.  Men are indeed victims as well.
• More than 1 million women seek medical assistance each year for injuries caused by battering.
• Nearly 7.8 million women have been raped by an intimate partner at some point in their lives.
• 1 in 6 women have been raped.  1 in 33 men have attempted or completed a rape.

   Source of Stats

The more we know, the more likely we are to act accordingly.  Domestic violence isn’t something that should be silenced.  The Office of Violence Against Women and The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence  amongst several others are great outlets to get involved.

we <3 boobies

Remember in 2009 when the United States Preventative Services Task Force told us that if you are in your 40’s you don’t need to get breast cancer screenings every year? Well, we apparently listened.  An article titled “Fewer mammograms being done, studies show,” that was published on may 2, 2011 on CNN.com stated that since this announcement in 2009, the use of mammograms have dipped. It also explains that fewer doctors are recommending annual mammograms for women in their 40’s.

 Although I know that the benefit of mammograms in younger women is rather low since their breasts are more dense and therefore harder to detect a growth, I still don’t feel comfortable with this. I think that even if we catch one cancerous growth in a younger woman, it is one life potentially saved. Like Dr. Lara Hardesty states in the article, “If you are the one person we find your cancer, it’s the world to you.” We take time out of every year to get annual teeth cleaning, check-ups and pap smears; why shouldn’t women take the few hours to get a mammogram that could save their life?