When I read about Angelina Jolie’s announcement this week, I cringed. I have greatly admired her willingness to speak out on important issues over the years. Her public announcement about her mastectomies will certainly reassure some women that losing a breast to breast cancer isn’t quite as frightening as it had once seemed. But Ms. [...]
Tag Archives: health
What Does Being Emotionally Healthy Look Like?
I know that when my heart was broken, or when I didn’t get the grant I had worked so hard on, or even when my feelings weren’t taken seriously, I hid my hurt. I tried to perfect.
What I had learned over the years is that sadness was a weakness and it was best to look poised rather than bruised or irritable.
Best to seem healthier or present a plastic version than to reveal the real, hurting version of myself.
Best to pick up and move on, throw myself into work, signal to the outside world an image of strength and charm.
Breast implants as therapy? Not so much
Editor’s Note The Breast Implant Information Project is a project of the National Research Center for Women & Families. The project provides info that women need about breast implants, based on the latest research and talking to thousands of women with implants. Dr Diana Zuckerman, President of the National Reseach Center for Women & Families [...]
Then and Now: The impact of the ACA on women’s healthcare, three years later
March 23, 2013 marks the third anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and presents us with a great opportunity to look back at the YWCA’s involvement in its passage, what the law means now to millions of women and families throughout the U.S., and what is still needed to ensure equal access to affordable, [...]
Even at the Catholic University of America, We Need Birth Control
As a reproductive justice advocate at one of the most conservative colleges in the country (that is The Catholic University of America) the last few years have been nothing short of challenging. Figuring out how to get around the no condoms policy, being slut-shamed by a doctor at my campus health center, getting my favorite [...]
Perfecting Bodies Through Chemistry?
Do you like your body? If there was a simple way to change it, with no risks, would you do it? If making that change meant you would put your health at risk and have multiple surgeries for the rest of your life, would you hesitate? Most women say they don’t like their bodies, and [...]
Accurate and Comprehensive Sexual Education is Our Right
There are a few lessons we can take away from Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) recent outrageous remarks, the first being that you can lack total empathy and be mind-numbingly dense, yet still somehow be an elected official crafting legislation in Congress in 2012. Another is that many Americans truly don’t understand how and where babies [...]
Arresting Mothers for Being Bad Incubators
The Sunday New York Times exposed Alabama’s unique salvo in the War on Women. Using a novel legal theory, Alabama has prosecuted approximately 60 women for child endangerment when they delivered children with drugs in their system. One was sentenced to prison for ten years. In other states, the typical response to detecting drugs in [...]
VAWA & The Partisan Fight Over Violence Against Women
Headline Wednesday in The Hill read ‘GOP Concedes on domestic violence bill’. Concedes? We’re talking about battling domestic violence and we’re fighting about it? I’m still trying to wrap my head around anyone taking the position against legislation to prevent domestic violence and provide for victims. I figured others might be having the same reaction, [...]
A Nasty Turn in the War on Women
I spent part of my weekend reading about the resurgence of the feminist movement, much of it in response to the War on Women. Debating, legislating and restricting our rights have finally woken us up, along with much of the American public and the media. Sitting down at my computer Monday morning to see the [...]