Women's Health Activist articles from July 2004

Women's Health Activist archives from July 2004

Diagnosis: Difference the Moral Authority of Medicine.(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... DIAGNOSIS: DIFFERENCE THE MORAL AUTHORITY OF MEDICINE Abby L. Wilkerson 1998; Cornell University Press 208 pages; $17.95 After 15 years as a women's health activist, this year I began a PhD program that allows me to look at issues in...

Critical thinking about health care access.(Column)
July 1, 2004... I'm really pleased to present this issue of the newsletter, in which we asked some of our favorite authors to share their recommendations for summer reading. I'm delighted with their contributions, and I hope this feature will become an annual...

Estrogen exposed, doctors in denial?
July 1, 2004... NWHN is calling for doctors to help their patients understand the science behind the March decision by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to halt the estrogen-only arm of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). Over the trial's nearly...

My March for choice.(young Feminists)(Illustration)
July 1, 2004... I'm 21--a member of Generation Pro-Choice, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America. Having never lived through a time of back-alley abortions, I must rely on the stories and images left behind to understand the horrors that once existed and the...

Many parents of teenagers underestimate the safety and effectiveness of condoms and oral contraceptives, suggests a recent study.(Women's Health Snapshots)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Many parents of teenagers underestimate the safety and effectiveness of condoms and oral contraceptives, suggests a recent study. Statistics show that the condom is 98 percent effective in preventing sexually transmitted infections and 97...

One possible explanation for the higher rates of depression diagnoses in women than in men: gender bias that prompts family members to more readily report depressive symptoms in their female relatives than in their male relatives.(Women's Health Snapshots)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... One possible explanation for the higher rates of depression diagnoses in women than in men: gender bias that prompts family members to more readily report depressive symptoms in their female relatives than in their male relatives. A Yale study...

Medical residents report not feeling comfortable screening patients for intimate partner violence, even though the majority feel it is their responsibility to do so.(Women's Health Snapshots)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Medical residents report not feeling comfortable screening patients for intimate partner violence, even though the majority feel it is their responsibility to do so. A survey of four medical programs in Philadelphia revealed that while 87...

Giving birth in a climate of fear.
July 1, 2004... For some women, giving birth is a personally affirming and gratifying experience--a life-changing event, an accomplishment that instills a sense of agency and power. Unfortunately, too few women experience birth in this way Although a basic...

Global Prescriptions: Gendering Health and Human Rights.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... GLOBAL PRESCRIPTIONS: GENDERING HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS Rosalind Petchesky 2003; Zed Press 320 pages; $29.95 In this very ambitious and exciting book, activist scholar Rosalind Petchesky deftly charts and analyzes the course that the...

Mind Over Menopause: The Complete Mind/Body Approach to Coping with Menopause.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... MIND OVER MENOPAUSE: THE COMPLETE MIND/BODY APPROACH TO COPING WITH MENOPAUSE Leslee Kagan, Bruce Kessel and Herbert Benson 2004; Free Press 368 pages; $12 This book will be a breath of fresh air for many women coping with some of the more...

The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How it has Undermined Women.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... THE MOMMY MYTH: THE IDEALIZATION OF MOTHERHOOD AND HOW IT HAS UNDERMINED WOMEN Susan J. Douglas and Meredith W. Michaels 2004; Free Press 400 pages; $26 If you're a mother of young children, how would you rate your parenting...

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS: THE QUEST OF DR. PAUL FARMER, A MAN WHO WOULD CURE THE WORLD Tracy Kidder 2003; Random House 336 pages; $14.95 I read Mountains Beyond Mountains with great anticipation. I have long admired the work of Paul...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
July 1, 2004... The 2004 Minority Women's Health Summit will be held August 12-15 in Washington, D.C. The sponsor is the Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health, not the National Women's Health Information Center. For more information...

Own Your Health: Choosing the Best from Alternative and Conventional Medicine.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... OWN YOUR HEALTH: CHOOSING THE BEST FROM ALTERNATIVE AND CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE Roanne Weisman and Brian Berman 2003; Health Communications 500 pages; $16.95 I'm re-reading Own Your Health, an accessible, engaging book about integrating...

Sexual Chemistry: a History of the Contraceptive Pill.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... SEXUAL CHEMISTRY: A HISTORY OF THE CONTRACEPTIVE PILL Lara V. Marks 2001; Yale University Press 372 pages; $40 This scholarly book by a British feminist researcher places the history of oral contraceptives, a "doubled-edged liberation," in...

Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS MOVEMENT Jennifer Nelson 2003; New York University Press 256 pages; $20 One of the unanticipated joys of aging is reading the histories of times we've lived through--things glimpsed out of...

Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The fourth national Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations will be held September 28-October 1,2004, in Washington, D.C. This year's theme is "Integrating Community Needs into the National Health Agenda."...

Plan B rejection triggers calls for investigation.
July 1, 2004... In early May, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it would not approve Barr Pharmaceuticals' application for over-the-counter sales of Plan B, the company's emergency contraceptive product. With this decision, FDA rejected the...

Cosmetic mutilation? Shameless self-confidence!(Prescription For Change)(Column)
July 1, 2004... A friend of mine was informed recently by her nine-year-old daughter, "You know, Mom, you can fix those uneven breasts of yours with surgery." My friend, a physician, sat her daughter down and explained that unmatched sets were the norm, not...

G-spot.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... For the first time in its 95-year history, the board of the NAACP has taken an official pro-choice stance. Board Chair Julian Bond asserted in February that a woman's right to control her own body is a matter of equal rights. We completely...

Sore spot.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Two distinguished scientists were abruptly removed from the President's Council on Bioethics in March. Elizabeth Blackburn, a cell biologist, and William May, a bioethicist, were most outspoken in their support of embryonic stem-cell research...