What is happening in our culture when the following two stories break on the same day? First, over at the Washington Post, "Christopher A. Warner says he considers himself something of a maverick, a caring physician willing to challenge medical orthodoxy in order to help women ... he is building a business as the first area physician to perform controversial procedures that use a laser to enhance sexual gratification by repairing tissue damaged by childbirth, to give women a ‘youthful aesthetic look' or to make those who are not appear to be virgins."Meanwhile, over at the San Francisco Chronicle,"A public high school has suspended three students who disobeyed officials by saying the word ‘vagina' during a reading from a well-known feminist play."
Enjoy two super short and funny videos from Planned Parenthood Federation of America (17 and 30 seconds, respectively). They're the first in a series of their pill character promoting Emergency Contraception. For more information, check out their Pill Patrol.
Elisha Dunn-Georgiou is the International Policy Associate at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).
Last week, the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) released its 3rd annual report to Congress, The Power of Partnerships: The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief(PEPFAR).According to the report, "Partnership is rooted in hope for and faith in people. Partnerships mean honest relationships between equals based on mutual respect, understanding and trust, with obligations and responsibilities for each partner." While this is a lovely sentiment—and hope and faith do have a place in fighting disease—OGAC should instead be talking about the power of partnerships as being rooted in collaborations that deliver the best, most effective, evidence-based public health program. This includes partnerships with institutions that have technical expertise in evidence-based HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care, or expertise in poverty reduction, capacity building, reducing gender inequalities, reducing stigma and discrimination, and strengthening health systems. Truthfully, it could include forming partnerships with organizations that have expertise in any of the confounding issues that perpetuate high morbidity and mortality rates for HIV/AIDS in the 15 PEPFAR focus countries.
Agnes Pareiyo, the Founder and Director of the Tasaru Ntomonok Rescue Center in Kenya, is one tough cookie Just on the edge of the beautiful Maasai-Mara, Agnes for eight years has run this "safe house" where young girls who are escaping female genital mutilation (FGM) or early marriage can find a safe haven. Agnes ensures that while these girls are under her protection, they are safe from violence and enrolled in school; then she works with the local community to negotiate the girls' safe return to their families without having to undergo this harmful traditional practice. Although FGM is illegal in Kenya, the law is difficult to enforce and is often ignored in the rural areas where the Maasai live.
Last Thursday, in commemoration of International Women's Day, over two thousand women and men from across Nicaragua gathered to protest the total ban on abortion—including in cases where pregnant women's lives are at risk—that has been in place since late 2006.
Many people in the U.S. work to protect the rights of pregnant women and to ensure that they are treated with dignity and respect. But as a result of the divisive abortion debate, many of those advocates typically do not work together—or even speak to one another.
The anti-abortion movement has successfully used the abortion issue to divide the electorate, and a key part of their strategy has been creating the illusion that there are two kinds of women: those who have abortions and those who have babies. The truth is that 61 percent of women who have abortions are already mothers, and another 24 percent will go on to become mothers. Over the course of their lives, 85 percent of all women bring life into this world and provide the vast majority of care for the lives of those around them—without compensation.
There is a battle happening in Iraq and it's not between the U.S. and Iraqi soldiers. It's a "private war" between female and male United States soldiers and you won't find reference to it in any of the mainstream media's headlines offering up the latest car bombing or hijacking.
Helen Benedict, in her recent Salon.com article, "The Private War of Women Soldiers", relays true stories of female soldiers who have fought for their lives on the ground in Iraq as they simultaneously battled rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment—all from their fellow U.S. male soldiers.
According to the Salon.com article, more than 160,500 American female soldiers have served in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East since the war begin in 2003; more women than in any war in U.S. history. And although the Pentagon officially prohibits women from fighting in "ground combat", the line between front-line combat and "support" is utterly blurred in this war. Women are fighting this war on the ground but are increasingly finding themselves in harm's way in their own camps as well.
Marcy Bloom does U.S. advocacy and capacity building for GIRE—El Grupo de Informacion en Reproduccion Elegida/The Information Group on Reproductive Choice.
Female genital mutilation (FGM), also called female genital cutting (FGC), refers to the cutting, removal, and sometimes sewing of part or all of the external female genital tissue (the labia, clitoris, or both) for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons. This traditional practice affects an estimated 130 million girls and women worldwide, mainly in 28 African countries, but also in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Australia, and the United States. It is estimated that every year 2 million more girls (that is 6,000 girls every day) are at risk from the practice. One outof three girls or women die as a result of the most extreme type of FGM/C that is classified by the World Health Organization as Type III. This is where the external genitalia are partially or completely removed and the vaginal orifice is stitched together, leaving only a small opening for urination and menstruation.
It's no secret that ABC hosts one of the most popular shows on television, Desperate Housewives. It's also no secret that the show's popularity is driven in large part by sex—lots and lots of sex. All kinds of sex! [img_assist|nid=2640|title=Desperate Housewives|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=219|height=165]Connected and unconnected; protected and unprotected; healthy and unhealthy; bonded and unbonded. Well, you get the point.
What few people realize, however, is that ABC's "anything goes" approach to the show's content stands in stark contrast to the network's policy of censorship when it comes to the show's advertising. While the network relies on sexual content to propel ratings, it bans the advertising of condoms around the show!
In the past week there have been two sets of startling stories about India and reproductive rights in the news.
The first story is based on a government survey finding that 40% of Indian women have not heard of AIDS. India has 5.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS per UN figures. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the most extensive study on health and nutrition in India, said in its latest report only 57 percent of women have heard of AIDS. In rural areas, where most Indians live, a mere 46% of women were aware of the disease.
The second story reports that GE ultrasound machines in India are being used for sex selection. Under Indian law, doctors who operate ultrasound machines can only use them in the case of an abnormal pregnancy and must fill out forms showing the reason for each procedure. However the only machines that the government can monitor are the 25,770 machines that are registered. The London Daily Main places estimates of the actual number of machines in use at anywhere from 70,000 to 100,000, according to the British Medical Journal. The portable ones that make it to rural areas, if unregistered and unregulated can allow any woman to determine the sex of her child. The fetus can then be terminated at a government hospital, where abortions, like other procedures, are free for those who cannot pay.
protection, they are safe from violence and enrolled in school; then she works with the local community to negotiate the girls' safe return to their families without having to undergo this harmful traditional practice. Although FGM is illegal in Kenya, the law is difficult to enforce and is often ignored in the rural areas where the Maasai live.