Posts Tagged: healthcare
RJ Tech Talk: Egg Freezing
As new technology is being developed for reproductive health, many questions come up as to how each product can fit into the framework justice. Technology’s impact on gender, sexuality, and reproductive choices has vastly expanded over the past fifty years. I’ve chosen to explain oocyte cryopreservation, or egg freezing, one tech product I’ve been seeing in the media a lot and provide links to other sources that talk about its use within reproductive justice, controversial or not. Oocyte cryopreservation, also known as egg freezing, is a procedure where a woman’s oocytes (eggs) are extracted, frozen, and the preserved. The eggs can be thawed later on when the person wants to become pregnant, transferred after fertilization to the uterus as embryos. Recently, egg freezing has been in the news because Facebook… Read more »
Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Philanthropy
This summer my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. After a tiring three month battle, she has luckily made it into remission. Her birthday is next Friday, which coincidentally falls during my fall break. For her birthday party, my mom has encouraged her friends to donate to our local branch of the Susan G. Komen Foundation instead of buying her a gift. My mom thoroughly researched her decision beforehand. She informed me that the organization has been doing some great work providing breast cancer prevention services for low income people and people without healthcare. However, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy about her choice of organization. In case you didn’t remember, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. This year the internet and the world in real life is looking much… Read more »
Creating an Unbiased Campus Health Environment
One in four college students has a sexually transmitted infection according to the Stanford University’s Sexual Health Peer Resource Center. While number is way too high, I refuse to be a statistic. Campus health centers should be furiously educating students about prevention and treatment of STI’s and creating campaigns for free condoms and wellness checks. I know that is not the case. My friend at a university in an urban area went to her campus health center after she had vaginal discomfort, a rash, and a fever. The nurse practitioner heard her symptoms and, without even doing a physical examination or asking about her sexual history, handed out antibiotics for an ingrown hair. She proceeded to get sicker and had to lie around in bed for days. After the insistence… Read more »
Las Mujeres de Oaxaca
Hospitals in Oaxaca, Mexico have received a lot of attention recently, and for all the wrong reasons. When local stations and photographers captured an image of an indigenous woman giving birth on the front lawn of a hospital that had turned her away they revealed what seems to be a persisting issue for the indigenous population of Mexico. According to activists in southern, rural Mexico this was not an isolated incident, with twenty reported cases, most occurring in Oaxaca.
5 Reasons Why a Menstrual Cup Might Be for You
I have a Diva Cup. I am not a hippie. These two statements often times seem mutually exclusive. This millennial is happy to let you know that they are not. My “feminine care” products story goes like this. First, there were pads. (Good girls use pads, they don’t use tampons, a family member used to say.) Then I got older and decided if using tampons meant I wasn’t “good,” then I didn’t want to be good. So I made the switch to tampons. I liked tampons enough. My experience with them was better than my experience with pads. And for a while I thought that was it. Until I discovered Diva Cup by accident one day. For those of you who don’t know, a Diva Cup is one of many… Read more »
2 Things I Learned About Sexism While in a Mental Hospital
In 2013, I had the very interesting experience of spending five days in a mental institution. I’ll be really upfront and say that it extremely different from what movies and TV make it out to be like. I mean, there wasn’t even a Native American trope to rip a sink out of the wall. But I did learn some really interesting things while in that hospital. I learned a lot about myself, and the causes I fight for. I learned a lot about how people see women in conjunction with mental wellness. And I learned that even though a bunch of people are in a mental hospital, some will still find time to be sexist dickbags. 2.) It’s Really Subtle (And It’s Everywhere) I was one of the younger patients…. Read more »
I <3 my IUD
This is a message to all you lovely period-having people out there – stop asking if I have a tampon you could borrow. I have no tampons, I’ve never tried a Diva Cup, and I can’t commiserate with you about the awfulness of the whole menstruation thing. It might be nice to bond about this with you all and it might be nice to sync up cycles with my best friends but truth is I haven’t had a period since September of 2012. Don’t freak out — there’s nothing medically wrong with me! If I want to reproduce in the future I totally can! But for now, I am the proud owner of a Mirena IUD and have happily avoided my period since its insertion. I haven’t met a lot… Read more »
“That will be $800” – My IUD Journey
“It will run you around $800.” This statement was casually spoken to me by a secretary at the OBGYN office I had visited a week prior. I was expecting the office to call to schedule another appointment for an insertion of a Mirena IUD, what I have the determined to be The Contraceptive for Me. I was absolutely devastated to learn that an IUD was not actually covered by my insurance.
Health Care Reform: Moving onto the Next Barriers to Care
The Affordable Care Act is law of the land and that’s a good thing. More people who previously weren’t able to access health care due to financial restraints will now have an easier time doing so. Issues like lack of insurance and under insurance will be alleviated through implementation of The Affordable Care Act. We’ve come a long way baby, that is why I will Debbie Downer all over the celebration party by reminding us of how far we still have to go. Removing financial barriers to health care is a HUGE step to eliminating health disparities. Now we can begin to tackle the non financial barriers that impede access to care and sustains disparities. Some of the egregious, in no particular order: Plan B Plan B (emergency contraception) no… Read more »
Queer Rights Are Reproductive Right Because Queer Folks Have Reproductive Systems
While interviewing for an internship at an LGBT non-profit last summer, I was asked, “I can tell that you’re very active in your community but you’ve mostly been working on abortion and women’s issues. So why do you want to work here?” I gave my interviewer the benefit of the doubt, but underwritten in his question was the idea that LGBT issues and reproductive justice issues are mutually exclusive, and that working on one set of issues would not qualify me to work on the other. I am fortunate in that I now work for an LGBT organization that understands the value of reproductive justice and my activism within that community. That interview was not the first or the last time I would be asked why LGBT folks should care… Read more »
