New this month (in addition to the letters, etc., below):
The Uterus and the Female "Passive-Active," by Dr. Nelson Soucasaux, Brazilian gynecologist - Humor
I seldom put developments in women's health on the site anymore because of time - anyone want to volunteer? - but you must know about this recent Canadian research because of its implications: Women can ovulate more than once a month, according to an article in New Scientist magazine. Read the article:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993927
"If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased." MUM's the word!
I have been studying the Amish lately and I cannot seem to find an answer to this question: What do women do during their periods? Do they buy pre-made pads or tampons, or do they do it the old-fashioned way - pinning rags to their underwear and washing them out, etc?
Just curious; I'm 43 years old and suffering from PMS at this very moment, so I guess that's why it's kind of on my mind, LOL! Love your Web site!!!
[Mail me if you know the answer.]
Years ago, when I was a little girl, I discovered an envelope in my grandmother's Bible that was filled with single letters cut from the newspaper. On the envelope was written "Letters for stopping the flow of blood," although I have researched periodically over the years, I have never been able to determine what exactly this meant. Being a small child at the time, I wasn't comfortable asking my grandmother. Have you ever heard of anything like this?
****
[Mail me if you know the answer.]
Silicone DivaCup cheaper than The Keeper and Mooncup
Dear Harry,
I am yet another happy user of The Keeper (Web site http://www.thekeeperinc.com), but after purchasing my Keeper, I learned of a British company manufacturing a medical grade silicone version of the same cup design.
Take a look at http://www.mooncup.co.uk They sell it at a price comparable to the Keeper.
Also, my cousin was asking about The Keeper last night. She goes to school in Dublin and has become frustrated with the lack of selection in tampons there, and we discussed menstrual cups at great length last night. She came across the Canadian manufactured Divacup (http://www.divacup.com). We are Canadian, and their silicone cup is also significantly cheaper than either the Mooncup or The Keeper, and has a longer money back guarantee, so she will probably buy one of these.
Anyway, I wanted to make you aware of more cup products on the market so that you can add them to your section on cups, and if Dr. Philip Tierno [MUM board member and expert in menstrual product safety] could also tell MUM devotees about how silicone compares with the materials surface of The Keeper in terms of toxic shock syndrome toxin production and so forth, this would be wonderful.
Regards,
****
Changing cups in public toilets, using The Keeper, and Instead
Dear MUM,
Great work you're doing! I just want to add my experience with both The Keeper and Instead: The first few times I used The Keeper I was totally unimpressed. The handle-thingy was way too long and pokey. Even when I cut it almost completely off it was uncomfortable. I tried Instead [Web site here] and loved it, but wanted to use the more natural, durable Keeper. Anyway, I don't know what my problem was the first few times, because I gave it another try and it works great now. Perhaps I just am accustomed to it but I really can't feel it at all anymore. There is some very minor leakage. I just wear a very thin cloth pad to catch it. 'Instead' doesn't leak at all with me and is extremely comfortable.
As for all of the people who are concerned about public restrooms, guess what: every woman in that restroom has either had or will have her period. So what if they see blood on your hands?! I just empty my Keeper into the toilet an reinsert it without rinsing it when I'm out in public. I rinse it well at home and experience no difficulties. Blood washes off of your hands and under your nails quite easily. No big deal.
Finally, the concerns about the possible pressure of these caps is valid, but compare it to the known dangers of toxic shock syndrome and the horrible chafing that all pads seem to produce. [Read a 1945 account about chafing in Consumer Reports, which championed tampons.] I'd rather take a chance with the caps and have bought one for my daughter who is probably going to start menstruating soon. I do spend at least a day and night or two during every period without the Keeper, so my body can just flow freely, but this is probably unnecessary.
****
Well-thought-out potential ad for the DivaCup
Hey, Harry,
I found this on someone else's weblog; here is the link:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ide_cyan/271731.html
It's too bad this isn't a real advertisement - they could sell a lot of DivaCups this way. It combines traditional advertising principles - celebrity endorsement and association of the product with action-packed outdoor life - with absence of traditional menstrual-product advertising clichés: note the traditional blue is here replaced by a preponderance of green, not a flower is in sight, and the product itself is pictured!
**** (and Spooky [the cat, pictured in a beautiful photo here])
Hi, Harry,
I just came across a new German product http://soft-tampons.de/ (peculiar German-English translations, but I'm sure you'll see where they're coming from since you're familiar with the language.)
I don't know if it's that the person passing the link to me who put the idea (that it's marketed at men as much as, if not more than, women) in my head, or if it actually is as sexist sounding as I think, but the chief selling point of the product is that people can have "hygienic" sex during menstruation. [This was part of the marketing strategy of the Instead menstrual cup.]
I'm also bothered by their claim that it is environmentally friendly when it is a disposable product just like conventional tampons, and they don't say just what it's made of.
Keep up the great work,
****
She later added,
Just to add to my previous comments: a male friend of mine thinks there is far too much detail for the target to be men. [No, but that might prove the point of the tampon, that probably most men don't like menstrual blood.]
This site helped with her thesis about how women wash their underwear
"Searching for my cultural identity after living in so many different countries I noticed that routine and every day tasks revealed unique cultural characteristics, like Colombian women washing their underwear in the shower or the sink.
"One hundred interviews and five years later my search for cultural identity became less important. Reviewing the material I had taped, the hand gestures revealed an unconscious, intuitive and unique new language that I wanted to show to the public."
.The writer further explains her project in the second letter, below, from February:
Hello, Mr. Finley,
Thank you so much for your help. Without your information from the MUM page it would have been very hard. I finished my thesis last week and got the highest grade. I'm sending you my final paper in Spanish and some pictures of the exhibit.
Thanks again.
Michelle Amaya
Hello, Mr. Finley,
My name is Michelle Amaya, and your museum has been a great help for my thesis work for my fine arts degree; all the information and bibliography has been basic for my work.
I come to you for help because I believe women in Colombia (where I live) wash their underwear in the shower; it's very important for me to know because I'm using this information to find an identity denominator between me and the Colombians. I was born in the U.S.A. from Colombian parents, and lived for almost 18 years away from Colombia (France, Venezuela, Italy). I feel I don't have an identity and this routine may bring me close to what I believe is Colombian only.
If it is possible, could you post these question on your museum page or forward them to your database?
Please forgive my spelling; to learn so many languages abruptly has been difficult on me.
How do you wash your underwear?
Where do you wash them?
Nationality?
Sex?
Please answer at:
Dear Sir? [yesiree],
Stumbled onto your site while looking up something totally unrelated. LOL.
I just had to address your assertion that back in time, women must have bled into their clothes [My guess is that many might have. Read the discussion here].
My grandmother is 93. She grew up on a farm outside of Richmond, Virginia. She once told me that they used to sew pads out of spare cloth. She said they would be washed and placed in a drawer and that a woman would have many of them.
She said they were washed and simply reused.
Her family moved to the city, Richmond, when she was about 20. That was when she found out that disposable pads could be purchased. Evidently, they were not available in the country.
Considering her age is 93 now, and that it was her mother who made the pads and taught her how to, that takes the self-made pad usage back into Victorian times.
Also, it seems naive to me to imagine that women could construct clothing and other fabric necessities for themselves and their families, but not possess the sense to construct something as simple as a pad?
They kept their houses clean and all clothing laundered. Why would they have a casual attitude about bleeding into clothing? Laundry was a very time consuming process back then. It took a whole day.
Therefore, I can't imagine they would want to add to their workload by willingly getting stains onto clothing when a simple pad made of leftover fabric would protect their clothing.
I think the demands of life were easier on a menstruating woman back then. They were mostly at home and not dealing with the tight schedules working women do today.
I believe the main reason a lot of women hate the experience is because it is very inconvenient when you must adhere to a schedule and you are in public life without an excuse to retreat.
Just my 2 cents.
****
She later added,
It gives a true and accurate account. My grandmother was very matter-of-fact.
Her point was to convey that women didn't always have modern disposable products to use; but they had their own traditional methods.
It's interesting that she was born at a time to experience both ways.
She also emphasized that one's period is a private thing, and no one in your social and public life should know.
Personally, I don't believe very many women used nothing. In fact, in the accounts that were quoted to support the idea, the women who wrote those accounts seemed to be shocked by the idea of using nothing. That in itself says something.
I think you can always find populations of people who deviate from the vast majority.
I honestly can't believe women would be that simple. If someone was wounded and bleeding, would they just ignore it and bleed all over everything? I don't think so.
As I said, laundry was a major chore back then.
Besides, the bleeding would have eventually soaked through all the layers, right to the outer clothing! Ask any woman. That would have entailed more upkeep than you could imagine.
BTW, you were correct that women started much later back then. My grandmother and great grandmother were 18 when they had their first period. Whereas, my mother and myself were both 13.
Happy to have provided some history.
Regards,
Hello, Mr Finley!
This day has been a great day. In the morning it didn't seem to have anything special about it but in the afternoon I got e-mail from my friend. He told me about your wonderful page and now I have been reading the synonyms for period [here] for a long time. It's so great! I only wish my English was better. [I don't see how you could improve it much, and it's lightyears better than my Finnish!]
Anyhow, I wanted to tell you that me and and my two very good friends have a band called Ovulaatio (I guess it's ovulation in English). Our songs are simply about the menstrual cycle and all things related to it. It all started in the beginning of May when my period was more painful than ever and I was totally pissed about it. Having a band is a great way to let the aggression come out, you know. And of course it has other advantages as well.
We have written many lyrics already - for example, Vittu ne on myöhässä ("Fuck, it's late"), Ohivuoto ("A leak"; the chorus goes "Bloodstains! Bloodstains!" etc.), Lääkitys ("The medication"), Naisen paras ystävä ("Woman's best friend") and Opetuslaulu ("A teaching song"; it's about the menstrual cycle). But the most difficult part is to write the melody. We even have merchandise and we're making our homepage all the time but we only have one whole song. Hopefully our next periods will give us some ideas.
Thank you once again for your Web page! I'm sure we're going to visit it often.
I wish all the best for you!
Outi Sulopuisto (18), Joensuu, Finland
--
Tehään vaikka vallankumous, mutta syyään ekaShe later contributed some words and expressions to her country's section, here.
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The artist FISHNo, the woman artist known as FISH didn't create anything about menstruation that I know of, but I have to show how good she was - and is. I'm by trade an illustrator and painter - see some of my stuff - and I had never heard of her before I saw a 1917 cover she did for the American magazine Vanity Fair; she is so GOOD. After you read the letter see some of her work on this MUM site.
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To mark the one-year anniversary of the Women's Health Initiative Study, which highlighted possible health risks associated with long-term hormone therapy use for menopausal women, the Canadian Women's Health Network has now made the following documents available online and free of charge:
Frequently Asked Questions, answered in plain language:
What is Menopause?
What is Hormone Therapy (HT)?
What are the Alternatives to Hormone Therapy?
Menopause and Heart Disease; What are my Risks?
How do I Stop Taking Hormone Therapy?
In-depth articles:
*The Pros and Cons of Hormone Therapy: Making An Informed Decision
*Health Protection Measures from the Women's Health Initiative
*The Medicalization of Menopause
*HRT in the News: The Women's Health Initiative
*Challenges of Change: Midlife, Menopause and Disability
*Natural Hormones - Are They a Safe Alternative?
*Perimenopause Naturally: An Integrative Medicine Approach
*Thinking Straight: Oestrogen and Cognitive Function at Midlife
*The Truth About Hormone Replacement Therapy
*Menopause Home Test: Save Your $$$
*Recent Studies on Menopause and Pain
*What The Experts are Saying Now: A Round-Up of International Opinion
*Women and Healthy Aging
... and many more!
Check us out at www.cwhn.ca
The Canadian Women's Health Network
Women's Health Information You Can TrustMany thanks to the Women's Health Clinic, Winnipeg,
http://www.womenshealthclinic.org/ and A Friend Indeed newsletter, www.afriendindeed.ca for making many of these documents available to the general public.============================================
Kathleen O'Grady, Director of Communications
Canadian Women's Health Network/Le Réseau canadien pour la santé des femmes
Suite 203, 419 Graham Ave.
Winnipeg MB R3C 0M3
Tel (204) 942-5500, ext. 20E-mail news@cwhn.ca
www.cwhn.ca
Prizes for unpublished manuscripts
The American Historical Association's Gutenberg-E competition this year will award six prizes for unpublished manuscripts on the history of gender or women's history. Deadline: September 1, 2003
Details at http://www.theaha.org/prizes/gutenberg
Sixteenth International Transpersonal Conference:
Mythic Imagination in Modern Society.
Riviera Resort in Palm Springs, CA, June 11-18, 2004.
Program Coordinators: Stanislav and Christina Grof
Conference Coordinator: Bob Duchmann
This conference will focus on the importance of myth in modern society. We will explore how the new understanding of the nature and function of myth revealed by the work of C. G. Jung, Joseph Campbell, James Hillman, Mircea Eliade, and their followers has revolutionized the thinking in many areas of modern life. Like previous ITA events, the format of this meeting will combine lectures, experiential sessions, rituals, music, dance, and visual arts. The conference coincides with the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Joseph Campbell, the greatest mythologist of the twentieth century.
Some Ideas for Themes to be Explored at the Conference:
Re-Visioning of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Psychotherapy
Mythic Imagination in Science
Visionary Anthropology
Shamanism and the Re-Enchantment of Nature
Archetypal Dynamics, Healing, and Transformation
The Gaia Theory and Deep Ecology
Feminism and Return of the Great Mother
Mythic Elements in Business and Economy
Archetypal Forces in the World of Politics
Art and the Imaginal World
Myth and New Perspectives in Entertainment
The Imaginal and Its Relation to Spirituality and Religion
Archetypal Psychology and Astrology
Ancient and Native Prophecies
Cosmology and the Creation Stories
Global Crisis and the Search for A New MythOrganizing Committee: Duncan Campbell, Cathy Coleman, Bob Duchmann, Christina Grof, Stanislav Grof, Sandra Harner, Bokara Legendre, Cary Sparks, Tav Sparks, Richard Tarnas (others to be added).
Cooperating Institutions:
The Joseph Campbell Foundation
California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
Association for Transpersonal Psychology (ATP) (unconfirmed)
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP)
Institute for Noetic Sciences (IONS)
The John Fetzer Institute (unconfirmed)
Pacifica Graduate Institute
Green Earth Foundation
Spirit Rock Center
Esalen Institute
Foundation for Shamanic Studies
Kepler College of Astrological Arts and Sciences (KC)
C. G. Jung Institute in San Francisco (unconfirmed)Ideas for Cultural Programs (some unconfirmed):
Al Huang and Lorin Hollander
Multivocal Chanting of Tibetan Gyuto Monks
Wes Nisker's transpersonal stand-up
Ecstatic Chanting with Jai Uttal and Geoff Gordon
Lama Dances
Buffy St. Marie and Native American drummers and singersPresenters:
Steve Aizenstat, Angeles Arrien, Chris Bache, John Buchanan, Cathy Coleman, orge Ferrer, Christina Grof, Paul Grof, Stanislav Grof, Michael Grosso, Michael Harner, Sandra Harner, Martina Hofmann (whose art is on this MUM site), Lorin Hollander, Chungliang Al Huang, Rashna Imhasly, Sean Kelly, Jack Kornfield, Stanley Krippner, Robin Larsen, Stephen Larsen, Ervin Laszl, Bokara Legendre, Bernard Lietaer (unconfirmed), Albrecht Mahr, Vladimir Maikov, Robert McDermott, Ralph Metzner, Jane Middelton-Moz, Michael Murphy, Wes Nisker, Jill Purce, Ram Dass, Peter Russell, Rupert Sheldrake, Karan Singh, Brother David Steindl-Rast (unconfirmed), Richard Tarnas, Charles Tart, Robert Venosa, Frances Vaughan, Roger Walsh, Terra Wise
Book about periods needs your input, MEN!
Kaylee Powers-Monteros is writing a book about women's periods called "Bloody Rites."
"I consider a woman's period her rite of passage. . . . My book is focusing on the language we use about periods and how that impacts our perceptions of it," she writes.
She has a chapter about men's first learning about menstruation and would like to hear from men in response to the question, "When was the first time you ever heard anything about a period and what was it?" I already sent her mine: when I was in sixth grade the kid next door said his sister had started bleeding from you-know-where. I didn't know anything about you-know-where, actually, having grown up in a prudish military household with two bothers, no sisters and a mother who must have felt very alone.
E-mail her at bloodyrites2003@aol.com
Migrane study at Emory University needs online participants
Researchers at the Emory University School of Nursing are conducting an Internet-based study looking at the experience of migraines in women between the ages of 40 and 55. The study includes completion of online questionnaires and participation in an online discussion group with other women who also have headaches. For more information, please visit the study Web site at http://www.sph.emory.edu/migraine, or call the research phone line at 404-712-8558.
Thanks so much.
Peggy Moloney
Call for Papers
Diagnosing Women's Health in Popular Culture
Seeking paper proposals that explore women's health in popular culture for possible presentation at the Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture/American Culture Association Conference in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A., November 7 to 9, 2003.
Popular culture offers a multitude of representations of women's health, women's relationship to healthcare products and to the healthcare industry, as well as of women's care of others, both formally and informally. What meanings are attached to print advertising, Internet ads, television commercials, television dramas, situation comedies, film, poetry, short stories, novels, or photography on the linkage between women's health and popular culture? Papers that explore the U.S. healthcare industry, women as medical professionals, and the medicalization of women's bodies in terms of race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality are particularly encouraged.
Send an email submission (NO ATTACHMENTS) with paper title, 250 word abstract, short CV, full address and audiovisual needs by June 15 to Dr. Katie Hogan, Area Chair, Women's Studies Panel, MAPACA, EMAIL: wsmapaca@aol.com
Contribute to fund in honor of Jill Wolhandler and help The Women's Community Health Center in Massachusetts (U.S.A.)
Dear Women [oh, let's add "men," too],
Here is an opportunity to honor two significant contributions to the women's health movement - The Women's Community Health Center in Massachusetts, and Jill Wolhandler, a member of the health center and a strong women's health advocate, who died in December 2002.
For the many of you who worked with Jill, I am including the remembrance from her memorial service.
Jill has many friends throughout the country.
In honor of Jill's vision and commitment to women's health, a fund in Jill's name has been established and we are asking for donations in order to catalogue and process the Women's Community Health Center files. There is a high level of interest in material from this period of the women's health movement, and your contribution would assure that information from that time is preserved. Donations are tax deductible.
Checks can be made to the Schlesinger Library - on the memo section of the check, please write "Processing WCHC."
Send checks to:
Paula Garbarino
Jill Wolhandler Fund
16 Ivaloo St.
Somerville, MA 02143
Thank you,
Catherine DeLorey
Women's Community Health Center Files Reside at the Schlesinger Library
At the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Women's Community Health Center [WCHC] in 1999, a group of former collective members announced that materials from the health center years had been donated to the archives at Radcliffe's Schlesinger Library. This material consisted of a variety of documents such as meeting minutes, articles written about or by WCHC members, clinic schedules, surveys and feedback forms, as well as other "herstorical" items.
Several boxes of documents were reviewed to ensure that no confidential material containing names or identifying information about women using the services would be shared with the Schlesinger.
Despite the fact that the material has not yet been organized or catalogued, there have been numerous requests from women's health scholars to review the material. It has become a rich trove of information and offers a unique perspective into the women's health movement of the 1970's and early 1980's.
In order to make the material widely available, the boxes of documents need to be "processed" or catalogued. To do this, personnel at the library will fully review the contents of the collection. Generally this involves preserving the original order of the material as it was donated according to either chronological or topical categories. If no original order exists, they will determine how to best logically sort and present it so that scholars can use the contents. The material will be subdivided into folders with guides to contents and clippings will be photocopied. An overall guide to the organization and listing of summaries will be generated. This guide will be available on the internet with worldwide circulation. Folders will be photocopied and sent out upon request for personal research purposes only. Publication permission usually rests with the library and the original authors of the material.
Other legal arrangements were made at the time the gift of the material was made to the Schlesinger; Cookie Avrin generously offered legal assistance in this process.
About 5 linear feet of material (the library's standard of measurement) was donated. Processing is expected to cost $600 per foot. The total estimated cost is approximately $3000.
On a related note, the library has about 40 feet of material from Our Bodies Ourselves and recently received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to process that collection.
A Remembrance of Jill
Written by Diane Willow for Jill's memorial service
Jill Wolhandler was born on January 22, 1949 in Scarsdale, New York. She died on December 6, 2002 in the home that she shared with her beloved partner, Janet Connors.
Jill moved to Dorchester to be with Janet and her children David, Shana and Joel, shortly after meeting Janet fifteen years ago. Jill felt great joy and pride in her chosen family.
Together they made a nurturing home that always welcomed their extended family of friends. Seth and Terrance remained dear members of Jill's extended family.
And, over the years Charlotte and Christopher came into her life at 26 Bearse Avenue.
Jill was the first child of her beloved mother Jean and her father Joe, and the older sister of Peter, Laurie and Steven. She later found enduring pleasure as Aunt Jill to Sara, Gina and Jacob. After excelling in the Scarsdale schools, she went to the International School in Geneva to complete high school. She continued her education at the University of Chicago before beginning graduate studies at Johns Perkins University. She utilized her deep knowledge of human physiology in teaching, writing and political work. Later in life she completed graduate studies in occupational therapy at Tufts University. She attributed her most significant learning to her ongoing work as a social activist.
After moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the mid nineteen-seventies, she became involved in the work of the local and national women's health movement. She contributed to an early publication of Our Bodies Ourselves (1976) as a freelance editor and co-authored a chapter in the New Our Bodies Ourselves (1984). She joined the Women's Community Health Center (1975), working first as a member of the collective and later as one of the four women on the guiding committee.
During her time as the most enduring member of the health center, Jill dedicated herself to the self-help philosophy with particular focus on the Pelvic Teaching program (the first of its kind in the nation) in collaboration with Harvard Medical School as well as the Fertility Consciousness project. Toxic shock syndrome and the related Tampon legislation was also a focal point for Jill's research and advocacy. She was also an early supporter on research related to daughters born to mothers who had used DES during their pregnancies.
Jill's political activism for women's health issues brought her to the Vermont Women's Health Center where she was able to learn abortion procedures legally. She spent a year in Vermont, developing these skills, believing that she would then be able to pass them on if abortions were to become illegal again.
Meanwhile, she did ongoing work as a bookkeeper. Her former clients included Red Sun Press and other activist organizations. Her most recent work was as the Business Manager of the Boston Institute for Psychotherapy. Although deadlines were often a cause for worry with Jill, she was meticulous in her accounting and her co-workers valued her conscientious approach.
A cello player in her youth, Jill revived her passion for music through her annual participation in the Early Music Week at Pinewoods, as a player of the bass viol in the Brandeis Early Music Ensemble, and as a member and the Treasurer of the New England Regional Chapter of the Viola de Gamba Society. She found peace in music and pleasure in sharing it with others.
Many of Jill's friends and acquaintances have often heard Jill express her love of words with her unique sense of humor. She was known to make up her own vocabulary, whether as terms of endearment for loved ones, alternative names for common places and landmarks or just her quirky way of describing things. Her love of nature and the natural world was a sustaining force in her life. She was especially fond of the ocean and felt at home walking the beaches of the Cape or staying in Provincetown.
She loved animals, was an avid bird watcher and lived for many years with cats and turtles. She raised small red-eared sliders. When these turtles came to her they were the size of a quarter. After decades of thriving, they now require two hands to hold and continue their lives in a plexi-pond at The Children's Museum in Boston.
A playful spirit at heart, Jill took delight in the mini-firework displays bursting from sparklers and the swirling rainbow colors in drifting soap bubbles.
Her pleasure in play and her curious mind made her an engaged companion of the children in her life and others who remain young at heart. A rather old soul who had her share of challenges, Jill found her joy in friendships and in the ways that she was able to contribute to a better quality of life through social activism.
Women's Universal Health Initiative
Women's Universal Health Initiative
Women's Universal Health Initiative is by women for women - if you have ideas, events, information, or comments to share, send them to Info@wuhi.org
In these difficult times, all advocacy groups are struggling financially. WUHI is no exception. Please consider becoming a member to support the continuation of the web site and our work on universal health care.
You become a member of WUHI with a tax-deductible donation of any amount. Go to the WUHI website to join online, or send your donation to WUHI, Box 623, Boston, MA 02120.
Health Care Reform: a Women's Issue
Anne Kasper
Anne Kasper, a long time women's health activist, discusses why health care reform is a women's issue. Anne is an editor, with Susan J. Ferguson of Breast Cancer: Society Shapes an Epidemic, a powerful and informative book on the politics of breast cancer.
To read the complete article: http://www.wuhi.org/pages/articles.html <http://www.wuhi.org/pages/articles.html%A0>
Health care reform has long been a women's issue. Since the beginnings of the Women's Health Movement in the late 1960s, women have known that the health care system does not work in the best interests of women's health. When we think of the health care system and its component parts doctors, hospitals, clinics, and prescription drugs, for instance we are increasingly aware that the current system is not designed to promote and maintain our personal health or the health of others. Instead, we are aware of a medical system that delivers sporadic, interventionist, hi-tech, and curative care when what we need most often is continuous, primary, low-tech, and preventive care. Women are the majority of the uninsured and the under insured as well as the majority of health care providers. We are experts on our health, the health of our families, and the health of our communities. We know that we need a health care system that must be a part of changes in other social spheres -- such as wage work, housing, poverty, inequality, and education -- since good health care results from more than access to medical services.
Featured Site
UHCAN - Universal Health Care Action Network
http://www.uhcan.org/
UHCAN is a nationwide network of individuals and organizations, committed to achieving health care for all. It provides a national resource center, facilitates information sharing and the development of strategies for health care justice. UHCAN was formed to bring together diverse groups and activists working for comprehensive health care in state and national campaigns across the country.
Their annual conference, planned for October 24-26, 2003 in Baltimore, MD, is one of the best grass-roots action conferences available. They consider universal health care justice from many perspectives.
Visit UHCAN's website for resources, analyses of health reform issues, and more information on their campaigns for health care justice.
Proposals, Policies, Pending Legislation
Health Care Access Campaign - the Health Care Access Resolution
http://www.uhcan.org/HCAR/
Health care in America is unjust and inefficient. It costs too much, covers too little, and excludes too many. As the economy deteriorates, it is rapidly getting worse.
One in seven Americans, 80% of whom are from working families, lack health insurance and consequently suffer unnecessary illness and premature death. Tens of millions more are under insured, unable to afford needed services, particularly medications. Health care costs are a leading cause of personal bankruptcy. Communities of color endure major disparities in access and treatment. Double-digit medical inflation undermines employment-based insurance, as employers drop coverage or ask their employees to pay more for less. State budgets are in their worst shape in half a century. Medicare and Medicaid are caught between increases in need and a financial restraints.
In the 108th Congress, the Congressional Universal Health Care Task Force will introduce the Health Care Access Resolution, directing Congress to enact legislation by 2005 that provides access to comprehensive health care for all Americans. Legislators, reacting to the urgency for health care reform, will likely introduce several proposals in this Congress.
Check out the link to learn more about the resolution and how you can contribute to it.
Proposed Health Insurance Tax Credits Could Shortchange Women
http://www.cmwf.org/programs/insurance/collins_creditswomen_589.pdf
Commonwealth Fund report, reviews federal policies designed to help low-income adults buy health insurance, which have focused on tax credits for purchasing coverage in the individual insurance market. This analysis of premium and benefit quotes for individual health plans offered in 25 cities finds that tax credits at the level of those in recent proposals would not be enough to make health insurance affordable to women with low incomes.
Time for Change: the Hidden Cost of a Fragmented Health Insurance System
http://www.cmwf.org/programs/insurance/davis_
An excellent overview by Karen Davis, President of The Commonwealth Fund, of factors in the US health care system that lead to it being the most expensive health system in the world.
A Place at the Table: Women's Needs and Medicare Reform
By Marilyn Moon and Pamela Herd
http://www.tcf.org/Publications/Order.asp?ItemID=199
This book, published by the Century Foundation, shows that women have different retirement needs as a group than men. Women are more likely to require long-term care services because they live longer and are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases. Suggests guidelines that would make Medicare reforms work for women, including how to deal with comprehensiveness, affordability, access to quality care, and the availability of information.
Women in the Health Care System: Health Status, Insurance, and Access to Care
http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/PrintProducts/PrintProd_Detail.asp?ID=78
Report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) focuses on women in the United States in 1996. Health insurance status is examined in terms of whether women are publicly insured, privately insured, or uninsured, and whether insured women are policyholders or dependents.
Health Insurance Coverage in America: 2001 Data Update
http://www.kff.org/content/2003/4070/
Although not specific to women, this resource contains valuable information about women and health insurance coverage and provides valuable information and facts for general presentations on universal health care. The chart book provides year 2001 data on health insurance coverage, with special attention to the uninsured. It includes trends and major shifts in coverage and a profile of the uninsured population.
Resources
Health Care Links
http://www.pnhp.org/links/
Links to state, national and international organizations working for single payer health care and universal health care. A resource of Physicians for a National Health Program - check out the site for many other resources and excellent factual information on a single payer health care system [ http://www.pnhp.org/links/ <http://www.pnhp.org/links/> ].
Universal Health Care Organizations in Your State
http://www.everybodyinnobodyout.org/index.htm#regnl
A list of state organizations working for universal health care. Resource of Everybody In, Nobody Out [EINO: http://www.everybodyinnobodyout.org ]. Not all states represented.
Families USA New Online Service
http://fusa.convio.net/site/R?i=6d26XZDs_24DRYvcWDDmjg .
Families USA online service to provide registered users with the following benefits:
Free bimonthly newsletters with articles on health policy issue.
Announcements about organization events.
Discounts on publications
Kaiser Network for Health Policy - Publications and Reports
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=links&hc=806&linkcat=61 <http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=links&hc=806&linkcat=61>
Reports and publications on health policy, access, uninsured and insurance. Supported by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Good source of information.
Calendar
May 8 - 9 2003
Health Policy and the Underserved
http://www.jcpr.org/conferences/event_description.cfm?conid=124
Sponsored by the Joint Center for Poverty Research, looks a social, economic, and outcomes of policies for the underserved.
May 14-16, 2003
2003 Managed Care Law Conference
Colorado Springs, CO
http://www.healthlawyers.org/programs/prog_03mc.cfm
Co-sponsored by American Health Lawyers Association and American Association of Health Plans. Presents legal issues facing health plans and providers.
October 24-26, 2003
National Universal Health Care Action Network [UHCAN] Conference
Baltimore, MD
http://www.uhcan.org/
One of the best grass-roots action conferences available. Considers universal health care from all its perspectives. Check out their website for an overview of their orientation.
November 15, 2003
Physicians for a National Health Program Fall Meeting
http://www.pnhp.org/action/?go=events
San Francisco, CA
November 15 - 19, 2003
American Public Health Association Annual Meeting
San Francisco, CA
http://www.apha.org/meetings/
Meeting of professionals in public health. Has many sessions on health care reform and women's health, including universal health care.
January 22-23, 2004
National Health Policy Conference
Washington, DC
http://www.academyhealth.org/nhpc/
Wide-ranging discussions of health policy, including health care reform and universal health care.
Women's Universal Health Initiative
PO Box 623
Boston, MA 02120-2822
617-739-2923 Ext 3
www.wuhi.org <http://www.wuhi.org>
info@wuhi.org
Artist Tamara Wyndham has show in New York City
[Ms. Wyndam shows work on this MUM site here.]
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY presents
THAT TIME OF MONTH
Four Female Artists Bridge the Personal and the Universal
MARCH 8 - MAY 4
Opening Reception, Saturday March 8, 2003, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue at 10th Street; call (212) 475-0108 for information
Gallery Hours M-Sat 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sun 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Diane Apostolacus
Born and raised on the Jersey Shore, Diane Apostolacus graduated from Alfred University with a B.F.A. in 1987, afterwards making her artistic life in Brooklyn, N.Y. Throughout many creative interests such as book carvings, box constructions, collages, printmaking and photography, Diane has remained most devoted to painting in encaustics. She was awarded a residency at Millay Colony for the Arts in Austerlitz, N.Y., in November of 1999 where she focused exclusively on her encaustics works. Since then, Diane has exhibited in various galleries and functions in Brooklyn and was accepted into "Encaustic Works 99," a juried International Biennial in Kingston, N.Y.
On exhibit will be four paintings by Diane, reflecting her unique perspective on everyday things.
Zenzele Browne
A native of Philadelphia, Zenzele Browne distinguished herself at the renowned Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. For the past 19 years, she has made New York City her home, particularly the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where she lives, loves, laughs and paints paints paints paints paints! Zenzele's work was recently featured in the traveling exhibit "The Politics of Racism" at ABC No Rio, Lowe Gallery at Hudson Guild and Fire Patrol #5 Gallery. Other recent exhibits include " Erotic Art of Black Women" at Satta Gallery in Brooklyn and "Mumia 911" at Rush Fine Arts Gallery. To view more of Zenzele Browne's artwork visit www.inthelightfinearts.com.
Five large-sized exuberant interior landscapes by Zenzele will be on exhibit.
Barbara Ann Slitkin
Barbara Ann Slitkin has won numerous awards and grants including memebership in the National Mural Society and art residency from the Friends of the Library in 1992. She has also been invited to exhibit numerous one-person shows at the Tompkins Square Gallery.
From 1992-2001, her work has been shown widely at many group exhibitions including "Wheel!" juried by A. Aiches, chief curator for the Bass Museum in Florida, and "Tool" juried by Ms. Bonnie Clearwater, chief curator for the Museum for Contemporary Art, also in Florida. The artist's work is in many private and public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Last year, she was archived by the Museum of American Folk Art as a 20th Century Folk Artist.
On exhibit are four paintings from Barbara's Paint My Flowers Black series.
Tamara Wyndham
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Tamara studied traditional drawing and painting at California State University, Long Beach; and more experimental drawing, book works, and performance at the University of California at Irvine. She moved to New York City in 1979, where she continued to explore different methods of art making. She became involved in the feminist movement, organizing consciousness-raising and study groups, and attending numerous demonstrations and actions. She also became involved in feminist spirituality, and has led meditations. She traveled through Mexico and Central America for one year in 1984-1985, painting and learning about the different cultures and languages. More recently Tamara has been influenced by her travel and work in Egypt, Morocco and Turkey.
She has been awarded artist residencies at the Henry Street Settlement, the Kate Millett Art Colony, the Vermont Studio Center, the Mariz Ceramic Workshop in the Czech Republic, and the Fundacion Valparaiso in Spain.
Tamara will give viewers a whole new way to look at bodily fluids with six mixed media pieces from her series Blood on My Hands. [See her performance and paper art here.]
Read more about it - it includes this museum (when it was in my house) and many interesting people associated publically with menstruation. Individual Americans can buy the video by contacting
Films for the Humanities
P.O. Box 2053
Princeton, NJ 08543-2053Tel: 609-275-1400
Fax: 609-275-3767
Toll free order line: 1-800-257-5126Canadians purchase it through the National Film Board of Canada.
If so, Lana Thompson wants to hear from you.
if I die before establishing the Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health as a permanent public display in the United States (read more of my plans here). I have had coronary angioplasty; I have heart disease related to that which killed all six of my parents and grandparents (some when young), according to the foremost Johns Hopkins lipids specialist. The professor told me I would be a "very sick person" if I were not a vegetarian since I cannot tolerate any of the medications available. Almost two years ago I debated the concept of the museum on American national television ("Moral Court," Fox Network) and MUM board member Miki Walsh (see the board), who was in the audience at Warner Brothers studios in Hollywood, said I looked like a zombie - it was the insomnia-inducing effect of the cholesterol medication.
And almost two years ago Megan Hicks, curator of medicine at Australia's Powerhouse Museum, the country's largest, in Sydney, visited MUM (see her and read about the visit). She described her creation of an exhibit about the history of contraception that traveled Australia; because of the subject many people had objected to it before it started and predicted its failure. But it was a great success!
The museum would have a good home.
I'm trying to establish myself as a painter (see some of my paintings) in order to retire from my present job to give myself the time to get this museum into a public place and on display permanently (at least much of it); it's impossible to do now because of the time my present job requires.
An Australian e-mailed me about this:
Wow, the response to the museum, if it were set up in Australia, would be so varied. You'd have some people rejoicing about it and others totally opposing it (we have some yobbos here who think menstruation is "dirty" and all that other rubbish). I reckon it would be great to have it here. Imagine all the school projects! It might make a lot of younger women happier about menstruating, too. I'd go check it out (and take my boyfriend too) :)
Hey, are you related to Karen Finley, the performance artist?? [Not that I know of, and she hasn't claimed me!]
Don't eliminate the ten Regional Offices of the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor
The Bush Administration is planning to propose, in next year's budget, to eliminate the ten Regional Offices of the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor. This decision signals the Administration's intent to dismantle the only federal agency specifically mandated to represent the needs of women in the paid work force.
Established in 1920, the Women's Bureau plays a critical function in helping women become aware of their legal rights in the workplace and guiding them to appropriate enforcement agencies for help. The Regional Offices take the lead on the issues that working women care about the most - training for higher paying jobs and non-traditional employment, enforcing laws against pay discrimination, and helping businesses create successful child-care and other family-friendly policies, to name only a few initiatives.
The Regional Offices have achieved real results for wage-earning women for eighty-one years, especially for those who have low incomes or language barriers. The one-on-one assistance provided at the Regional Offices cannot be replaced by a Web site or an electronic voice mail system maintained in Washington.
You can take action on this issue today! Go to http://capwiz.com/nwlc/home/ to write to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and tell her you care about keeping the Regional Offices of the Women's Bureau in operation. You can also let E. Mitchell Daniels, Jr., Director of the Office of Management and Budget, know how you feel about this. You can write a letter of your own or use one we've prepared for you.
If you find this information useful, be sure to forward this alert to your friends and colleagues and encourage them to sign up to receive Email Action Alerts from the National Women's Law Center at www.nwlc.org/email.
Thank you!
Book about menstruation published in Spain
The Spanish journalist who contributed some words for menstruation to this site last year and wrote about this museum (MUM) in the Madrid newspaper "El País" just co-authored with her daughter a book about menstruation (cover at left).
She writes, in part,
Dear Harry Finley,
As I told you, my daughter (Clara de Cominges) and I have written a book (called "El tabú") about menstruation, which is the first one to be published in Spain about that subject. The book - it talks about the MUM - is coming out at the end of March and I just said to the publisher, Editorial Planeta, to contact you and send you some pages from it and the cover as well. I'm sure that it will be interesting to you to have some information about the book that I hope has enough sense of humour to be understood anywhere. Thank you for your interest and help.
If you need anything else, please let me know.
Best wishes,
Margarita Rivière
Belen Lopez, the editor of nonfiction at Planeta, adds that "Margarita, more than 50 years old, and Clara, 20, expose their own experiences about menstruation with a sensational sense of humour." (publisher's site)
My guess is that Spaniards will regard the cover as risqué, as many Americans would. And the book, too. But, let's celebrate!
I earlier mentioned that Procter & Gamble was trying to change attitudes in the Spanish-speaking Americas to get more women to use tampons, specifically Tampax - a hard sell.
Compare this cover with the box cover for the Canadian television video about menstruation, Under Wraps, and the second The Curse.
An American network is now developing a program about menstruation for a popular cable channel; some folks from the network visited me recently to borrow material.
And this museum lent historical tampons and ads for a television program in Spain last year.
Now, if I could only read Spanish! (I'm a former German teacher.)
Irregular menses identify women at high risk for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which exists in 6-10% of women of reproductive age. PCOS is a major cause of infertility and is linked to diabetes.
