Category Archives: Feminism and Medicine

#Menopause as a Lens for Evaluating the Intersections of Ageism & Sexism & Racism

What started off a few years ago as an investigation of state sales taxes on menstrual products has taken my work in many unexpected directions. My colleague Emily Gold Waldman (Pace) and I have combined forces (and expertise) to write … Continue reading

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Posted in Elder Law, Employment Discrimination, Feminism and Culture, Feminism and Law, Feminism and Medicine, Feminism and Technology, Sisters In Other Nations | Comments Off on #Menopause as a Lens for Evaluating the Intersections of Ageism & Sexism & Racism

Lyme Disease as a Feminist Issue

Over here at truthout.org, there is a write-up of radio host Dennis Bernstein’s interview with filmmaker Sini Anderson.  Anderson is the former director of the National Queer Arts Festival and the director of the documentary The Punk Singer about former … Continue reading

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Is Womb-in-a-Box Next? Attempted Pregnancy of Women with Uterine Transplants

Four Swedish women who received uterine transplants have been implanted with embryos in an attempt to carry their own biological child to term.  Read the AP story here. As my mind attempts to grasp this medical leap, I couldn’t help … Continue reading

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Mini Symposium on Paid Egg “Donation”

For those of you who haven’t seen it, I wanted to point out the mini-symposium organized by Kim Krawiec (Duke) over at the Faculty Lounge on the Perez v. Commissioner case.  The case involves the tax treatment of amounts received … Continue reading

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Dance As If Your Life Depends On It

San Francisco-based OB-GYN Dr. Deborah Cohan had breast cancer surgery on Tuesday. Before going under anesthesia, she and her surgical team did something unexpected: they danced to Beyoncé’s “Get Me Bodied.”  Dancing is good for the soul no matter where … Continue reading

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Motherlode

Came across this the other day in the New York Times, “Generic Pain Relievers Work, So Why Do I Give My Kids Brand Names?” Why indeed? Could it possibly be the influence of non-stop advertising intended to convey the vague … Continue reading

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Angelina Jolie On Preventive Mastectomy

Actress and activist Angelina Jolie writes about her decision to undergo a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. Her op-ed, “My Medical Choice,” lays out her reasons, which include a discussion of the death of her mother from cancer, and her own … Continue reading

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“Why it is important to integrate human rights into international policy-making”

From Equality Now: The Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has just returned from a business trip to Britain, where she met President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.  In Liberia, more than 58% of women … Continue reading

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Abortion remains legal in Idaho, but there are still uncertainties.

An Idaho law against using medication to induce abortion was deemed “likely unconstitutional” but remains in effect per the HuffPo. A more detailed if somewhat confusing account of developments is available here. Updates to follow.

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Four Wheels Good, Two Wheels Better!

A nasty accident involving a tanker truck carrying isobutane on I-10 near one of Baton Rouge’s exits has caused a shutdown of part of the expressway in both directions, and snarled traffic throughout Baton Rouge since 3:40 this morning. You … Continue reading

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Glenn Cohen on “Beyond Best Interests”

Glenn Cohen (Harvard) has posted to SSRN his article Beyond Best Interests, 96 Minn. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2012).  Here is the abstract: As Justice Douglas wrote in Skinner v. Oklahoma, procreation is one of the “basic civil rights of man.” … Continue reading

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Women, the Super Committee, and Medicaid

Medicaid is a feminist issue, and the realistic prospect of severe medicaid funding cuts are a danger to women and girls. That’s the message of an excellent blog post  full of useful facts and figures by Davida Silverman, a staff … Continue reading

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Assisted Reproduction and Cross Border Travel

Richard F. Storrow, City University of New York School of Law, has published Assisted Reproduction on Treacherous Terrain: The Legal Hazards of Cross-Border Reproductive Travel at 23 Reproductive Biomedicine Online 538-545 (2011). The growing phenomenon of cross-border reproductive travel has four significant … Continue reading

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Reid on “Sex, Drugs, and American Jurisprudence”

Susan Reid (J.D. Columbia, 2011) has posted to SSRN her working paper “Sex, Drugs, and American Jurisprudence: The Medicalization of Pleasure.”  Here is the abstract: This paper explores the role of medical arguments in cases where courts have overturned statutes … Continue reading

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Spindelman on “Sexual Freedom’s Shadows”

Marc Spindelman (Ohio State) has published his essay Sexual Freedom’s Shadows, 23 Yale J.L. & Feminism 179 (2011).  It is both review of a book by Tim Dean called Unlimited Intimacy: Reflections on the Subculture of Barebacking (UChicago Press, 2009), … Continue reading

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Mészáros on “Young People Raping and Taping”

József Mészáros has posted to SSRN a working draft of his paper The New Pornographers: Neuroscience Justifies a Robust Regulatory Response to Young People Raping and Taping.  Here is the abstract: An increase in the occurrence of young men participating … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Law, Feminism and Medicine, Feminism and Science, Feminist Legal Scholarship | 1 Comment

Assisted Reproduction: A Man’s Perspective on that Small Room and Big Cup

Paul Ford writes in The Age of Mechanical Reproduction (here) of his experiences with assisted reproductive technology and the quest to have a child via IVF: When I tell people what we are doing, they want to hear about the … Continue reading

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A Right to be a Parent? IVF in Israel

Today’s New York Times has this interesting story on reproductive medicine in Israel.  In “Where Families Are Prized, Help Is Free,” Dina Kraft reports: Jewish and Arab, straight and gay, secular and religious, the patients who come to Assuta Hospital … Continue reading

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Ouellete’s “Bioethics and Disability: Toward a Disability-Conscious Bioethics”

Alicia Ouellete (Albany) has published a new book, Bioethics and Disability: Toward a Disability-Conscious Bioethics, with Cambridge University Press.  Here‘s the publisher’s description: Bioethics and Disability provides tools for understanding the concerns, fears, and biases that have convinced some people with disabilities … Continue reading

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Prostitution and HIV Funding: Unconstitutional Condition Case from Second Circuit

If an organization did not have a “policy explicitly opposing prostitution” – – – the so-called prostitution pledge – – – then the program could not obtain funding under the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of … Continue reading

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Areheart on “Disability Trouble”

Bradley A. Areheart, the Bruce R. Jacob Visiting Assistant Professor at Stetson University College of Law, has posted to SSRN his article Disability Trouble, 29 Yale Law & Policy Review 347 (2011).  Its theoretical framework borrows from Judith Butler’s work on gender and … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Medicine, Feminist Legal Scholarship, Women's Health | 1 Comment

(In)Sanity, Thy Name is Woman (Or, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall)

According to a recent New York Times article, the upcoming fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5 for short) has eliminated five of the current ten personality disorders. Perhaps most noteworthy among the personality disorders … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Medicine, Women's Health | 1 Comment

Do Female Veterans Suffer Differently?

That’s a question that an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale will be trying to answer with an empirical study of female military combat veterans.  The study will be funded by a $2.2 million grant from the United States Department … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Medicine, Women's Health | 3 Comments

Informed Consent- What Role Should Gender and Religion Play?

I teach a number of courses, including Health Care Law and Patient’s Rights, at Barry University School of Law in Orlando, Florida.  Last week, I led a discussion about Informed Consent to first year medical students at the University of … Continue reading

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Joslin on “Protecting Children(?): Marriage, Gender, and Assisted Reproductive Technology”

Courtney Joslin (UC Davis) has posted to SSRN her new piece, Protecting Children(?): Marriage, Gender, and Assisted Reproductive Technology, 83 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1177 (2010). Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court has declared that children should not be penalized based … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Medicine, Feminism and Technology, Feminist Legal Scholarship, Reproductive Rights | 1 Comment

Reproductive Technology as Self-Induced Amnesia

I am skeptical amount government regulation of reproductive technology.  Science and medicine have allowed many people to become parents who otherwise couldn’t.  For those who want to have children but cannot, the anguish of childlessness can be gut-wrenching.  I get … Continue reading

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A Pill to Make Your Daughter Interested in Dolls and Boys?

Earlier this month, Time Magazine reported (here) on the off-label use of the steroid dexamethasone to treat prevent fetal development of ambiguous genitalia:  The early prenatal use of dexamethasone, or dex, has been shown to prevent some of the symptoms … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Medicine, Feminism and Science | 1 Comment

Female genital cutting . . . in a U.S. hospital?

(Trigger warning) This post at Feministing — about a doctor who cuts young children with “abnormal” clitorises, and then tests their subsequent sensory perception with a vibrator (!) — is just incredibly disturbing.

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Importance of Honesty in Donor-Conceived Families

At the Denver Motherhood conference, I’m listening now to a talk by Wendy Kramer, co-founder and Director of the Donor Sibling Registry.  Here’s an excerpt from the organization’s “About Us” statement: The Donor Sibling Registry (DSR) was founded in 2000 … Continue reading

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From the NYT: You Dumb Women are Opposing the New Mammogram Recommendations Because You Don’t Understand Science or Math

The contempt laden Op-Ed is here. Below is the first paragraph: In his inaugural address, Barack Obama promised to restore science to its”rightful place.”This has partly occurred, as evidenced by this month’s release of 13 new human embryonic stem-cell lines. … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Medicine, Sexism in the Media, Women's Health | 16 Comments

On Virginity and Hymens

From this website: Time for more accurate terminology: Hymen renamed”vaginal corona” The mythical status of the hymen has caused far too much harm for far too long. Last spring, RFSU published an information booklet in Swedish intended to dispel some … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Medicine, Feminism and Politics, Feminists in Academia, If you're a woman, Sociolinguistics | 2 Comments

“Sex and Scoliosis”

Really informative, interesting post by this title here at the FWD/Forward blog.

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Being a woman is not a pre-existing condition

Embedded video from CNN Video

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Maybe there are nude pictures of you on the Internet.

Because maybe you have disrobed in a medical facility: A traffic stop led officers to discover that a Willard man allegedly has been compiling nude photos of patients from the medical facility where he worked. … … The officers later … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Medicine, Feminism and Technology, Women's Health | 2 Comments

In Case You Are Afraid That Breast Cancer Will Angrily Accost You?

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Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminism and Medicine, Yep, sarcasm. | Tagged | 1 Comment

“Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak won the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering a key mechanism in the genetic operations of cells, an insight that has inspired new lines of research into cancer. It was the first time two women have been among the winners of the medicine prize.”

From here: … Blackburn and Greider discovered the enzyme that builds telomeres : telomerase : and the mechanism by which it adds DNA to the tips of chromosomes to replace genetic material that has eroded away. The prize-winners’ work, done … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Medicine, Feminism and Science, Firsts | 1 Comment

Nicole Hurt, “Komen Goes Feminist: Breast Cancer Activism, Advertising Design, and Third-Wave Feminism”

This is an academic paper written in 2008 by a U. of Georgia student which critiques the 2007 “Punch It” Komen Foundation campaign: The shirt says:”When we get our hands on breast cancer, we’re going to punch it, strangle it, … Continue reading

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IF SHE DIES, HER PRETTY BOOBIES GO WITH HER.

That’s the theme of a new breast cancer “awareness” campaign, and Kate Harding is not amused. Here’s an excerpt from her fantastic post at Jezebel: … This boobtastic Rethink Breast Cancer ad “and a couple more like it,” according to … Continue reading

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“It’s a pity we can’t just seriously divide the country in two. On one side, all you people who don’t want “socialism” can go and live without Medicare, municipal sewer systems, roads that are maintained by government funds, running water, fire departments, police departments, national/state/city parks, public libraries, and other such disgusting features of life under brownshirt Obamcare socialism. The rest of us commies will hunker down together in our socialist nightmare and finally craft a universal health care system to go along with the rest of evil socialist empire.”

Thus Spake Zuska.

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Posted in Feminism and Medicine, Women's Health, Yep, sarcasm. | Comments Off on “It’s a pity we can’t just seriously divide the country in two. On one side, all you people who don’t want “socialism” can go and live without Medicare, municipal sewer systems, roads that are maintained by government funds, running water, fire departments, police departments, national/state/city parks, public libraries, and other such disgusting features of life under brownshirt Obamcare socialism. The rest of us commies will hunker down together in our socialist nightmare and finally craft a universal health care system to go along with the rest of evil socialist empire.”

Elizabeth R. Sheyn, “Putting an End to an Unintentional Result: Why the Requirement that Female Immigrants Receive the Gardasil Vaccine Prior to Becoming Permanent Residents Should Be Suspended”

The abstract: This Article concerns the recent (August 2008) CDC-sponsored requirement that female immigrants to the United States receive the Gardasil vaccine prior to changing their residency status and, eventually, becoming naturalized citizens. The Article provides a background of the … Continue reading

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“Mystery Suspect in the “Obesity Epidemic””

This article at The Icarus Project asserts that there may be an under examined link between psychotropic drugs and the “obesity epidemic.” Below is an excerpt: … The increase in the average American’s weight has paralleled the warp speed increase … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Medicine, Women's Health | 1 Comment

“Comprehensive Health Insurance Reform: An Essential Prescription for Women”

That is the title of a new report issued by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, chaired by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). Below is the abstract: The status-quo health insurance system is serving women poorly. An estimated 64 million women lack … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Economics, Feminism and Law, Feminism and Medicine, If you're a woman, Women's Health | 1 Comment

Urine-competent if you are female?

Click thumbnail below for larger version: Click thumbnail below for larger version: The photographs are the female and male instructions for collecting urine samples for medical testing, featured in the bathrooms of a medical lab. Note the contrast in how … Continue reading

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Sotomayor Redux–Is Regina Benjamin Too Fat to Be Surgeon General?

Just as Judge Sotomayor was pilloried for her appearance, questions about whether Dr. Regina Benjamin is too fat for public office have begun to circulate.  An analysis of this really troubling trend here.  And yes, I get that the Surgeon … Continue reading

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Law Protecting Clinic Buffer Zone Upheld

From the Feminist Daily News: The US 1st Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Massachusetts law on Friday, allowing a 35-foot safety buffer zone between protesters and abortion clinic entrances. The law, established in 2007, protects clinic patients and staff … Continue reading

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Pharmacists are obliged to dispense the Plan B pill, even if they are personally opposed to the “morning after” contraceptive on religious grounds, a federal appeals court ruled last week.

The LA Times reported: … In a case that could affect policy across the western U.S., a supermarket pharmacy owner in Olympia, Wash., failed in a bid to block 2007 regulations that required all Washington pharmacies to stock and dispense … Continue reading

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Women are under-represented in clinical cancer research published in high-impact journals, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Citation and Abstract: Under-representation of women in high-impact published clinical cancer research Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil 1 *, Amy R. Motomura, BSE 1, Sudha Amarnath, BS 2, Aleksandra Jankovic, MS 3, Nathan Sheets, BS 2, Peter A. Ubel, MD 3 … Continue reading

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Still more “breast cancer awareness” via the pinkification of consumer products.

Lisa at Sociological Images has a series of photos, such as the one just above, and this one depicting Breast Cancer Awareness Cat Food: The post poses some questions about this that can largely be summed up as WTF? (though … Continue reading

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A Shushing at the Gynecologist

As reported by Zuska.

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