Category Archives: Women’s Health

Breastfeeding and the Law

According to the NCSL: Forty-five states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands have laws that specifically allow women to breastfeed in any public or private location. (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, … Continue reading

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REAL Breast Cancer Awareness Without A Pink Ribbon In Sight

Via this Buzzfeed page, which notes: The ad, commissioned by the Scottish Government, stars actress Elaine C. Smith, who lost her own mother to breast cancer. It features images of breasts exhibiting some of the early stages of the disease.The … Continue reading

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VAWA and Native Women

From Greg Kaufmann at The Nation: In July, I reported that Republican House leadership is blocking reauthorization of a strengthened Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).  No one needs this bill passed more desperately than Native women: one in three will … Continue reading

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World’s No. 1 junior girls player, reigning junior Australian Open singles champion and the junior Wimbledon doubles champion “too fat” to play tennis?

Story here.

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Woman Who Was Shot While Earning Money As An “Exotic Dancer” Is Denied Workers’ Compensation

The case is LeAndra Lewis v. L.B. Dynasty, Inc., d/b/a Boom Boom Room Studio 54 and the South Carolina Uninsured Employers’ Fund, and the full opinion is here. Affirming a denial of Workers Compensation benefits, the South Carolina Court of … Continue reading

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Women, Children and Public Health

My colleague Linda Fentiman will be delivering the James D. Hopkins Lecture — open to the public — on September 12, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. at Pace Law School.  The title of her talk is “Are Mothers Hazardous to their … Continue reading

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Touching a Nerve?: 8th Circuit Finds ALJ’s Comment About Touching A Feminist’s Nerve Didn’t Constitute Reversible Bias

[A]fter Perkins testified that her daily routine includes watching the Lifetime channel, the ALJ asked, “And what is the subject matter of that? That’s the girl channel.”…Perkins responded, “Women’s channel.”…The ALJ then stated, “All right. I’m glad our [vocational expert] … Continue reading

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New Health Law Blog: O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law

The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University has started a new blog (here).  There have been a couple of posts in recent weeksthat might be of interest to readers of this blog. Drugs, Babies, Nursing … Continue reading

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Federal Judge Sam Sparks and the 2011 Texas Abortion Act

Judge Sam Sparks did not have very kind words for the attorneys on either side of the challenge to the 2011 abortion Act in his opinion in Texas Medical Providers Performing Abortion Services v. Lakey.    He was also not impressed … Continue reading

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To Wax or Not to Wax?

Call it willful blindness, but I hadn’t seen this 2007 article from the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal (Oxford University).  Here is an excerpt from Severe Complications of a ‘Brazilian’ Bikini Wax: Waxing . . . is the most common method … Continue reading

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Posted in Women's Health | 1 Comment

Safe, Reversible, Non-Surgical Male Contraception Coming to a Guy Near You

The New York Times reports today on “Scientific Advances on Contraceptive for Men.”  Here is an excerpt: The most studied approach in the United States uses testosterone and progestin hormones, which send the body signals to stop producing sperm. While effective and safe … 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

Equality Now update

Equality Now has recently published three Letters to the Editor in the New York Times: “Power, Status and a Charge of Rape” (5/18/11); “Women’s Rights in Yemen“(4/22/11); and “Female Genital Mutilation” (5/13/11). Learn more here.

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“A Girl Like Me”

Watch the video here. Per the link: Color is more than skin deep for young African-American women struggling to define themselves. For more information about this film and to take action visit: http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/6/a_girl_like_me/index.php?fs=action

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Second Shift Redux: New Study on Working Women’s Minimal Leisure Time

The Journal of Family Psychology wasn’t on my summer reading list until yesterday.  The LA Times reported (here) on a new Journal of Family Psychology study about the comparative leisure time of men and women in 2-career families with at … Continue reading

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Posted in Employment Discrimination, Feminism and Culture, Feminism and Families, Women's Health | 1 Comment

Tax Credits for Abortion

Could the federal government offer tax credits for abortion?  That’s what one commenter asks over here at Metafilter, about the implications of the  decision of the United States Supreme Court in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn (copy of … Continue reading

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As the Economy Declines, So Does the Frequency of Oral Sex?

For the empiricists, here’s some interesting extra reading:  this National Health Statistics Report on “Sexual Behavior, Sexual Attraction, and Sexual Identity in the  United States: Data from the 2006-2008 National Survey of Family Growth.”  In Table 7, one learns: In … Continue reading

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NYT Editorial: “The War on Women”

From today’s New York Times, this editorial, entitled The War on Women: Republicans in the House of Representatives are mounting an assault on women’s health and freedom that would deny millions of women access to affordable contraception and life-saving cancer … Continue reading

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Lawmaker in State of Georgia Wants to Make Miscarriage a Crime

A bill introduced last month by a Georgia State Representative would make miscarriage a crime, unless the woman could prove that there was “no human involvement” in the miscarriage.  The bill doesn’t define “human involvement.” Here’s what WebMD has to … Continue reading

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Isabelle Caro, Model, Anti-Anorexia Campaigner, Dies

Daniele Gouzard-Dubreuil Prevot, model Isabelle Caro’s acting teacher, announced that Ms. Caro died (Los Angeles Times obit) last month and was buried November 24. Ms. Caro, who suffered from anorexia, posed for the famous anti-anorexia ad labelled “No Anorexia” in … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminism and the Arts, 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

If a Woman Fears for her Life, it’s not “Boyfriend Trouble”

Andrea Chang, a writer for the LA Times, reported here that some Target retail stores in urban centers employ social workers to provide advice upon request to store workers.  It’s an innovative employee benefit which Target says helps combat “absenteeism … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Sexism in the Media, Women's Health | 1 Comment

Jessie Hill on Dangerous Terrain: Mapping the Female Body in Gonzales v. Carhart

Jessie Hill has posted on SSRN a short and fascinating analysis of the graphic language used in Gonzales v. Carhart (2007), the “partial-birth abortion” case. Here is part of the abstract: This brief Article focuses on the rhetoric of the … Continue reading

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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

Can you picture an ad for prostate cancer featuring a delicate, manicured hand squishing a dude’s junk?

That is the question posed at IBTP in a post excerpted below: It’s breast cancer awareness month! Awesome! There is much patriarchy to blame when it comes to breast cancer awareness month. Such as Komen. Komen, as I have declaimed … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminist Blogs Of Interest, Sexism in the Media, The Overrepresentation of Women, Women's Health | 1 Comment

CFP: Women’s Choices, Women’s Voices: Legal Regimes and Women’s Health

Call for Speakers AALS Section on Law, Medicine and Health Care Co-Sponsored by Section on Women in Legal Education Women’s Choices, Women’s Voices:  Legal Regimes and Women’s Health Friday, Jan. 7, 2011, 4:00 –  5:45 p.m. The AALS Section on … Continue reading

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Posted in Call for Papers or Participation, Women's Health | 1 Comment

You Won THAT in a Raffle?

First prize in a UK raffle is a human egg. This “raffle” is part of a repulsive publicity ploy by the U.S.-based Genetics & IVF Institute (which bills itself as “the world’s largest, fully integrated, specialized provider of infertility and … Continue reading

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Joslin on “Legal Regulation of Pregnancy and Childbirth”

Courtner Joslin (UC Davis) has posted to SSRN her encyclopedia entry, “Legal Regulation of Pregnancy and Childbirth.”   Here is the abstract: This piece, a short entry in The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion, examines the legal regulation of pregnant women. … Continue reading

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“As part of the gender almost universally considered to be the most vain, I find it kind of amusing that we take it as a given that men shouldn’t have to come to terms with the penis nature gave them.”

The post title is a quote from this Broadsheet piece (found via) which highlights an Atlantic article entitled “The Challenge of Marketing Small  Condoms,” in which one learns: … According to the medical journal Sexually Transmitted Infections, 45 percent of … Continue reading

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Posted in Sociolinguistics, Women's Health | Comments Off on “As part of the gender almost universally considered to be the most vain, I find it kind of amusing that we take it as a given that men shouldn’t have to come to terms with the penis nature gave them.”

Farm Chemicals, Cancer and Non-Disclosure

Feminist Law Prof Sandi Zellmer (Nebraska) has an important post over at the Center for Progressive Reform’s blog about the impact of pesticides and herbicides on the incidences of cancer in farm communities.  Here is an excerpt: My family has … Continue reading

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

“Men who buy sex: Who they buy and what they know”

“Men who buy sex: Who they buy and what they know,” is a research study of 103 men who describe their use of trafficked and non-trafficked women in prostitution, and their awareness of coercion and violence, prepared by Melissa Farley, … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, The Overrepresentation of Women, Women's Health | 4 Comments

Guest Post by Gloria Feldt: Not Under the Bus

“If we’re going to be thrown under the bus, let’s not be ladylike about it. Kick and scream and make your voice heard.” :Linda Lowen,  About.com/womensissues I couldn’t agree more with Linda. That’s why I’ve dropped everything else and am … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Politics, Reproductive Rights, Women's Health | 3 Comments

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

“Slap on a pink ribbon, call it a day” is an unfair way to characterize the debate about breast cancer screening.

Barbara Ehrenreich at Salon: … What we really need is a new women’s health movement, one that’s sharp and skeptical enough to ask all the hard questions: What are the environmental (or possibly life-style) causes of the breast cancer epidemic? … Continue reading

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

“It’s very reminiscent where we were 30 years ago on the domestic violence stuff …. People just don’t get it yet.”So spoke a District Attorney, commenting on the lack of sex trafficking prosecutions in NY.

From this NYT article: Despite a highly trumpeted New York State law in 2007 that enacted tough penalties for sex or labor trafficking, very few people have been prosecuted since it went into effect, according to state statistics. In New … Continue reading

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Posted in Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, Women's Health | 2 Comments

Vani K. Borooah, Quy Toan Do, Sriya Iyer, and Shareen Joshi – “Missing Women and India’s Religious Demography”

Abstract: The authors use recent data from the 2006 National Family Health Survey of India to explore the relationship between religion and demographic behavior. They find that fertility and mortality vary not only between religious groups, but also across caste … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Economics, Sisters In Other Nations, The Overrepresentation of Women, Women and Economics, Women's Health | Comments Off on Vani K. Borooah, Quy Toan Do, Sriya Iyer, and Shareen Joshi – “Missing Women and India’s Religious Demography”

Don’t believe anyone who tells you to put mints in your vagina.

Does hatred of women know no boundaries? Apparently not: I recently got a press release from the makers of Linger, an “internal feminine flavoring” that promises to keep your vagina in mint condition. Think of it as an Altoid for … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Culture, If you're a woman, Women's Health | 4 Comments

“Sex and Scoliosis”

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

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About that study which purportedly found that “Men married to smart women live longer”

The actual title of the paper is: “Marital partner and mortality: The effects of the social positions of both spouses,” by Robert Erikson and Jenny Torssander From here: Abstract: Background: Individual socioeconomic position -like education, social class, social status, and … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminism and Science, Women's Health | 2 Comments

New Mammogram Recommendations Patronize Women

A government task force claims that women don’t need to have routine screening for breast cancer until age 50.   (See the AP story here.)   But the American Cancer Society recommends routine mammograms for women 40 and over.   … Continue reading

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Posted in Women's Health | 25 Comments

Jennifer M. Keighley, “Health Care Reform and Reproductive Rights: Sex Equality Arguments for Abortion Coverage in a National Plan”

Abstract: The national health insurance reform effort threatens to reduce the number of women who have health insurance coverage for abortions. Instead of evaluating whether the Supreme Court would invalidate restrictions on coverage, I employ a model of legislative constitutionalism … Continue reading

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Being a woman is not a pre-existing condition

Embedded video from CNN Video

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

“AIDS Is The No. 1 Cause Of Death, Disease For Women 15-44, Says WHO”

And how much do rape, pornography and prostitution contribute to the spread of AIDS? Wish there was some data on that, but not holding my breath. From the HuffPo: In its first study of women’s health around the globe, the … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Coerced Sex, Women's Health | 3 Comments

“Fraternity Accused of Stealing 10,000 Student Newspapers to Cover Up Date Rape Story”

Amanda Hess has the story here. Sadly, as she notes, the fact that a student may have been drugged at a fraternity party so that members could rape her in and of itself wasn’t seen as a big deal by … Continue reading

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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

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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Girls Educational and Mentoring Services’ (GEMS) mission is to empower young women, ages12-21, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the commercial sex industry and develop to their full potential.

MESSAGE FROM HALLE BERRY October 1, 2009 Dear GEMS Friends, Being a girl isn’t easy. Today in New York City, a girl will flee an abusive home, only to be approached by a pimp-trafficker who will promise her love and … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, From the FLP mailbox, Justice?, Women's Health | Comments Off on Girls Educational and Mentoring Services’ (GEMS) mission is to empower young women, ages12-21, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the commercial sex industry and develop to their full potential.

The NYT Adulates Christie Hefner, Delicately Refrains From Substantively Mentioning the Hardcore Porn that Generates Most of Playboy’s Revenues

Here’s a curious and alarming excerpt from this incredibly sycophantic article: Her father lent his support to causes like birth control and abortion rights, but activism was at her core. She campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment and gay rights … Continue reading

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Posted in Coerced Sex, Feminism and Culture, Sexism in the Media, Women's Health | 2 Comments