Crazy That We Need It, But We Do

God I love California. Check out this campaign for breastfeeding acceptance which features lifesize cutouts of breastfeeding women.

Rare Slap on the Wrist for Deceptive Birth Control Ad

It doesn't happen very often, but ads for Yaz, the best-selling birth control pill in the US, were considered so misleading that the FDA actually stepped in and required the manufacturer, Bayer, to run a corrective ad campaign. 

Wait - you mean it's not a great idea to take hormones that cause you to stop ovulating and carry a risk of serious side effects in order to clear up your skin or improve your mood? 

Upcoming Events at Bluestockings

Yah, these events are for the New Yorkers in the audience, but the rest of you can still buy the books or watch the film. Or arrange a reading / screening in your home town! All events will be held at Bluestockings Bookstore and Fair Trade Cafe, 172 Allen Street @ Stanton.

Saturday, February 21st @ 7PM - Free
Reading: Carol Leonard "Lady's Hands, Lion's Heart." Teamed up with Choices in Childbirth, we celebrate the release of "Lady’s Hands, Lion’s Heart," Carol Leonard’s memoir about her 30 years as a midwife and advocate for reproductive freedoms. Leonard is a co-founder of Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), and her book is inspiring, hilarious, touching and a might full of beans. Doubtlessly, this book is a future classic in birth literature.

Thursday, March 5th @ 7PM - Free
Reading: Julia Watts "Women. Period." Please join contributors to "Women. Period. Women Writing on Menstruation," a new anthology of poetry, essays, and short fiction exploring the monthly cycle which unites all women. While menstruation is perhaps the most universal of
female experiences, surprisingly little has been published on the subject. Period.

Wednesday, March 11th @ 7PM - $5 Suggested
Screening: Carol Ciancutti-Leyva "Absolutely Safe" (2007, 85 minutes) While more women than ever are getting breast implants, few people seem to be asking: why? Even fewer are asking: are implants safe? Join director Carol Ciancutti-Leyva for a screening of "Absolutely Safe," her documentary about everyday women who find themselves and their breasts at the tangled intersections of health, money, science, and beauty.

Why We Still Have a Long Way to Go

It's been over 40 years since Natural Family Planning, the predecessor of Fertility Awareness, was pioneered. FA & NFP are now codified, and have been repeatedly proven to be safe and effective methods of fertility management. They are empowering, safe, inexpensive, reversible, environmentally friendly, and vegan. They do not diminish sexual pleasure, and provide added benefits such as shortening the time to a desired pregnancy and being safe to use for contraceptive purposes while breastfeeding. They are also acceptable by people with a wide range of moral and religious belief systems. So why the hell are they such a big secret?? Why aren't we being taught this stuff in schools? Why are there so few teachers of FA in this country? Why don't our gyns tell us about it? Why don't you see ads on it for TV along with all those stupid ads for various kinds of Pills? (See 2/22 post for an article on Yaz and their less-than-truthful ads.) I'll tell you why. Yes, there is the profit factor. Yes, there is the squeamish factor. But mostly, there is the ignorance factor. When even a well-known reproductive rights activist/author like Cristina Page does not understand what Fertility Awareness is or why women might want to practice it, you know that we have a long way to go:

Bizarre and ill-informed blog post re Georgetown grant