The Fertility Awareness Center

Ten Years in the Making! vagina vérité Now Available

2012-02-14T20:54:00.001-05:00

Alexandra Jacoby's book of vulva portraits is FINALLY available for purchase! And now, till 2/27, you can get $10 off. How sweet is that? Use code SAVE10 at checkout. I'm very excited that this book is making its long-awaited and much-anticipated debut. This is an artist's print of the book; self-published. Positive buzz will help land a traditional (well not so traditional) publisher. We need more books like this! We need more conversations like this!

If you can't afford the book, or just want to share the text with someone, you can read it here. (Clicking the link will open a text file - no pics. Trust me, it's safe. Unless you don't like stimulating, heartfelt writing about stuff that normally doesn't get written about.)

Viva la vulva! And congratulations to Alexandra.

Oh, and Happy V-Day everyone.

Our Daughter's Bedrooms

2011-09-03T18:04:00.000-04:00

Yes, as anticipated, graduate school is kicking my butt. I don't know how often I'll be able to post. But when I can, I will draw your attention to stuff I think is worthwhile. Like this new book by Joyce McFadden. It's called Our Daughter's Bedrooms. The book emerged from McFadden's mental health care practice. Following up on trends she was seeing among her patients, she launched the Women's Realities Study, in which she interviewed hundreds of women from 18 to 105. Three major themes (which will not surprise you) emerged from this study: masturbation, menstruation, and relationships with mothers. McFadden found that women's relationships with their mothers profoundly influenced the development of their sexuality: their self-confidence, their feelings about their bodies, and how they deal with challenges around sexuality and fertility throughout their lives. Her book discusses the development of sexuality within the context of the mother/daughter relationship and sets out a model for how we can nurture girls and raise healthy, confident women who are comfortable with themselves as sexual beings.

You can watch a video of McFadden discussing the book on her website (link above). And, if you're in NYC, you can catch her doing periodic speaking engagements. She'll be at Bluestockings on Tuesday, September 13th, at 7PM. Bluestockings is at 172 Allen Street at Stanton (on the Lower East Side).

Ilene is on Hiatus!!!

2011-07-24T20:36:00.004-04:00

As some of you know, I will be starting a full-time, two year master's degree program in September, in social work. And, just to make things more exciting, I'm also moving (both home and office, because I work at home). Therefore I am going on hiatus. Actually I am already on hiatus, at least as far as teaching is concerned. I have already begun to refer new clients to other teachers. I'm not sure how long the hiatus will last. I'm going to see how things unfold.

I will continue to be involved in Fertility Awareness, but mostly in ways that won't be obvious to the general public. In addition to teaching, I do a lot of behind the scenes stuff having to do with Fertility Awareness as a profession. Although there are a few paths to professional certification, there are no national or international standards in place regarding qualifications to teach. Anyone can call herself a teacher (or sell fertility-management software). And of course practitioners in the field find little or no support from the medical community, and are often isolated in their own communities because qualified, secular (non-religious) instructors are so few and far between. Thus it can be difficult for them to find peer support and to grow as professionals.

I have been involved in the issue of professionalism in this field since I began teaching 10 years ago. I will be focusing on this work in the coming year, by expanding and strengthening our professional network, and by creating what I hope will be a widely recognized set of standards. I will also continue to coordinate professional forums through which people involved in the field communicate with and learn from each other. So, in the coming months I will be primarily involved in those activities. I will leave the teaching, at least temporarily, to others.

One of the things I've been focusing my energies on this past year, as I prepared to make this transition, has been the training of new teachers. I've had the privilege of working with several young women who are well on their way to becoming qualified instructors, with a wide range of interests and areas of concentration. They will continue their training with Oregon instructor Sarah Bly, and I look forward to introducing you to them in the future as they embark on their teaching careers.

I have also been working with Sarah on another project which I think at this point is still a secret :) I will tell you all about it once it's ready to go public.

And actually I've been working on another project having to do with Fertility Awareness that is also not quite ready for launch; that's something else I hope to share with you in the near future.

Ok, so maybe "hiatus" isn't the right word. I guess it's more like "scaling back."

So, if you are reading this, and you are in need of instruction, what should you do? Here are my suggestions:

--If you want to obtain instruction in a secular context, the Justisse website lists many qualified FA teachers, including graduates and current students of their own teacher training program. Make sure to pay attention to the various designations. I would suggest sticking to FAE's and full (graduated) HRHP's. A lot of teachers can work by phone or by Skype these days, so don't worry if there is no teacher in your area (and there probably isn't).
Justisse directory of instructors

--Not on the list, but worth considering, are:

Katie Singer (author of Garden of Fertility)
New Mexico
(505)820-0773
You will need to have read one of her books if you want to make an appointment with her.

Sarah Bly
Oregon
www.graceofthemoon.com

--Please mention my name if you contact any of these instructors so they know where the referral came from.

--Of course if you're open to studying Natural Family Planning (NFP), as opposed to FAM, you'll have many more instructors available to you, including some from whom you might be able to learn in person (as opposed to long distance). NFP is in many ways the same as FAM, but is taught in a religious/moral context. Sexual activity outside of marriage (and certainly same sex activity) is considered unacceptable, as are all forms of "artificial" contraception and abortion. The main NFP organizations in the US are the Couple to Couple League and the Billings Ovulation Method Association. Their websites can direct you to local teachers. Be aware that NFP teachers often have fairly rudimentary training and may not be able to advise you with respect to complex or health-related issues.

I will miss teaching like crazy, but I am also very excited about all the new developments in my life. I plan to keep updating the blog and the Facebook page, though probably not as often as I do now. As always, I invite you to keep in touch with me. Having a baby? I would love to hear about it! Moving? Send me your new coordinates! My coordinates, by the way, will probably remain the same. The email address will definitely stay the same, and I think the phone number will, too. If not, I'll let you know.

Enjoy the rest of the summer.

Two Good New Books About Your Down There

2011-06-26T21:30:00.001-04:00

You've heard this before: there are so few realistic images of women's bodies, and so many images of airbrushed, surgically-altered women, that most women have no idea what normal is, and often think that they are abnormal, unattractive, etc. Although the problem is pervasive when it comes to women's overall appearance, it's even more acute when we consider women's vulvas. Aside from images in pornography, many women have never seen another woman's external genitalia. And just as our breasts don't look like porn star breasts, our genitals don't look like porn star genitals.

A few women (and men) have taken matters into their own hands. I've written many times about Alexandra Jacoby's vulva portraitraiture project. Now there is a new book, out of Canada, which essentially tackles the same idea. By showing each other what we look like, we can come to understand that variety is normal, and beautiful. I'll Show You Mine consists of 120 portraits of 60 women, all in exactly the same 2 poses (frontal and with legs spread), along with text written by the women about their relationships with their vulvas. The women are fairly diverse, ranging in age from 19 to 60, with varied backgrounds and lifestyles. They comprise a range of ethnicities and sizes; there is even a trans woman. The book is beautifully produced, in an environmentally sound manner, and 10% of proceeds go to women's charities. And as with so many media products these days, there is a highly interactive website to accompany it. The book is mainly available in Canada. If you're in the US or elsewhere, you'll probably need to order it by mail from their website.

I've also been very impressed by a new book that deals in a straightforward, cogent way with a problem that many women have, but few women talk about. The book is called When Sex Hurts: A Woman's Guide to Banishing Sexual Pain. Although there are many causes of genital pain in women, we generally divide them into two broad categories. Vulvodynia means "pain in the vulva" and is considered a chronic pain condition, though the pain may be constant, intermittent, or primarily provoked by touch. Dyspareunia ("dis-pah-roo-nee-ah") refers to painful intercourse. Just as women tend not to discuss their feelings of shame or inadequacy around the appearance of their genitals, they rarely talk about their vulvar pain, even with their doctors, who can be dismissive and/or ignorant. The authors estimate that up to 40% of women with these pain conditions don't seek medical care, and those that do will often end up seeing many different practitioners before obtaining a diagnosis, if they receive one at all. The book is written by 2 doctors and a psychologist, and I found their approach to be smart, frank, understanding, and hopeful. Women with these pain conditions can become very depressed and disempowered. While this book will never hit the best-seller list, I hope that many women who need it will find it.

India's Girls Are Being Decimated

2011-05-31T21:53:00.003-04:00

Most people who use the word "decimate" do not understand its true meaning or origin. They use it to mean a wiping out, a massive defeat, or a natural disaster. The tornado decimated Joplin, Missouri. In reality, it means the slaughter of 1/10 of a population. Decimation was used as a form of military punishment for cowardice in Roman times, and occasionally thereafter. So there aren't too many instances in which one can correctly use this word. But the appalling truth is that it can accurately be applied to many parts of India, where one in ten female fetuses is now being selectively aborted.

You may be familiar with this phenomenon from China, where the one-child policy, along with a preference for males, has been a major contributing factor to a skewed birth ratio. In a normal human population, slightly more boys are born than girls, with ratios ranging from around 103 to 109 males born for every 100 females. This naturally leads to a roughly 1:1 ratio of adults. But in countries such as China and India, where sex-selective abortion and infanticide occur, this ratio can become extremely skewed. In 2005, the ratio in China was at 119 to 100, and in some parts it had reached the astonishing imbalance of 130 males to 100 females. It is estimated that some 24 million Chinese men will be unable to marry when they reach adulthood around 2020, because their potential brides were selectively aborted.

India has apparently learned nothing from China's example, and although education and income levels have been rising in India, so too has the problem of selective abortion. In fact, according to a new study, it appears that the phenomenon is actually directly linked to affluence and education: educated, well-off women are far more likely to obtain an ultrasound and abort a female fetus. Thus, the latest Indian census found a ratio of 914 girls for every 1000 boys, which is the most imbalanced since India gained independence in 1947. Girls in India are literally being decimated.

The total numbers are staggering: in the last 30 years, it is estimated that between 4 and 12 million Indian females have been selectively aborted. Of course, the practice of using ultrasound to determine the sex of a fetus in order to selectively abort is illegal in India, but until deeply held cultural beliefs are changed, the laws are essentially meaningless. So-called "honor killings" are also illegal in India, yet a 2010 study found that 1000 people per year were being murdered by their family members for bringing "disgrace" to their family.

Here are a couple of recent articles which discuss the phenomenon of sex-selective abortion in India, as well as a link to the original study from which these articles were drawn:
-As Wealth and Literacy Rise in India, Report Says, So Do Sex-Selective Abortions
-Earlier article on same topic, also from NY Times, with more social context
-Original study published in The Lancet

Note: An earlier version of this post contained a typo regarding the Indian birth statistic.

The Happenings, the Non-Happenings, and the Future of Fertility Awareness

2011-05-05T19:34:00.001-04:00

This post is late! Here's what's been happening, with backstory:

I am currently working with some wonderful, talented women who are on the path to becoming teachers of Fertility Awareness. I think an important part of the teacher-training process is being connected to, and learning from, other Fertility Awareness educators. So when my Israeli colleague Michal Schonbrun told me that she would be coming to NY for a couple of days in May, I asked her if she'd be willing to spend a few hours working with my students. She readily agreed, and somehow that idea grew into a two day event. One day was for teacher training, just for my students: Michal in the morning, and me in the afternoon. We also decided to create a public event. That event was to have centered around an introduction to Fertility Awareness (my presentation), and also was to have included presentations by two artists who do incredible work related to fertility and sexuality. The artists are Alexandra Jacoby, whose work I've mentioned & written about before, and Rebecca Morton (whose website is nearly complete, I'm happy to say).

So we poured a lot of time and energy into creating both these events, and my last blog post was to have been in late April, promoting the public one. But about a week beforehand, we decided to cancel the public event, due to poor ticket sales. We were all very disappointed, of course, but there came a point where we had to make a tough decision, and that's the one we made. I see again and again how people who know about Fertility Awareness tend to be quite passionate about it, but people who don't know about it tend to be indifferent. FA is a hard concept to get your mind around, since we're not used to thinking about fertility management, or body literacy. We think about birth control, until and unless we're ready to get pregnant. Then we think about pregnancy achievement. And we hardly ever think about empowerment around our sexuality or reproductive health care, unless something goes wrong. In short, we don't have a holistic approach to our bodies in general, and much less so when it comes to our fertility and sexuality. So, Fertility Awareness, which offers a comprehensive approach to fertility, sexuality, and reproductive health care, is off the radar for most of us. It just doesn't fit neatly into the boxes we're used to ticking off.

So we cancelled the public program, but proceeded with the teacher training day. And that was a big success! I look forward to introducing you to each of these women as they get closer to actually teaching. There are so few qualified, secular teachers of Fertility Awareness in the US. My colleagues and I are actively working to make sure that there are new, younger teachers to carry on this work in the future. It may never be "popular," but it's life-changing stuff, and we want to ensure that personalized, non-religious instruction will always be available to those who need it. Charting on your iPhone is convenient, of course, and I think keeping track of your data electronically is a great idea, especially as our devices become more entwined with our lives. But electronic charting will never eliminate the need for personal instruction. When your smartphone can discuss with you the relative benefits of progesterone supplementation vs. Traditional Chinese Medicine for luteal phase defect, or how to assess if you can have unprotected intercourse up to day 3, day 5, or using the formula S-21, or helps you negotiate when to start trying for pregnancy when your partner is on the fence, or does any of the myriad other things that only a human teacher can do for you, you let me know, and I will take a nice long holiday.

By the way, in anticipation of the public event, I finally got the Facebook page for the Fertility Awareness Center up and running. It's been pretty active thus far. In fact, I think eventually it might supercede this blog. So if you're on Facebook, please "like" us. You'll be rewarded with more frequent postings, news of events, links to like-minded orgs, and photos. And of course you'll be part of a community of other FA devotees.

Orgasm, Inc. Also Heads Up re Upcoming Event.

2011-04-02T19:37:00.000-04:00

Have you seen Orgasm Inc. yet? It's still playing around the US and Canada, and of course it's available on Netflix. This funny, insightful documentary is about the medicalization of female sexuality, and the enormous profits to be made at the expense of women's health. Filmmaker Liz Canner centers her film on the race to develop and market a drug to treat something which is essentially a made-up disease, "Female Sexual Dysfunction," and explores the range of what one reviewer called "the commodification of women's pleasure centers," including the relatively new and extremely lucrative field of vaginoplasty. (Grrrr...) You can read more about the film and find a list of "playdates" here.

Unrelated but important heads up!
The Fertility Awareness Center will be having a public event on Sunday, 5/1, in the afternoon, in Brooklyn. There will be an intro to Fertility Awareness (for those who are interested in, but not yet practicing FA), and presentations by two artists whose work is sure to provoke conversation. More information coming soon. Tell your friends! Save the date!

Two Drug Warnings for Pregnant or TTC Women

2011-03-12T18:45:00.000-05:00

Wanted to let you know about a couple of drugs which pose significant risks to women and their fetuses.

Terbutaline is an asthma drug, available in oral and injectable form. For many years, it has been used "off-label" to prevent or delay pre-term labor, a use for which it was never approved. Despite evidence that the injectable drug doesn't have any benefit after being given for 3 days, and that the oral form of the drug doesn't work at all for this use, some women are still being given the drug in ways which simply don't work, and suffering cardiovascular events as a result. At least 16 pregnant women are thought to have died from the unapproved use of Terbutaline. The FDA has finally stepped up to the plate and now requires Terbutaline to carry a "black box warning" in order to prevent further deaths and injuries.

Here are the new guidelines and warnings re Terbutaline.

Topiramate (brand name Topamax) is a drug used for treatment of epilepsy and prevention of migraines. It is also used off-label for treatment of bipolar disorder. The FDA recently reclassified it as a Pregnancy Category D drug, meaning that it has been demonstrated to pose a risk to fetuses, but that in some cases the benefits to the pregnant woman may outweigh the risks to her child. The FDA took this action after evidence that Topiramate significantly increased the risk of a child being born with an oral cleft (cleft lip or cleft palate).

Here is some info from the FDA re the new risk assessment of Topiramate in pregnancy.

Ina May Gaskin teaching & discussing new book, Birth Matters, in US & Canada. Free event in Brooklyn!

2011-02-25T14:37:00.000-05:00

Ina May Gaskin has a new book out and will be making some appearances, and teaching, in NY and elsewhere in the next few months. Ina will be discussing and signing copies of her new book, Birth Matters. She will also be giving a couple of workshops. Some of the events, including the one in Brooklyn, are free. This is an amazing opportunity to hear from one of the pioneers in midwifery live and in person. You can find a list of her upcoming events on the Seven Stories Press website. Here is info about the event in Brooklyn:

Sunday, March 6, 5PM
WORD presents Ina May Gaskin

Warsaw, at the Polish National Home

261 Driggs Ave, Greenpoint/Williamsburg Brooklyn
L train to Bedford Ave; G to Nassau Ave

And here is some info from the publisher about Ina's new book: "Birth Matters: A Midwife's Manifesta (Seven Stories Press; April 2011) explains why birth is an issue that concerns us ALL. With one in three babies born via cesarean, the US ranks behind thirty other nations in neonatal mortality rates, and forty other nations in maternal mortality rates. Amnesty International recently released a damning report titled “Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA,” which outlined various failures in the way the US health care system treats pregnancy and birth. Confidence in women’s bodies and women’s choices has been lost. Birth Matters is a spirited manifesta showing us how to trust women, value birth, nurture families, and reconcile modern life with a process as old as our species."

Men: When Trying to Conceive, Don't Ride Bike to Supermarket to Buy Canned Food

2011-02-05T17:35:00.002-05:00

Couple of recent studies re things that are bad for male fertility. One, easy to avoid. One, not so much.

In the "You actually got money for this research?" department, we have a study which showed that men who bicycle for at least 5 hours a week have lower sperm counts and poorer sperm motility than men who don't. Here's the original study abstract, for those who like to see the numbers.

And in the more insidious news department, we have yet another study showing that BPA, which the FDA refuses to ban, causes endocrine disruption. This study, the third of three examining the effect of BPA on male sexual function and fertility, showed a reduction in semen quality in men with higher levels of BPA in their urine. BPA is found everywhere, from food packaging to sales receipts to dental sealants. And, increasingly, in our bodies.

Sperm scene from "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex."

Are We Confused Yet?

2011-01-16T14:31:00.002-05:00

If you're confused about how to take care of yourself (and your children), I don't blame you. The public health community seems to change their opinion every 5 minutes, about everything from mammograms to optimal vitamin D levels. And now, they can't seem to agree about how long mothers should exclusively breastfeed. Mind you, no one is talking about whether or not "breast is best." That hasn't changed. What is up for debate, however, is when solid foods should be introduced.

In 2001, the World Health Organization (WHO) established a guideline, advocating 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding in both industrialized as well as developing nations. This guideline continues to be borne out by research. For example, in early 2010, a study was published in the journal Pediatrics which showed that exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months was healthier than to 4 months, in terms of reducing infectious diseases. But now a group of scientists, publishing in the British Medical Journal, are saying that health issues that were not taken into account at the time of the WHO's guidelines need to be considered, and that in fact exclusive breastfeeding past the age of 4 months is more detrimental than beneficial. Harmful effects include an increased risk of celiac disease, as well as iron deficiency.

I'm guessing that this is going to stir up some controversy.

New Year's Resolution: Have Good Conversations

2010-12-26T15:16:00.000-05:00

I recently told a friend about a salon I'd attended, and he said, "Salon? Like a hair salon?" No, my dear young readers. A salon, in the centuries old sense of the word, meaning a gathering, an event, a place to be entertained and to learn (to quote Wikipedia) "under the roof of an inspiring host." My friend Alexandra is the very definition of an inspiring host, and she has recently revived her Sunday afternoon salon series, which is part of her larger "vagina verité" project. (She does not like to use capital letters in that phrase, but I forgive her.) If you are in the New York area, I highly recommend that you treat yourself in the coming year to some great conversation, and some provocative art, and go. Here are the details, from Alexandra's content-rich website.

The topic of the December salon will also be the topic of the January salon, "v-anatomy 101." It wasn't a lecture on anatomy & physiology, however. Yes, we looked at some videos and books about the anatomy & physiology of the vulvovaginal area, but mostly we talked about stuff: sex (of course), vulvovaginal health, first experience with tampons, where we go for information, how much information we want, and at what age - that sort of thing. We also looked at the "v-portraits," which are now one step closer to being in book format, and one happy participant colored in Tee Corinne's famous coloring book.

If you're not in NY, well, you can still sign up for Alexandra's mailing list, and why don't you think about starting up your own salon series? I co-facilitated one for nearly two years and it was a blast. Be the antidote to Facebook in your community. Stop communicating in 140 characters or fewer.

I want to wish everyone a very happy and healthy new year. Take care of yourselves, and make the world a better place.

Yet Another Disappointing Media Experience

2010-12-12T17:11:00.001-05:00

FAM just cannot get a media break. About 6 weeks ago, I posted a call for interviewees for an article being written for New York Magazine. I had been interviewed and had spent a fair amount of time talking to and emailing the author (who was gracious and professional with me - no complaints there). Alas, the article came out, and I found it be tremendously disappointing, particularly in light of the fact that it was a very long article, the cover story of New York Magazine, which could have had some impact, had it been focused differently. If you missed the article, you can read it here:
http://nymag.com/news/features/69789/

The article does present a reasonably accurate description of how Fertility Awareness works. So what's my problem?
-The premise is thin and faintly ridiculous, not to mention alarmist: that the Pill "creates" a type of infertility, by causing women to postpone having children, as if women are unaware that having children at an older age is more difficult.
-It completely trivializes the health risks and side effects of hormonal contraception. (It's as safe as taking a vitamin!)
-The author refers to Fertility Awareness as a more sophisticated version of the Rhythm Method. Which is sort of like saying that a car is a more sophisticated version of a bicycle.
-The contextualization of Fertility Awareness is completely off-base. The article doesn't discuss FA for contraception, and only a bit as a tool for health, but primarily as the largest factor in a "cult market" [which] has cropped up catering to women in the process of rediscovering their bodies when they go off the Pill."
-One final choice quote: "You're not going to find anyone, male or female, who isn't a little grossed out by the words egg-white cervical fluid, but it's just basic biology."

Women, are you "grossed out" by the normal, healthy functioning of your body? Does talking about the evidence of your juicy fertility, which may be accompanied by feelings of sexiness, not to mention a little awe at the power you hold within you, disgust you? If you have a male partner, does he run and hide if you tell him about the clear, slippery fluid at your labia? I didn't think so.

World AIDS Day - December 1st, 2010 - Universal Access

2010-11-29T18:55:00.002-05:00

December 1, 2010 is the 13th annual commemoration of World AIDS Day. This year, for a change, there is actually some good news! A drug in use for treatment of HIV/AIDS since 2004, Truvada, has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of contracting HIV when taking preventatively. We're talking VERY significantly. When taken daily, it was more than 90% effective. Now of course the study only included gay men, but scientists are hopeful that it will prove equally effective in other populations at risk, such as women, intravenous drug users, etc. (And the company hasn't even announced if they will apply for approval from the FDA - at this point this is just very promising research.)

This discovery comes on the heels of another advance, this past summer, when a vaginal microbicide, long sought after as a realistic way for women to protect themselves against heterosexual transmission of HIV, finally proved effective, after many years of failure with other drugs. (The vaginal microbicide was 54% effective amongst women who used it regularly, and the testing process is proceeding slowly due to funding issues.)

So it would seem that we are making some real advances, at least on the pharmaceutical front. But drugs for prevention and treatment are absolutely useless if they do not reach the people who need them. Most of the people who get HIV/AIDS these days are not people of means, people with access to health care, people who are empowered around their sexuality. They are poor people, especially poor women, living in poor countries. They are children, who are not born in settings where mother to child transmission can be prevented. They are prisoners, and drug users who cannot get the means they need to protect themselves (condoms, clean needles). Which is why the theme of this year's World AIDS Day is Universal Access.

The key to ending the global health crisis of AIDS is access to prevention, treatment, and care. (I would include in this concept access to education and decent birthing conditions.) Only about 5 million of the 33 million people with AIDS actually receive anti-retrovirals. Every year 3 million children contract HIV, and another 330,000 children die from it. AIDS isn't the problem here. Lack of access is the problem. Just as malaria isn't really a problem - lack of bed nets and medication is the problem. And how many American or Canadian children do you know who die of diarrhea? The solutions are in our grasp.

Here is an interesting article from the NY Times about why exactly it took so long for researchers to figure out that this drug (actually a combination of drugs), which has been around for years, would be effective in a preventative way, and not just as a treatment.

An AIDS Advance, Hiding in the Open

For you science-loving people, here is the original study about the Truvada trial, from the New England Journal of Medicine.

And for World AIDS Day, here's a nice little video from the folks at the great UK AIDS/HIV organization Avert.

Long-term Hormone Replacement Therapy Doubles Risk of Dying from Breast Cancer

2010-11-14T13:52:00.001-05:00

From the top:

-Back in the day (from sometime in the '30's, up until about 2002), many women used what is called Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). HRT has consisted of either estrogen alone, or estrogen in combination with progestin. Although they entail different health risks, for the purposes of this brief background I will consider them together. HRT was primarily used to alleviate discomfort during and after menopause (hot flashes, insomnia, vaginal dryness, etc). However, thanks to aggressive and deceptive marketing by the pharmaceutical industry, it was also widely thought to prevent heart disease, osteoporosis, dementia, and in general to be an elixir of youth. Many, many women took it, often for many, many years.

-In 2002, the results of a very large (16,000 women) long term (5 year) study, known as the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), were released. The results were so dramatic, the study was halted before completion, and the women in the study taking HRT were told to stop, because their health was at risk. The study had found that the women were actually at increased risk of breast cancer, blood clot, stroke, and, later analysis showed, dementia.

-Use of HRT fell off dramatically. Although so far it is only an epidemiological link, breast cancer rates have also dropped significantly during the same period.

-Data from WHI are still being studied. The point of today's post is to draw your attention to a new study, just published in JAMA, which shows that not only does long-term use of HRT increase the risk of getting breast cancer, the women who get it are actually twice as likely to die from it, due to poorer detection by mammography, more positive lymph nodes, and larger tumors. A previous study had showed a similar increased mortality rate from lung cancer.

-I don't think the pharmaceutical industry will ever be held accountable for the damage they've done with HRT, for the lives that have been lost. Of course the American public bought into it, by accepting menopause as a pathology. Hopefully we have learned some important lessons, which cannot bring back our loved ones, or help those now dealing with the consequences, but which we can use going forward. Menopause is not a disease. But as long as we (in the US) have a for-profit medical industry, with the pharmaceutical industry consistently ranking as the most profitable industry in the nation, and a political system in which legislation can essentially be bought and sold, the HRT incident will not be the last of its kind. It certainly wasn't the first: didn't we learn anything from thalidomide, or DES, and isn't baby formula still being sold and aggressively marketed to women in the developing world, as well as here in the US?

-Standing for women, against the forces of big pharma and medical device manufacturers, is the National Women's Health Network. Since 1975, they've not only advocated for us in Washington, they also get information out to the public in readily available, understandable form. Subscribe to their newsletter, and, if you can, send them some financial love.

For some additional reading about HRT and WHI, check out these links.

Long-term HRT doubles risk of dying from breast cancer

History of HRT and how WHI broke the truth

HRT and dementia

Oh, by the way, the estrogen in the most popular forms of HRT (Prempro, Premarin) comes from the urine of pregnant horses. Get it? Pregnant Mare Urine. Here's a little video about it, narrated by Mary Tyler Moore:

Are You Using FAM To Try To Conceive?

2010-11-01T11:39:00.001-04:00

A reporter from New York Magazine is seeking interview subjects for an upcoming article. She would like to speak with women who are using Fertility Awareness to achieve pregnancy. Your comments can be anonymous, if you prefer. Click on her name to send her an email:

Vanessa Grigoriadis

I will let you know when the article eventually appears, and of course what I think of it!

Love Your Body Day is 10/20/10: How Are You Going to Celebrate?

2010-10-17T01:10:00.000-04:00

I know, my last post was about Adoption Awareness Month. And I promise, not every post from now on is going to be about a particular month or day. But I couldn't let Love Your Body Day go without notice. It was launched by the National Organization for Women in 1997. And I would love to tell you that things have changed since then. That women of all different shapes, sizes, colors, and ages now grace the covers of our magazines and find roles in theater and film. That breast implants and labiaplasties were no longer being done. That eating disorders were a thing of the past. That dark women were no longer using dangerous chemicals to lighten their skin. That women with "bad" hair were not straightening it. That baby girls born with big clitorises were not having them surgically "corrected." That women were not shaving, waxing, and otherwise depilating their vulvas so that they more resemble prepubescent girls than adult women. That advertising did not use women's bodies to sell anything and everything, often in demeaning and objectifying ways. That younger and younger girls were not being sexualized in the entertainment and fashion industries. And that media was not constantly presenting completely fake and unattainable images of thinness and beauty with a zeal reminiscent of China's (past) fondness for tiny feet.

Well, maybe next year. In the meantime, are you going to celebrate on Wednesday? How? Here are some ideas to get you started:

-NOW's Love Your Body Day website has some info and ideas, including ways to use social media to spread the word. There is a downloadable slide show there which is perfect for teens. And there's a wonderful selection of posters which you can send as e-cards.

-Have you seen the section of my website entitled "Loving Your Body?" Now might be a good time to check it out!

-Watch a movie, preferably with a friend or two. Here are some good ones:
America The Beautiful
Beauty Mark
Naked on the Inside

-Practice social media activism. Some sex educators in New Mexico made a good video called "You Don't Need Labiaplasty.*" They posted it to their webpage on Facebook. The video contains photos of actual women's vulvas (courtesy of Betty Dodson), to illustrate the beautiful, natural variety of women's genitalia. Facebook decided that it wasn't appropriate, and took their page down. Go ahead - try to post the video to your FB page. Or create a new profile, and post it there, if you don't want to risk your own page. Or link to it. Or link to the article about the censorship of this page. Or create a group on Facebook called, I don't know, how about "Normal healthy genitalia is not porn"or "The real outrage is labiaplasty." Make some noise!

-Send a kid a positive message. I don't envy parents these days, who have to combat a non-stop barrage of twisted media messaging. Here's a great blog post about the difficulty of that conversation, and the importance of having it, again and again.

-Turn someone on to Fertility Awareness. One place to start might be a radio interview I did with Barbara Glickstein a week before Love Your Body Day back in 2008, on Healthstyles (WBAI). This is an hour long interview/discussion that would be a good intro for anyone not familiar with Fertility Awareness. And at the top of the show is a list of 10 ways to celebrate Love Your Body Day.

Now make your own list. And please share it here. I'd love to hear your ideas for how we can love our own bodies, teach our children to love theirs, and fight the incessant stream of hatred & lies that comes from the media.

*I love everything about this video except that all the vulvas shown are in some way denuded of hair, either entirely or partially. Kind of undercuts the message, don'tcha think?

A Dove ad that I love

2008 Love Your Body Poster by Shanti Rittgers

Adoption and Identity

2010-10-02T22:56:00.001-04:00

November is Adoption Awareness Month, and although we're barely into October, I want to draw your attention to some wonderful films, that you can watch online, for free, for a limited time. (Of course you can also perform the radical, art-supporting act of actually buying them, on the website where they are now streaming.)

POV (Point of View) is an amazing documentary series that airs every year on PBS. Their online presence has grown increasingly strong in recent years, and now they offer many of the documentaries they've aired on TV, in their entirety, as well as lots of supplemental material such as background info on the issues and extra video footage. Currently they are featuring what they call "Adoption Stories." The centerpiece consists of three films. All the films feature trans-racial adoptions, i.e. adoptions in which the race/ethnic background of the child differs from that of the parent(s). Thus the question of identity is central to each of these films.

In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee will be available until 10/15. It tells the story of a woman who was adopted as an 8 year old child from Korea, by American parents, and whose identity was switched, at the time of her adoption, with that of another girl.

Wo An Ni (I Love You) Mommy will be available until 11/30. Its subjects are Fang Sui Yong, an 8 year old from China, and the Sadowskys, her Jewish American adoptive family.

Off and Running will be available until 12/7. It concerns a black teenage girl named Avery, who has grown up in a family with two Jewish lesbian moms, an older black/Puerto Rican brother, and a younger, Korean brother. She is coming of age and struggling with her identity. The film captures a particularly poignant and difficult phase in her life, and briefly but succinctly captures the perspectives of her adoptive family members.

In addition to the films themselves, there is a wealth of material on the POV website, which can be found on the left side of the page that each film is on, under "Explore." Poke around the website a bit more and you will find additional features such as the "Tell Us About Your Family" video contest, Facts About Adoption, and the blog section where you can read some (moderated) viewer responses to the films.

I also want to tell you about a couple of adoption-related blogs I've run across recently, both of which seem to emanate from the same person, a gifted, thoughtful writer. One is called "This Woman's Work," and encompasses a number of topics, including open, transracial adoption. (Click on categories on right side of the blog to find posts re adoption, parenting, infertility, etc.) The other is "Open Adoption Support" which is actually a community blog with membership (any one can read, but you must be a member to post).

I hope you'll be able to find some time to watch at least one of these interesting films. Feel free to post your thoughts here. I watched "Off and Running" recently and I thought it was fascinating, and moving, and raised all kinds of interesting questions about identity and race. At one point Avery tells her birth mother that she's not sure who she is. And her birth mother responds, "You are the person your (adoptive) parents raised you to be." The questions that Avery, and perhaps every adopted child seeks to answer, are along these lines: "Am I more than that? Is there some part of my identity that is intrinsic to me, that I have inherited, that is distinct from this family in which I now live?" If the child has been cross-culturally/trans-racially adopted, those questions loom even larger.

Avery and her family

Getting Started with Fertility Awareness - East Coast & West Coast Events

2010-09-19T15:34:00.001-04:00

I'm happy to share with you two upcoming events that are for people who are not already practicing Fertility Awareness. One of the events, in NYC, is an introduction (vs. a complete workshop), so that people can learn more about Fertility Awareness and decide if it is something that they would like to pursue in more depth. The other event, in San Francisco, is a complete workshop. If you have friends or family members who have expressed interest in Fertility Awareness, these events are great opportunities to get them started.

New York City:
The Traditional Nutrition Guild Parents' Group presents "Fertility Awareness for Natural Birth Control: An Introduction and Panel Discussion." Of course the discussion will touch on all aspects of Fertility Awareness, not just birth control. Attendees should be aware that the presenting organization is affiliated with the Weston A. Price Foundation, which strongly supports Fertility Awareness, but which is a separate practice. Discounted copies of The Garden Of Fertility will be available for purchase. Please try to purchase tickets in advance!
9/26/10, Kula Yoga (28 Warren Street, 4th floor), Tribeca Parenting (46 Warren Street),
2:00PM -5:00PM, $30-$60 ticket range.
Tickets and full information, including contact info, here:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/126204

San Francisco:
My West Coast colleague Sarah Bly is planning to teach a workshop in SF, with the help of local organizer Vanessa Alabarces. The 6 hour workshop will provide all the basic instruction necessary to get started with practicing Fertility Awareness. A followup session, which is critical for effective practice of the method, is included in the cost of instruction.
10/23 & 10/24, 9AM to 1PM
Individual $110, Couple $130
For more info & to sign up:
www.graceofthemoon.com
sarah@graceofthemoon.com
541.821.2522 (Sarah, PST)
415.483.6202 (Vanessa, PST)

I'm always thrilled to get feedback about these events, so please let me know if you or a friend attends one.

Good Article On Miscarriage

2010-09-07T13:52:00.000-04:00

This sensitively written piece from the British paper The Guardian touches on a lot of important points, including how miscarriage is extremely common, but hardly ever discussed, and the important differences between "sporadic" and "recurrent" miscarriages. I tell my students that miscarriage happens all the time in perfectly healthy, fertile women - perhaps in up to 50% of all conceptions - and that they, as charters, will be more likely to notice early miscarriages than people who aren't as aware of their cycles. Most importantly, I tell them that miscarriages, while horribly difficult to bear, usually mean nothing in terms of a woman's overall fertility. Only a very small percentage of women will have repeated miscarriages. If you have had a miscarriage, or more than one, I encourage you to talk about it and to get support if you want it. Your friends, your family, perhaps even your partner may not understand your feelings, and may be uncomfortable with the topic, but the more we talk about it, the less taboo this topic will become.

Miscarriage: A Mother's Last Taboo

"So For God's Sake, Please Breastfeed"

2010-08-22T15:47:00.002-04:00

That quote comes to us courtesy of one of three (male) researchers at the University of California, whose research on breastmilk has recently led to a fascinating discovery. Up to 21% of breastmilk consists of complex sugars which cannot be digested by babies. Scientists had no idea what these sugars were doing in there. As anyone who as ever assembled a piece of Ikea furniture knows, just because you can't figure out where it goes, doesn't mean it doesn't have a purpose. It turns out that these sugars are not meant for the baby, at least not directly. Rather, they are for helpful bacteria (which I'll shorthand as bifido), which take up residence in the baby's gut, and protect it from harmful bacteria. The sugars both feed the bifido bacteria, and also serve as "decoys" for harmful bacteria and viruses. In short, the indigestible component of breastmilk turns out to be vitally important to the infant's immune system. Hence the hortatory exclamation from the researcher, which, you must admit, is rather uncharacteristic of a scientist.

NY Times article re immune function of indigestible sugars in breastmilk

Now, it's all well and good to urge women to breastfeed, but to mandate it by law, that's another matter. That's apparently what the government in Indonesia is trying to do. Under a law passed in 2009, which is set to go into effect in October of this year, mothers who fail to provide 6 months of exclusive breastmilk for their infants face up to 1 year in prison, or a $15,000 fine (unless medical conditions which preclude breastfeeding are shown to exist). Other people, such as employers who prevent breastfeeding, will also be subject to punishment. I wonder if next year they'll tell people how many children they can have.

Indonesian breastfeeding law

bifidum longum

Ilene Now Teaching At Om Wellness

2010-08-14T23:50:00.003-04:00

OmWellness is a new-ish facility on the west side of Manhattan offering a variety of health and wellness services. Foremost amongst these services is an intensive Holistic Nutrition Training Program. The directors, Tatiana Forera Puerta and Adam Elenbaas, are multi-talented, smart, enthusiastic people with whom I have been happy to work since the beginning of this year.

As per their website, the training program is ideal for individuals who are interested in deepening their connection to food and nutrition while simultaneously studying a variety of holistic health modalities. Classes are held at their facility and include lectures, workshops, hands-on experiments, group and individual work. The primary topic is food theory and practice, including Ayurveda, macrobiotics, raw foods, veganism, whole foods, and food politics. And of course they consider the role of diet and lifestyle in sickness and disease prevention/treatment. Students enjoy small class sizes, lively discussions, unlimited yoga for the duration of the program, one-on-one health counseling, informative seminars, meditation, and hands-on work with doctors, chefs, and alternative health practitioners. Both weeknight and weekend programs are available. Graduates receive certification from both OmWellness as well as the American Association for Drugless Practitioners.

Tatiana is passionate about Fertility Awareness, and wanted to make sure that her students were exposed to it as part of their training. Thus I was invited to teach there. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to reach future health care providers, and to provide the link to fertility & reproductive health that is so often missed when people embark on a more "natural" lifestyle.

If you are interested in participating in a training program at OmWellness, note that the next programs are coming up soon (at the end of August). Although it's not on their website, I believe that you can get a $250 discount if you sign up by 8/20/10. Of course they also offer a variety of other services, including yoga, nutrition counseling, cooking lessons, etc, so check it out, especially if you live in NYC:

www.omwellness.org

Study Shows E. Coli in Urinary Tract Infections Comes From Meat

2010-08-01T19:27:00.003-04:00

We already knew that the majority of urinary tract infections (UTI's) come from E. coli. A common scenario is this: you have E. coli in your digestive tract, it comes out via your anus, you have sex (or you wipe from back to front), and the E. coli gets into your urethra, where it causes problems. Now a researcher has shown that the strains of E. coli which are causing the infections are precisely those that are found in the local meat supply (and more specifically tied to chicken). Reaction to the study has been pretty uniform. As the lead researcher of the team, Amee Manges, puts it, we should "follow hygienic practices in the kitchen, prevent cross-contamination between raw meat and other foods, and cook meat thoroughly." Good advice, but I have a better idea. How about we stop raising animals in factory farms, where they end up being coated in feces, eating feces, eating the bodies of other animals, and being slaughtered in conditions which are impossible to keep free of pathogens?

Study re E. Coli in meat and UTI's

Factory Farmed Chickens

PS: You may have noticed that we have a new look for the blog. I was trying to figure out how to get the Sheri Winston video, in my last post, to fit properly, and along the way I decided to try a new format. It matches our website more closely, and gives the blog entries a bit more room to stretch out. I also added the "share this" feature, which I personally love and use a lot. I wasn't able to fix the video problem, but I hope you like the new format. Now share some blog posts!

Sheri Winston and the Three Breath Orgasm

2010-07-19T11:38:00.009-04:00

I've known about holistic sexuality educator Sheri Winston for many years, but I'd never actually visited her website. Until recently, when I was working on links for my own website. I like that she contextualizes her work as sexuality *education.* Fertility Awareness and sexuality education go hand in hand. It's all about empowerment, baby. People have told me how much they enjoyed studying with Sheri Winston. I can see why. Her approach is contagiously positive, and while she's spiritual, she's also down to earth. And she's a fabulous example of how a big woman can be really, really sexy.
Intimate Arts Center

Here's a great video from her site.

(Note to blog subscribers: If this video is not appearing in your email, please click on either of the headlines above this text, and you'll be taken to this blog entry, or go to Sheri's website and look on right for "Look Ma, No Hands!")

Couple of Item re Herpes

2010-07-05T13:16:00.001-04:00

Herpes has been in the news recently, as a new CDC study was published in March that caused a bit of a media stir. Two main findings emerged from this study:

-One is that approximately 1 in 6 Americans is "infected" with HSV2. "Infection" simply means that someone has been exposed to the virus. Many people with antibodies to either herpes virus (HSV1 or HSV2) do not have outbreaks and don't know that they are infected, although they can still transmit the virus to others.

-The second finding is that there is a major discrepancy in prevalence when one looks at gender and race. Women are twice as likely to be infected as men, and black women are three times as likely to be infected as white women.

As is so often the case, I wonder where the other races are in these findings.

Other things to note:
-This CDC study did not address HSV1 at all. HSV1 is the type of herpes that prefers to reside in the area of the mouth. It causes what we call cold sores. It is also very happy taking up residence around the genital area, although outbreaks in that area tend to be less severe, less frequent, and the virus is less likely to be shed from that area.
-These findings are largely the same as those from the last such study, from approximately 5 years ago.

Here is the original press release from the CDC:
CDC Study Re Herpes (HSV2)

The discrepancy in prevalence based on race was of course the part that caused some controversy, especially in the African-American press. Here is a piece in The Root which questions the statistical sampling, as well as the meaning of the findings:
Reply in the Root to CDC Study

In related news, the New York Times "Consults" blog has been running a series about herpes in recent months. Here is a link to the post about transmission, with links to related posts below the main piece:
"Giving Your Partner Herpes" in the NY Times

And here is the NY Times main guide to herpes:
Times Guide to Herpes

Herpes is as prevalent as it is because (a) it's a quiet virus - many carriers don't know they have it and (b) people don't know much about it, or how it's spread. Much of the ignorance is due to the stigma that is attached to herpes. This is stupid. With up to half of some American populations, and approximately 16% of the general population, infected with HSV2, it's beyond time to grow up and treat this virus as we do any other virus. The more you know about herpes, the better your chance of avoiding it, or of giving it to someone else.

My Talk at American College of Nurse Midwives Annual Meeting

2010-06-19T10:45:00.001-04:00

I'm recently back from a few humid days in DC, where I gave a presentation at the 55th American College of Nurse Midwives Annual Meeting. It was a very impressive gathering. About 1500 were expected to attend. There were 5 days packed with talks, workshops, exhibitions, lobbying, parties, etc. I was pleased to see that there was a special focus on international midwifery, and the role that midwives can play in improving maternal health in the developing world.

On Tuesday, 6/15, I gave a one hour educational presentation entitled "Introduction to Fertility Awareness: How a Proven Method of Natural Fertility Management Works and How it Can Benefit Your Patients." I didn't think many people would attend, because my session took place during Lobby Day, when the midwives took to Capitol Hill to meet with legislators about issues relating to the practice of midwifery both here and abroad. However, I was pleasantly surprised as the room became completely full, with about 100 people in attendance. This was the largest audience I've ever addressed, and my nervousness was increased by the fact that they were all midwives, and that I might not be telling them anything they didn't already know. But what I found was that, although almost all of them had some familiarity with Fertility Awareness, only one of them was actually teaching it, and most were only really familiar with FA for pregnancy achievement. They were very interested in the presentation and had a lot of practical questions at the end.

There was only one other presentation related to natural fertility management, and it was on The Creighton Method a.k.a. NaProTechnology, which is a type of Natural Family Planning (NFP). As you probably know, NFP has religious underpinnings. The presenters completely de-emphasized this, and spoke mostly in medical terms. It was there if you were looking for it, but I have a feeling that most in the audience really didn't understand the distinction (unless they had been at my talk the day before). Their stats on resolution of fertility issues were compelling, but they spoke only in positive terms and did not mention a single drawback to their methodology, or a reason why a woman or a couple might not want to use it. It seemed more like a sales pitch than a medical presentation. In my presentation I spoke specifically of the pros and cons that a woman contemplating Fertility Awareness should consider. No method is right for everyone, and good reproductive health care always seeks to expand the range of choices available to women, not dictate to them what they should or should not be doing.

As If It Weren't Hard Enough (Childbearing and Obesity)

2010-06-09T21:17:00.002-04:00

I overheard a woman with a toddler talking about this article on the subway, and she sounded horrified. I read it, and now I'm horrified. Your turn:

Growing Trend of Obesity Increases Risks of Pregnancy and Birth

Female Genital Mutilation Performed by US Doctors?

2010-05-29T19:16:00.001-04:00

On 4/26/10, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a statement which sent shockwaves around the world. A portion of the policy statement essentially sanctioned Type IV FGM, by suggesting that doctors be allowed to make a ritual pinprick or nick on a girl's clitoris, if it would prevent the girl's family from sending her to their home country where a more severe and dangerous type of FGM would be performed. This statement completely reversed the organization's 1998 statement, in which it condemned all forms of FGM and urged its members not to perform it, noting "its cultural implications for the status of women."

I understand that the intentions of the AAP were good. Dr. Friedman Ross, a member of the committee which drafted the statement explained their thinking this way: “If we just told parents, ‘No, this is wrong,’ our concern is they may take their daughters back to their home countries, where the procedure may be more extensive cutting and may even be done without anesthesia, with unsterilized knives or even glass,” she said. “A just-say-no policy may end up alienating these families, who are going to then find an alternative that will do more harm than good.” Dr. Ross said that the committee does “oppose all types of female genital cutting that impose risks or physical or psychological harm,” and consider the ritual nick “a last resort,” but that the nick is “supposed to be as benign as getting a girl’s ears pierced. It’s taking a pin and creating a drop of blood.”

But international reaction was strong and swift in opposition to the measure. It was viewed as a major concession, and the top of a very slippery slope. You can read an excellent piece by Equality Now's director, Taina Bien-Ami, here:
Huff Post: Do No Harm

A month after it issued the statement, the AAP had been persuaded to retract it, after hearing from the UN, the World Health Organization, Unicef, V-Day (Eve Ensler's organization), Equality Now, among many, many others. There are ways to fight FGM, in this country and abroad, but concession is not the way to go about it. Lawmakers are currently drafting more effective legislation, such as HR 5137, which would make it illegal to transport a minor girl living in the U.S. out of the country for the purpose of FGM. According to Equality Now, "the bill will hopefully also call for the launch of culturally sensitive outreach programs in FGM-practicing immigrant communities in the U.S. to educate parents about the lifelong harms of FGM."

The new AAP statement opposing all forms of FGM can be read here:
AAP Anti-FGM Statement

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

Reflections on the 50th Anniversary of the Pill

2010-05-11T21:56:00.001-04:00

There are lots of pieces like this in the media right now, so I'm not going to post a ton of links - just do a search if you're interested. But I sent one link to blog subscribers, and someone asked me to post it on the blog proper. So here is that one plus a couple more:

First, a link to a CNN feature in which various people (writers, commentators, politicians, etc) talk about the significance of the Pill. Note stupid, uninformed comment about Fertility Awareness by Sara Benincasa: CNN on Pill

Similar piece in Time Magazine: Time on Pill

Rather different piece on Alternet re Pill's effect on population and water supply: Alternet on Pill and water

And if you missed the piece that "Need to Know" did end up airing, which was exclusively about the Pill, you can either watch it during the "full episode" video, on this page, and/or you can watch an extended interview with Erica Jong ("The Pill, Then and Now"), only part of which aired during the show, also on this page. If you're watching the whole episode, the Pill segment starts just before 43 minutes: "Need to Know" on Pill

Enough about the damn Pill! Next post will definitely be about something else.

Nada. Zip. Zero.

2010-05-08T19:25:00.001-04:00

That's how much time "Need to Know" spent on Fertility Awareness in their premiere (see post directly below). Terrific. The media blackout continues. Happy 50th birthday, birth control pill.

They're Actually Going to Be Talking About Fertility Awareness on TV

2010-05-02T13:47:00.001-04:00

It's a very, very rare day when Fertility Awareness is discussed on national television. The last instance I can think of was in 2002, when Toni Weschler was on "The Today Show." But on Friday, May 7th, viewers will (I believe) be treated to a discussion of Fertility Awareness running approximately 8 minutes. It will take place during the premiere of a PBS show called "Need To Know." The subject of the show (or at least a chunk of it) will be the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill.

A while back I was contacted by a producer for the show who was looking for footage, and people to interview. I hooked her up with an interviewee, who as far as I know will be on the show, but alas they apparently decided not to use footage of me teaching. Oh well. I'm still extremely interested to see what they are going to say, not just about FA but about the history & consequences of the Pill.

The debut of "Need to Know" will doubtless be watched by a huge audience, as it is replacing the extremely popular, long-running "Bill Moyers Journal," and there are concerns that PBS is going soft, and less controversial, with the new show (and with the cancellation of "Now," which followed the "Journal"). There's been a fair amount of media buzz about the format and the choice of Jon Meacham as one of the hosts. So FA stands to get some major exposure with this broadcast. I only hope that the treatment is well-informed. It seems like every piece about FA contains gross inaccuracies or conflates FA with Natural Family Planning, which is typically steeped in Catholic values and should not be confused with secular Fertility Awareness. My sense from the producer was that she had a pretty good understanding of FA, and planned positive coverage, but often the best intentions are undercut (literally) by ignorant editing. Stay tuned.

You can see "Need to Know" on Friday, May 7th, at 8:30PM EST (check local PBS listings if you're not in NY area). The good news for people like me who don't have television is that it will also be available all week, after airing, on their website:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/

If you watch the show, I hope you'll post your thoughts here.

The Canary Died 20 Minutes Ago

2010-04-25T22:11:00.001-04:00

Do you know the expression "canary in a coal mine?" Miners used to use canaries to warn them when dangerous gases were building up in the mines. Canaries are sensitive to methane and carbon monoxide, and will die at lower levels than it would take to kill a human. If the canary stopped singing (i.e. if it died), it was time to get out of the coal mine, a.s.a.p.

Scientists have been saying for years that certain animals are starting to exhibit "intersex characteristics" in far greater numbers than should be found naturally. Intersex means that the animals exhibit characteristics of both male and female genders. In a common example, a male fish will be found with immature eggs in their testes. Intersex is thought to be caused by endocrine disruptors, chemicals which interfere with the hormonal system. Some species seem to be more vulnerable than others, and some locales seem to be more affected than others. A well-known problem area is the Potomac River, near Washington DC, where a recent survey found 80% of fish exhibiting intersex characteristics. 80%, people. In another study, all the fish, whether intersex or not, were found to be contaminated with at least one endocrine disruptor, of the type typically found in personal care products such as antimicrobial products and artificial fragrances.

Studies have been published, articles have been written, yet the flow of chemicals into our waterways (and our bodies) continues unabated. The Potomac Conservancy is trying to get people to pay attention. They've launched a campaign called FishMystery. You can sign a petition calling for more attention to and investment in this problem. You can read about ways to minimize your exposure to endocrine disruption. You can read studies and press releases. But they really shouldn't call it a mystery. It's incredibly obvious where the chemicals are coming from, and what the implications are going to be if we don't get the hell out of the mine.

FishMystery website

Article in The Guardian re intersex fish

A related post I wrote a year ago

New Group (NYC): Genital Herpes Is Not My Identity

2010-04-10T11:10:00.000-04:00

My friend/colleague Melissa King is starting up a new meetup group for women with HSV (Herpes Simplex Virus). Women whose partners have herpes are also welcome to participate. Info from the website:

"This is not just a process group for women in the New York City area to work through the challenges presented by genital herpes infection, it is also a space for women affected by herpes to get their mind off of the infection and connect with other women on the everyday issues that we all deal with - dating, relationships, dreams about the future, health, and career... In this group I am combining the work I do in my single women's groups with the work I do with women who have herpes. We will sort through the facts about herpes and you will have an opportunity to get updated and accurate information about herpes. We will discuss body image, relationships, social stigmas and how all of these things uniquely affect you.

But we won't stop there. Genital herpes is only one part of your life. I have been hosting women's groups for a number of years and all women deal with challenges to their self-esteem, frustrations and disappointments in the dating world, questions about their career path, and joy in their achievements. This group will offer a structured environment with weekly topics that will provide you an opportunity to discuss these issues, process and solve the problems related, and find inspiration and motivation to move forward. Most importantly, you will be able to connect and share with other women in a safe space where you can also discuss your concerns about genital herpes."

Melissa is a fabulous facilitator and a certified holistic health counselor who has many years of experience helping women discover what is important to them, what makes them happy, and how to create positive change in their lives.

The first meeting will take place this Wed, 4/14. Women who are interested in participating but cannot attend this meeting should contact Melissa so they can have some say in when the group will meet in future. Monthly participation fee will be $75, and your first meeting is free, regardless of whether it's this Wed or at a future date. Read all about it here:

http://www.meetup.com/Genital-Herpes-is-Not-My-Identity/

US Has Waaaaaay Too Many Caesarian Births

2010-03-27T19:09:00.002-04:00

One in three births in the US is currently a caesarian section (C-section). The World Health Organization suggests that the normal percentage of C-sections should be about half what we currently have, i.e. about 15%. (I should note that other countries have even higher rates. In Puerto Rico and China, nearly 50% of all births are by caesarian.) Here is an article from the New York Times about the US C-section rate and its implications:
US C-Section Rate Hits All Time High

Some C-sections are for primary deliveries (first birth), while others are C-sections following an earlier C-section. Fewer than 10% of women who have had a C-section in the US will go on to have a subsequent vaginal birth, or VBAC. VBAC, is considered risky, but so is a caesarian. The National Institute of Health recently held a conference devoted specifically to VBAC. You can read about the NIH conference here (with links to lots of data, reports, etc):
NIH VBAC Conference

The issues of primary caesarian and VBAC are separate, but of course related. They reflect an overall state of extremely poor maternal health care in the US. Amnesty International recently released a report with some shocking statistics about birth in the US:

"The USA spends more than any other country on health care, and more on maternal health than any other type of hospital care. Despite this, women in the USA have a higher risk of dying of pregnancy-related complications than those in 40 other countries. For example, the likelihood of a woman dying in childbirth in the USA is five times greater than in Greece, four times greater than in Germany, and three times greater than in Spain. African-American women are nearly four times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than white women. These rates and disparities have not improved in more than 20 years."

Here is a link to Amnesty International's report, along with suggestions for action you can take:
Amnesty Campaign for Maternal Health

Interestingly, although Native Americans generally lag behind other Americans in nearly every aspect of prosperity and health care, in terms of labor and delivery, their very lack of access to what is considered state-of-the-art medical care may be working in their favor. A recent NY Times article looked at births in Tuba City, Arizona, where most patients are Native Americans, and most births are attended by midwives. A number of factors contribute to the low C-section rate here (about 13.5%) and the high VBAC rate (about 32%). One is just patience; vaginal births take a lot longer, on average, than C-sections. Midwives don't mind waiting. Another is compensation: "Doctors and midwives here earn salaries and are not paid by the procedure, so they have no financial incentive to perform surgery." Native American cultural traditions also play a part. Make sure to check out the beautiful narrated slide show that accompanies this article:
Lessons at Tuba City Hospital, Run by Navajos, About Births

Black Women Breastfeeding: A Multi-Generational Story

2010-03-13T12:51:00.001-05:00

As in most measures of American healthcare, black women lag behind white women in breastfeeding. The reasons are of course complex, but are rooted in socio-economic disparity, lack of education, and lack of equal access to healthcare. This video explores the issue of breastfeeding in several generations of an African-American family (ok so it's a celebrity family - Carol Jenkins was a long-time TV news anchor and correspondent and her daughter is a writer). The video isn't edited particularly tightly and has the feel of a home movie, but perhaps it will inspire other women to have a conversation with their mothers, or daughters. And dig that chubby little baby!

Upcoming Events!

2010-03-06T21:30:00.001-05:00

I always feel a bit funny writing about events in NY, because I know that many of you don't live anywhere near here, but hopefully the associated links and websites will be of interest to my long-distance readers.

First, an event for the pregnant people in the audience, and those who hope to join them. Each month, Choices in Childbirth presents an evening of birth stories. From their website: "The evening features inspiring - not necessarily easy! - stories from three to four new parent storytellers and expert commentary from mother-friendly birth professionals. The stories tell of a range of births (stunningly short, impressively long, unexpectedly challenging, remarkably straightforward, twisty-turney, painless, orgasmic, painful, cesarean. VBAC, twins, etc.) and reflect a range of choices (home, birth center, hospital, midwife, Obstetrician, family practitioner, doula, family support, etc.)."

The next Birth Stories Evening is this coming Wednesday March 10, but the event is held monthly at various NYC locations. Here is the link for more info:
Birth Stories

If you're not in NY, check out the other resources on Choices in Childbirth's website, including their free guides to a healthy birth.
http://www.choicesinchildbirth.org

And on a completely different note, artist/musician/writer/activist Vanessa Boyd is launching a new website called ProgressiveErotica.com. To kick things off, she's teamed up with artist/activist Alexandra Jacoby, of vagina verite fame, to host an erotica writing salon on Sunday, April 25th, at 3PM. Here's how they're pitching it:

"A little food, a little wine, some heady Mid-town air... ladies only, come to an erotica writing workshop salon. Progressive Erotica is about challenging ourselves to create erotica that is based on equality and mutual respect, and still gets us off! All comfort and (non)experience levels welcome, pressure-free ~ participate at the level you want, whatever that is. This is part of a larger effort to create an online portal for erotic content and community discussion about our sexuality and our sensual journeys. ProgressiveErotica.com will showcase erotica that looks beyond domination, submission and use of power and authority over another person for personal gratification."

If you want to attend, send an email to Alexandra at leavethecastle dot com. No charge for admission, and I suspect that you'll be able to see some of the V-portraits while you're there. If you don't know what V-portraits are, go to vagina verite right now!
http://vaginaverite.com

Couple of Items re Overlooked Infertility Issues

2010-02-22T22:10:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of unrelated items about infertility issues that are often overlooked.

First, we have an article about a relatively common cause of infertility in women that many doctors don't recognize or test for. CAH, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, resembles the much more well-known condition known as PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). In both cases, the girl (or woman) has an excess of androgens (male hormones) which can cause a variety of symptoms that may range from mild to severe. The disease is easily treated, in both girls and women, once it is correctly diagnosed:
CAH, a Hormonal Culprit in Infertility, is Often Overlooked

And here is an older piece which I've been meaning to share with you for ages. In 2008, a French study was published in Reproductive BioMedicine Online which indicated that the role of the male's age may be more important than previously thought for both pregnancy achievement and healthy outcome. Here is a summary & analysis of that article from Time Magazine:
A Biological Clock for Dads, Too

Hospital Births May Finally Get It - You Needn't Starve and Be Thirsty During Labor

2010-01-31T15:42:00.001-05:00

The medical community may be reversing itself on a practice that came about after the rise of hospital births but which has long been unnecessary. Women who give birth in hospital are routinely denied food and water when in labor, and only allowed to suck on ice chips. The justification for this policy is that a woman might need to have an emergency c-section (perhaps 1-2% of current births) in which there wouldn't be time for regional anaesthesia, requiring the use of general anaesthesia, and in such cases there can be a rare but potentially fatal complication (which is why you have to fast before you have any surgery). But recent studies are showing no difference in outcome, which may lead to a reversal of this long standing policy that is based on birth and anaesthesia procedures dating back nearly 70 years. Some hospitals are (gasp) now permitting clear fluids for women in labor. The midwife/home birth community has long known that this restriction is ridiculous, and unnecessarily adds to a woman's discomfort and stress. Maybe in another year or so the world of hospital births will catch up and allow women to eat, and drink, or not, as they desire, during labor.

NY Times Article on Eating and Drinking During Labor
Original article (abstract)

Haiti's Women, After the Quake

2010-01-23T16:16:00.003-05:00

I've been trying to think about what to write here regarding Haiti. It's been so much on my mind, and probably on yours, but this is a blog about Fertility Awareness and related issues, and there didn't seem to be much link. But then today I was reading today about three Haitian leaders who died as a result of the earthquake, and I want to draw your attention to them. I do so because these women did so much for the women of Haiti, and also because (as you may know) I believe that Fertility Awareness should encompass women's issues that result from our biological status as women, such as rape, domestic violence, and female genital mutilation. And I suspect that many of you don't know about how women suffer in the wake of a disaster, in a different and more acute way than men often do.

The names of the women who died were Magalie Marcelin, Myriam Merlet, and Anne Marie Coriolan.

Haiti's troubles were innumerable even before the earthquake, and in countries (and societies) where poverty is as endemic as it is in Haiti, women often suffer the extra burden of violence and sexual exploitation. A recent study by Kay Fanm, a women's rights organizations founded by Magalie Marcelin, found that 72% of women surveyed had been raped, and at least 40% had suffered domestic abuse. Spousal rape is not recognized as a crime in Haiti. Sexual harassment is not specifically outlawed. There are 523 maternal deaths per 100,000 births (vs. 12 in the US). This situation is only likely to worsen as a result of the quake. It's well known that women are at greater risk after major disasters. Rape and domestic violence become more common, women may not be able to gain access to emergency food aid, human/sexual trafficking may increase, and women's maternal health care needs go unmet.

This piece in the Huffington post by Taina Bien-Aime, the director of Equality Now, discusses both the remarkable women who died, as well as the precarious situation of women following this disaster:
"Haiti's Women in the Aftermath of Disaster"

You can read more about these women in this piece by Jessica Ravitz, for CNN:
"Women's Movement Mourns Death of 3 Haitian Leaders"

Here is an elegy to Myriam Merlet on the V-Day website. Myriam approached Eve Ensler in 2001, as she wanted to bring V-Day to Haiti. Together, they established a safe house for women in Port-au-Prince.
V-Day Mourns Myriam Merlet

The Haitian recovery will be going on for years. Even if you have already donated, I hope that you will consider donating, either now or in the future, to some of the organizations that will continue to fight for the rights and safety of Haitian women. Some of them are listed below. There is a Haitian saying, "When the women dish out the food, everyone eats." Help fill the pots of Haitian women so that all Haitians can be fed.

Dwa Fanm

Kay Fanm

V-Day Haiti Sorority Safe House

Fonkoze

Madre (Madre also has a piece about how women are uniquely vulnerable after disasters, and how their model of relief puts women front & center, which you can read HERE, and there is also a nice piece about the midwives and maternal health care practitioners they helped send to Haiti, to assist the 37,000 pregnant women estimated to be among the survivors of the quake. You can read that HERE.)

More re Kenya Experience

2010-01-12T16:40:00.002-05:00

As I indicated in my last post, the work I signed up to do in Kenya and the work I ended up doing turned out to be rather different. The title of the project was, and I quote, "Impact of harmful cultural practices - Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Early Marriages for the Girl Child." So you can imagine my surprise and disappointment when I got to the project site and learned that the project actually had nothing to do with that topic, and that the primary activity would be making bricks out of mud. Now mind you, brick-making is very important in Kenya. Nothing gets built until the bricks are made. The community group with which we were working, the Mowankwe Women Group, has a long-term goal of building a health clinic, as there is none nearby and most people go without any type of medical care except for major emergencies (and even then it's not always possible). Many women birth at home, unattended, and while I'm all in favor of home birth here, in rural Africa it often leads to very unfortunate outcomes, including mother to child transmission of HIV.

So brick making is an important activity, but not what I had signed up for, and definitely not one for which I'm particularly well-suited. (The fact that I had recently had surgery for a broken and dislocated thumb did not help matters.) But as several friends with development experience had told me before I left, when attempting to do any kind of development work in Africa, it is very important not to have fixed expectations, and to go where the flow takes you. That advice served me well. They wanted bricks; we would make bricks. We managed to make a few thousand of them, despite the daily rain. (It was the rainy season, arguably not the best time to make bricks out of mud.) It was unclear when we left whether the bricks would be sold, to raise income for the community, or whether they would be used to expand the one room building that currently serves as church, school, and community meeting place.

Mudmaking photos lifted from my friend Malcomb's Facebook page. Here you can see mudpit at rear, and Hitomi and Oska transferring bricks from mold onto ground.

In this photo I'm on the left. Mineshi (center) and I are trying to mix the mud that Oska is making, with

our legs. Way harder than a Stairmaster.

But I had done a ton of preparation regarding FGM, and here I was in Kuria, an area with an extremely high prevalence rate of FGM, so the Mowankwe group and I decided that I would give a presentation, during the last of our 3 weeks there. Mind you, this community has no electricity and no running water, so although I had been told that I would be able to show a dvd (Africa Rising), I was truly astonished when I saw that they had in fact procured a generator, a dvd player, and a tv. They even had a chalkboard and chalk. So with the help of 2 translators, I was able to give a presentation about FGM.

When one is a white person talking about FGM in Africa, one needs to be very cognizant of the complexity of the issue, including the history of it. Attempts to eradicate FGM have largely come from outside Africa, and from outside the cultures which practice it. A lot of resistance to change centers on this fact. I structured my talk in such a way that I left room for arguments in support of the practice. My intention was to have a discussion, not to give a lecture. I used the term Female Circumcision, rather than Female Genital Mutilation, so as to leave open as fully as possible the doors to dialogue. I was fully expecting to encounter the Cultural Imperialism argument. In the end, I encountered no resistance whatsoever. The women (and men) who attended my presentation expressed a pretty uniform opposition to FGM. I think this is because these women are activists within their community, working together to improve their own lives and those of their families. They are poor and in many cases of limited education, but they are engaged. Although most of them had themselves been circumcised, they seemed committed to not inflicting the same damage on their daughters. They lamented the lack of sexual desire/pleasure and were aware of the health risks. I realize that the people continuing the practice were not at the presentation, but it was heartening to see that the tide is in fact turning in Kenya, and to know that these women who are working to bring about change in their community are set against FGM. I hope that they will spread the message to their fellow villagers and lend them, especially the girls, the support they need to resist the tradition.

Btw, the video Africa Rising had been donated to me by the makers of the film, and I left it with the Mowankwe group. Thanks to EQUALITY NOW for the support.

Me, teaching.

Carol and Oska translating for me. They are laughing, despite the serious subject matter, because they are NOT used to saying these words out loud! And that of course made me laugh.

Watching the video Africa Rising.

On Female Circumcision (FGM) in Kenya/Tanzania

2009-12-22T23:26:00.001-05:00

As you may know, the project in which I was participating in Kenya was supposed to have had a focus on Female Genital Mutilation (called female circumcision in Kenya) and early marriage, i.e. the cultural practice wherein girls are married at very young ages to older men. As it turned out, the project had nothing to do with those practices. More on that later.

The area in which I was working is called Kuria, after the people who populate it. Kenya has dozens of different tribal identities, and Kuria people are found in the southwest of the country, in an area that spans the border with Tanzania. About 2/3 of Kuria people live in Tanzania, and about 1/3 live in Kenya. Although some Kenyan tribes don't practice female circumcision, among the Kuria it is a very strongly held cultural tradition. In that area of the country, the prevalence rate is believed to be over 90%. The good news is that the tradition seems to be slowly waning, and is not as common or accepted among the younger generation. I met many women who said that the practice stops with them; that they will not subject their daughters to it, although they themselves were circumcised. It is very easy to criticize the practice of FGM, especially if you do not understand the cultural context, and hard to understand how difficult it is for women and girls in these communities who counter tradition. Women and girls who resist FGM face enormous pressure and censure from their families and their communities. They may be shunned, or become victims of violence or other human rights abuses. Here is an ARTICLE about the cultural forces at work among the Kuria (here spelled Kurya) people in Tanzania, and how some women are resisting FGM, forced marriage, and other cultural traditions that violate their rights and their endanger their health.

In related news, the Ugandan Parliament officially OUTLAWED FGM on December 15th of this year. Mind you, FGM is illegal in many countries, including Kenya, yet still widely practiced. But having a law on the books, and stiff penalties, is of course an important step.

(links to articles are in caps)

I'm Back! Article in NY Times re Menopause and Drugs

2009-12-13T19:03:00.003-05:00

I got back from Kenya last week and I'm happy to say that things went very smoothly. And I didn't get sick! The project turned out to be rather different than I had anticipated, but I had been told by people who had done development work in Africa that I should not have fixed expectations, and that turned out to be very good advice. As I anticipated, there wasn't much internet access, so I was unable to post from there. I do of course want to tell you about the trip, and I will, but I haven't even uploaded photos to my computer yet. In fact I haven't finished unpacking yet! I just wanted to check in, and also draw your attention to an article in the New York times regarding the pharmaceutical "treatment" of menopause.

I'm not sure what prompted this article, as it's not linked to a specific topical event. Rather, it presents an overview of the pharmaceutical industry's cashing in on menopause, and how recently the tide has turned against the drug companies as women are winning big suits for damages caused by these drugs. Of course no amount of damages will bring back the tens of thousands of women who have died from endometrial and breast cancer as a result of these drugs, but it's good to see that the judicial system is holding the drug companies accountable. Ultimately, they will only listen to their bottom line. If women stop buying the drugs, and if the lawsuits make these drugs unprofitable, they will turn their attention elsewhere, and find some other condition to pathologize and exploit.

Like premature ejaculation. (The illustration alone is worth clicking on the link.) Good lord! I love the quote from Lenore Tiefer, my colleague from The New View Campaign: “Rapid ejaculation as opposed to slow ejaculation is common, but there is slow and fast everything in the world: slow and fast walkers, slow and fast eaters, slow and fast breathers,” said Dr. Tiefer, who is a psychologist specializing in sexual problems. “When you tell someone they are a fast ejaculator, it makes it sound like there is a right time to ejaculate and, if you ejaculate before, it’s a medical problem.”

Why You Won't Be Hearing From Me For A While

2009-10-24T21:56:00.014-04:00

I think most of the people who read this blog already know this, but for those of you who don't: I am super happy and excited to say that I will be soon be going to Kenya, to participate in a volunteer project. The project is being administered by the Kenya Voluntary Development Association, and the organization with which I signed up is called Volunteers for Peace. The project for which I originally signed up had a focus on "harmful cultural practices" affecting women, i.e. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriage. My project was merged with another one, and now the focus is broader, and includes work around HIV/AIDS, and work with children, as well as tree planting and brick making. There should be around 20 volunteers, from 6 different countries including Kenya. Conditions are going to be, well, basic. We need to bring our own eating utensils, sleeping bag, mosquito net, etc, and we will be cooking for each other. The project itself will last 3 weeks, and I plan to stay in Kenya for another week or so after that.

Since I will be away and without much internet access, and since there is a tremendous amount of preparation involved in a trip like this, I am currently on hiatus. I plan to be back to work on Monday, December 7th. (For details re whom to contact during my absence, see below.)

The organizers asked us to bring materials related to the project. Among other things, I will be bringing a few copies of Katie Singer's book(let), Honoring Our Cycles in Africa. From Katie's website: "The book describes what happens during a healthy menstrual cycle, how the traditional practice of Female Genital Cutting affects a woman's reproductive health, and what happens in the male reproductive system." It's a wonderful, simple book, and I only wish that I could bring more copies with me.

I will also be bringing a copy of a film that will soon be having its premiere in the US. It's called Africa Rising, and it focuses on the movement to end FGM in Africa, and the brave women (and men) leading the fight. Although headway is definitely being made, approximately 6000 girls still undergo FGM everyday, primarily in Africa. The people behind the film (see below) very generously sent me a copy. Despite the sadness of the topic, it's a beautiful, inspiring film. I hope you'll be able to see it when it opens in the US. See the website for screenings.

Still from Africa Rising

Africa Rising is brought to you by the amazing people at Equality Now. Their website and newsletters are decidely unglamorous, but they are at the forefront of the movement to stop FGM and other forms of violence against women. I encourage you to support their efforts with your time and/or your dollars.

You may know, or you may not, given the dearth of media coverage, that Kenya has been devastated by drought in recent months, and years. Semi-annual rains have just begun to fall, so I hope that, by the time I go, the situation will have been somewhat ameliorated. But that's not guaranteed, and regardless of how much rain comes, the impact of the last few years will be long-lasting, especially among nomadic communities. I don't know how the drought will affect my trip.

For most of my time away, I anticipate having very little internet access. (The community that I'm going to has no electricity.) So as of now until after my return, I am on hiatus. Two of my colleagues will be covering for me in my absence. Should you need assistance before I return, please get in touch with one of them:

Sarah Bly
graceofthemoon.com

(541) 821-2522

Lisa Leger

fertilityfairy at hotmail dot com

(250) 951-0243

Please note that both Sarah and Lisa are West Coast gals, on Pacific time. Lisa is in Canada and Sarah is in the US.

Thank you to those of you who have supported my trip with your donations of funds and goods. I look forward to sharing stories with you after I return.

Vulvagraphics

2009-09-28T23:03:00.008-04:00

Hey everyone. Today we present an announcement from the folks at The New View Campaign regarding an upcoming event that looks like it'll be wonderful. Even if you're not in NYC, you can still participate in the Campaign. And join the International Vulva Knitting Circle!

VULVAGRAPHICS: An intervention in

honor of female genital diversity!

Recent years have seen increased concerns about genital appearance for women, alongside publicity about labiaplasty and other procedures to cosmetically alter female genital appearance. It seems that there is a general lack of knowledge of vulva diversity, meaning that:

· Many women don’t know whether their vulva looks ‘normal.’

· Some women compare their vulva to a perceived norm or ideal, and don’t like how theirs looks. This supposed ideal vulva is often depicted on the websites of surgeons who offer genital cosmetic procedures, in ‘after’ photos that appear alongside ‘before’ photos.

An upcoming Brooklyn event provides a challenge to this cultural shift, offering a very visual celebration of diversity. Vulvagraphics is the second (annual) activist event organised in NYC by New View Campaign in response to the rise and promotion of female genital cosmetic surgery.

The New View Campaign opposes the medicalisation and corporatisation of (female) sexuality. Past work challenged Big Pharma, but last year we turned to the rise of female genital cosmetic surgery and conducted a vigorous street protest, complete with street-theatre, outside a Manhattan surgeon’s office. It was covered in both BUST and TIME!. This year we celebrate the role of art in activism, with a multi-media show to promote understanding and appreciation of female genital diversity.

Vulvagraphics is a 2-day exhibit of explicit photography, drawing, print, craft, video, and film, including the premiere of the international vulva knitting circle! It features a brunch salon on ‘critical issues in genital activism,’ as well as numerous activism opportunities!

If this sounds like you, bring your intrigue, passion and creativity, not to mention your relatives, friends and partners, and come down to Vulvagraphics to learn about, and celebrate, vulval diversity. If this doesn’t sound like you, even more reason to head on down! We look forward to seeing you there!

WHERE: The Change You Want To See gallery at 84 Havemeyer St, Brooklyn

WHEN: Saturday October 24^th: 6-9pm (opening reception & exhibition);

Sunday October 25^th: 12-6pm (exhibition); 1-3pm (brunch salon).

Further information: see our website or email Rachel Liebert.

Another Awesome Blog

2009-09-19T12:01:00.001-04:00

"re: Cycling is the new blog of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research. re: Cycling is written by members of SMCR about all matters menstrual, especially sociocultural aspects of menstruation and new research about menstruation and women’s health. Currently, the bloggers are Chris Bobel, Associate Professor of Women’s Studies at University of Massachusetts-Boston; Giovanna Chesler, filmmaker and Assistant Professor of Communication Arts at Marymount Manhattan College; Chris Hitchcock, researcher at the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research at the University of British Columbia; and Elizabeth Kissling, Professor of Women’s Studies and of Communication at Eastern Washington University. The new blog can be found at MenstruationResearch.org/blog.

The blog was developed as a way for the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research to discuss issues related to menstruation with a wider audience. Most posts on the site are open to public comment. We welcome readers and links from other feminist blogs."

From the Society for Menstrual Research.

If You Like This Blog...

2009-08-22T23:52:00.000-04:00

you'll probably like this one, too:
http://lifeafterbirthcontrol.blogspot.com/

Life After Birth Control chronicles the fascinating journey of Katie and Matt as Katie goes off the Pill, tries FA, becomes pregnant (fairly intentionally, though she misinterpreted her chart), struggles with a very difficult pregnancy, and as they now parent their daughter Eden. It's a very thoughtful blog, and full of detailed information on topics such as symphysis pubis pain (pelvic pain) and Hyperemesis gravidarum (extreme nausea during pregnancy). Katie and Matt are determined to live life as naturally as possible, so you'll also find entries on such things as Elimination Communication and cloth pads. The whole thing has the feel of positivity and practicality, without being sickeningly sweet.

Glutton Baby

2009-08-10T21:16:00.000-04:00

The name is definitely problematic - Bebe Gloton translates to "Glutton Baby." But name aside, what do you think of this new nursing doll? The child straps on a pink flowered halter top with flowers where the nipples should be, and when the doll, which has an electronic sensor in its mouth, is connected to a flower, it makes suckling motions and sounds. It's raising quite a ruckus, as you'll see if you do a google search or look on You Tube. There was an interesting essay about it on the Times Motherlode blog. As is often the case with the New York Times, the comments were at least as thought provoking, if not more so, than the original essay. A common thought, with which I agree 100%, is why on earth do we need this? Children (both boys and girls) naturally imitate their mothers by bringing their dolls and stuffed animals to their chests and pretending to nurse them. Imagination good; earth-polluting technological crap bad. But as one reader pointed out, only children who are breastfed and/or who have younger siblings will engage in this type of imitative play as children who are bottle fed won't have the nursing model to imitate. So I can see there being some utility in that instance. But would children who are bottle fed have parents who would buy them a nursing doll? Of course, most of prurient America is just caught up in the scandal of encouraging a child to pretend to use the breasts she will one day have (and I can guess what they think of a boy playing with this toy). These are the same Americans who would not be happy checking their cervical fluid, or hearing you talk about yours. Heck these are the same Americans who are upset when they see a woman nursing in public. Le scandal!

Warning: the sound track on this video may make your cat completely flip out. At least that's the effect it had on mine.

Why Even Doulas Need Doulas

2009-08-03T22:46:00.000-04:00

I have a friend and former student who moved to Israel right around the end of her first trimester. She has a blog where she recently posted her birth story. The title of this post is "Why Even Doulas Need Doulas." Aside from being a gripping story, there are valuable lessons here, as well as questions that no one can answer. Food for thought for anyone pregnant or hoping to be pregnant. (I can't believe she wrote all this, and so cogently, so soon after her birth!)

Male Contraceptive Shot Has Successful First Trial

2009-07-30T20:35:00.000-04:00

Efforts to develop a long-term, reversible contraceptive for men have thus far been unsuccessful, but a recently completed study showed sufficiently promising results that further trials will no doubt soon be underway. The trial lasted 2.5 years and involved 1045 men in China. The mechanism by which this contraceptive works is the same by which hormonal contraception for women works: if you interfere with the feedback loop that regulates the production of gametes (eggs and sperm), you can turn it off. In other words, you supply a form of the hormone that the body normally makes itself, and the body stops making it, and reproductive function stops. In this case, the men were given monthly administrations of a form of testosterone, which suppressed sperm production. Side effects were minimal, and sperm production returned to normal within 6 months of stopping the drug in all but 2 cases. But don't look for this to appear at your doctor's office any time soon. I found a nearly identical study conducted in 1996 that was also very successful.

Funny, one article describing the recent study said this:
"Previous attempts to develop an effective and convenient male contraceptive have encountered problems over reliability and side effects, such as mood swings and a lowered sex drive. "
Um, I'm sorry, but haven't women using hormonal contraception been putting up with those side effects, not to mention at least 2 dozen others, for, like, 40 years?

Couple of Questions about Cycle Health

2009-07-15T20:13:00.005-04:00

I answered a couple of questions from a student today, and it occurred to me that the answers might be of interest to other people, so I decided to post them. Note: I don't take random questions! I would love to work with you if you want to learn more about your cycles, but you do need to make an appointment with me. For more info on private consults & classroom instruction, please visit my website.

On to the questions:

(Q1) The first day of my period is always REALLY painful. I always get it around dawn, and the cramps and nausea force me to stay in bed until at least noon. Should I see someone about this?

(A1) It doesn't sound as though you have anything seriously wrong. One day of bad cramps is not at all unusual, and I don't think you *need* to see anyone unless you want some treatment. If so, as always, you have two options: the Western approach, and the non-Western approach. The Western approach would basically be drugs (over the counter pain-killers etc). And I'm not against them. Especially for women who don't have insurance, and/or who can't afford non-Western care (which is usually not covered), painkillers can be a cheap and effective solution. You have to make sure you don't take them on an empty stomach and follow label directions carefully. Some need to be taken with food and/or water, some require you to not lie down for 30 minutes afterwards, never exceed the maximum dosage, etc. Heat is also very helpful, applied directly to your belly in the form of a heating pad or hot water bottle. Now in terms of non-Western treatments, there are many options. Acupuncture and/or herbs would be a good place to start. You might also look at the nutritional recommendations in Marilyn Shannon's book, Fertility Cycles and Nutrition. The nausea might be from the pain or it might be from something else. Ginger can be helpful with nausea, and can relieve cramps, too. You can brew up strong ginger "tea" from fresh ginger (or Alvita teabags) when you know your period is coming, and keep it in the fridge so you don't have to make it that morning. Lastly, while I think it's important to try to relieve pain and discomfort, Katie Singer emphasizes that we don't give ourselves a lot of room to have our periods these days. If you're feeling guilty or dysfunctional because you're staying in bed with cramps, try to let go of that. Use the time to read a lightweight book, focus on your breathing, and in general give yourself permission to have a little downtime. Stress makes cramps worse.

(Q2) Between milk and soymilk, which one is better for your cycle?

(A2) I'm not a big fan of either cow or soymilk, for environmental, nutritional, and animal-rights reasons. If you're going to drink cow milk, make sure it's grass fed, organic milk from pastured cows. Don't drink commercial cow milk. If you're going to drink soymilk, I wouldn't drink a lot of it, as there is some evidence that large quantities of processed soy products might impact human fertility. (On the other hand, there is also evidence that soy foods are good for the heart, protect against cancer, etc.) But soy is kind of an environmental disaster, and I don't think the types & amounts of soy we eat are natural or good for us. There are lots of other milks available now. You can find milk made from almonds, hazelnuts, oats, and hemp. Read the labels and beware of sugar - some of them are loaded with it. Personally I'm a huge fan of Blue Diamond plain, unsweetened Almond Breeze.

Why Doesn't My Doctor Know Anything About Fertility Awareness?

2009-07-05T21:51:00.001-04:00

Hmmm. Could it be because medical schools are absolutely riddled with influence (and money) from pharmaceutical companies? It's not exactly news, but the scope of it is really depressing. This extends way beyond what contraceptive choices your doctor makes available to you.

Harvard Medical School considers influence of drug companies

Eggs Are Precious, Sperm Are Cheap

2009-06-16T22:26:00.000-04:00

That wonderful line is from Isabella Rossellin's fantabulous video series, Green Porno . Ok, it's only peripherally related to human Fertility Awareness, but it's sufficiently awesome that I had to post it. It's a series (actually 2 series) of very short, beautifully costumed & wittily scripted videos, each of which describes the reproductive process of a different living being. There is a mind-boggling array of reproductive processes out there - stuff you couldn't have made up if you tried. Season 1 looks at the mating habits of small critters such as snails, worms, spiders, and bees, while season 2 elucidates the sex lives of marine animals. Appropriate for kids & adults alike, they're even suitable for watching at work! (Though you may want to skip "Why Vagina" until you get home.) Take one minute and learn how limpets do it.

Giving Withdrawal Its Due

2009-05-31T16:48:00.001-04:00

Those of you who have studied with me know that I consider withdrawal "legit" as a method of birth control, especially when used in conjunction with another method. Well a new article in the June 2009 issue of Contraception makes the same case. Unless you enjoy reading science journal articles, I suggest that you skip to the summary published on the Guttmacher website. (If you want to read the original article, you'll find a link there.) The article basically says that withdrawal has a perfect use rate of 96%, and a typical use rate of 82% (vs 98% & 83% for the male condom), making it a perfectly reasonable and cost-effective choice for couples not in need of STD protection, or as a back up to another method of birth control (such as Fertility Awareness! OK, Fertility Awareness is not actually mentioned in the article.) The article also examines why withdrawal is not perceived as a viable choice for contraception, and the consequences of that misperception.

Ancient Beginnings of Fertility Awareness

2009-05-13T17:12:00.000-04:00

People have been trying to understand and influence fertility for a very, very long time. I love the headline in the NY Times: "Ancient Figurine of Voluptuous Woman is Found. "

To Mammogram or Not to Mammogram

2009-04-30T12:30:00.001-04:00

If you're like most women in the Western world, you probably think that routine mammograms (along with breast self exam) are your best weapon against breast cancer. Increasingly, the benefits of such routine screening are being scrutinized.

NY Times article on risks/benefits of routine mammography

Typically excellent article from the National Women's Health Network re pros & cons of baseline mammography

If Male Amphibians Are Being Born With Ovaries (Or 6 Legs), What's Happening To Us?

2009-04-19T15:33:00.000-04:00

photo by Yamanaka Tamaki

FRONTLINE

http://www.pbs.org/frontline/

This Week: "Poisoned Waters" (120 minutes),
Tuesday April 21st at 9pm on PBS (Check local listings)
You can also watch this show online.

----------------------

For years, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith has reported from the corridors of power in Washington, on Wall Street, and overseas. But these days, he's worried about something that he's found much closer to home -- something mysterious that's appeared in waters that he knows well: frogs with six legs, male amphibians with ovaries, "dead zones" where nothing can live or grow.

What's causing the trouble? Smith suspects the answers might lie close to home as well.

This Tuesday night, in a special two-hour FRONTLINE broadcast --"Poisoned Waters"-- Smith takes a hard look at a new wave of pollution that's imperiling the nation's waterways, focusing on two of our most iconic: the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound. He also examines three decades of environmental regulation that are failing to meet this new threat, and have yet to clean up the ongoing mess of PCBs, the staggering waste from factory farms, and the fall-out from unchecked suburban sprawl.

"The environment has slipped off our radar screen because it's not a hot crisis like the financial meltdown, war, or terrorism," Smith says. "But pollution is a ticking time bomb. It's a chronic cancer that is slowly eating away the natural resources that are vital to our very lives."

Among the most worrisome of the new contaminants are "endocrine disruptors," chemical compounds found in common household products that mimic hormones in the human body and cause freakish mutations in frogs and amphibians.

"There are five million people being exposed to endocrine disruptors just in the Mid-Atlantic region," a doctor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health tells Smith. "And yet we don't know precisely how many of them are going to develop premature breast cancer, going to have problems with reproduction, going to have all kinds of congenital anomalies of the male genitalia that are happening at a broad low level so that they don't raise the alarm in the general public."

Can new models of "smart growth" and regulation reverse decades of damage? Are the most real and lasting changes likely to come from the top down, given an already overstretched Obama administration? Or will the greatest reasons for hope come from the bottom up, through the action of a growing number of grassroots groups trying to effect environmental change?

Join us for the broadcast this Tuesday night. Online, you can watch "Poisoned Waters" again, find out how safe your drinking water is, and learn how you can get involved.

Ken Dornstein
Senior Editor of Frontline

More awesome events in NYC

2009-04-12T00:16:00.004-04:00

This blog isn't meant to be an events calendar (esp as we have lots of readers outside of NY), but there are so many great things going on lately, I feel compelled to let you know about at least some of them. As always, readers outside of NY might want to note the books, organizations and websites mentioned in these postings, as you can read the books or check out the orgs even if you aren't lucky enough to live in this happening burg. And if you do live here, for goodness sake, get out there and dig in.

.........................................................................
(1) Reading and signing of Attached at the Heart: 8 Proven Parenting Principles for Raising Connected and Compassionate Children. Meet Attachment Parenting International co-founders and authors Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker.

Metro Minis 821 Park Ave (@ 75th St), 212.313.9600.
Tuesday, April 28, 2pm - 4pm
Free

Attached at the Heart is available now at Metro Minis, your local bookstore,
or www.attachedattheheartbook.com .

Out of towners: Check this page for readings in other parts of the US.

...........................................................................
(2) Fertility Event for women who are trying to become pregnant or considering it. Hosted by The Pregnant New Yorker with a fabulous list of guest speakers . Go here to read more and to register. Note that The Pregnant New Yorker has ongoing events so check their site to see what else they've got going on.

Wednesday April 22nd, 6:30-8:30pm
at Renew Physical Therapy
149 Madison Avenue, Suite 903 (btwn 31st and 32nd Street)
$10 per person
........................................................................
(3) This one's for women only, and requires a bit of explanation. My friend, the artist & activist Alexandra Jacoby is a woman of many talents, and for several years she has been working on a project called Vagina Verite . Though the title mentions vaginas, it's actually centered around Alexandra's portraits of women's vulvas (meaning the parts you can see, not the internal bits). Periodically Alexandra hosts "salons" where you can view the portraits, and where memorable discussions take place. The next salon will be held on Sunday, May 3rd, and will feature (along with Alexandra herself), the "luscious lifestyle diva" Yolanda (Shoshi) Shoshana . The topic of this salon is "Pleasure."

Sunday May 3rd, 3pm - 6pm
Midtown east location; rsvp by 4/30 for location & directions
Free

Free Teleclass on Prenatal Testing with Ayelet Schwell

2009-03-25T21:06:00.000-04:00

On April 5th, my friend/student/colleague (and pregnant mama) Ayelet Schwell will be offering a FREE teleclass on prenatal testing & screening to help you make informed decisions during your pregnancy (now or in future).

From Ayelet's blog:

In this call you will get:

* an overview of the pre-natal tests that are offered and their purposes
* risks vs. benefits for various tests
* a description of patient rights in the US
* and a special invitation to have access to an exclusive program that will open up the information of pregnancy and birth in a way that has never been available before!

If you want to participate but aren't available at 8PM that night, go ahead and register anyway as you will receive an MP3 of the class the next day, as well as a PDF of the info covered. Here's where to sign up. And fyi, here is Ayelet's blog.

And here is Ayelet!

My Little Red Book

2009-03-22T18:17:00.006-04:00

My Little Red Book is an anthology of stories about first periods, collected from women of all ages from around the world. The author/editor Rachel Kauder Nalebuff was 18 when she put the book together and the profits are being donated to charities promoting women's health and education. Buy it, read it, share it. Get this stuff out of the closet once and for all.

my little red book home page

review in NY Times

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves

2009-03-05T20:39:00.004-05:00

Think about some of thousands of things you probably take for granted:

-sanitary water to drink

-toilets

-ample food of infinite variety

-hot water in the shower, the shower itself

The list is endless. Now add to the list (if you are a woman) the products you use for menstruation. Whether you have a real period (the result of ovulation, when cycles are unmediated by external hormones) or a fake one (withdrawal bleeding which results when you stop taking your pills or remove your ring or patch or whatever), chances are that you bleed about once a month, and when you do, you use pads or tampons or a reusable cup or something sanitary and cheap that you take completely for granted. Imagine being so poor that you had nothing with which to catch your flow, and little access to water for washing clothes and rags. What would you do? Would you go to school, or work? Now you understand (intellectually) the plight of millions of women around the world. An innovative project, run by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, is helping women in Uganda have access to affordable sanitary pads. It is also providing income for about 60 Congolese refugees who now have an environmentally sustainable way to earn a living, in a model program that they hope to expand to other countries. Check out this article about pads from papyrus.

Crazy That We Need It, But We Do

2009-02-21T18:15:00.007-05:00

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

2009-02-20T21:14:00.005-05:00

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

2009-02-16T19:27:00.009-05:00

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

2009-02-14T10:27:00.008-05:00

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

The Return of the Rhythm Method

2009-01-31T14:32:00.002-05:00

My credo is that the more contraceptive options women have, the better. There is no one right method for all women, and a wide variety of methods increases the likelihood that any given woman will be able to find a method that works for her. However, I recently found that I'm not quite as broadminded as I thought it was on this topic. Georgetown University's Institute for Reproductive Health recently received a 3 year, $600,000 grant to increase the availability of natural family planning here in the US, primarily to low income women. Sounds great, right? So why am I angry and slightly nauseated? Because the method they are going to be promoting is the Standard Days Method, aka Cyclebeads. And Cyclebeads use exactly the same principles as the Rhythm, or Calendar Method. It is a purely statistical method that does not take into account individual variability or use any observational methods except for keeping track of menstruation. Mind you, this heavily field-tested and deeply funded method can be very effective. If women fall strictly within the parameters for its usage (regular cycles always between 26 and 32 days), they can expect a 95% effectiveness rate. And I have stated in the past that I think this method, along with the Two Day Method, can and will be a boon to women in the global south who lack access to decent health care. My objection is not to the effectiveness of the methodology, but rather to the return to the dark ages that this grant represents. Are American women really so stupid and unmotivated that they cannot be taught to observe their fertility? No, not everyone is going to be up for detailed charting and lessons in anatomy & physiology, but even a simple temperature-only method would empower women far more than this Birth Control for Dummies approach, in which fertility is regarded as a great mystery that cannot be understood. Women all over the world, many of whom lack numeracy and literacy, have been taught to observe their cervical mucus and track it with colors and pictures (as with the Billings Method). Surely if rural women in China can learn this technique, and practice it effectively, women in this country can, too.

"Bringing easy-to-use, effective natural planning to American women."

Is this really the direction we want reproductive health care and sex education to be moving in this country???

Nevermind the Dioxin

2008-12-20T13:41:00.009-05:00

Bad news: Yes, you will find dioxin, fire retardant, rocket fuel, and other incredibly nasty chemicals in breast milk.

Good news: Breast is still best.

Not terribly surprising, but reassuring nonetheless to moms who may be worried that the environmental toxins found in breast milk outweigh the benefits. Nope. An analysis of recent studies shows that, despite the pollutants, the benefits of breast milk still trump those of any substitutes. Nurse away, kiddies. Maybe when you grow up you'll find a way to get Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) out of the ecosystem.

Fertility Awareness Teacher Sarah Bly Hits The Road

2008-12-14T21:37:00.005-05:00

Lucky residents of Portland, Austin, and possibly Iowa City: FA teacher Sarah Naomi Bly is coming your way. If you live in or near those towns, Sarah invites you to join her for an 8 hour workshop that will teach you to understand your fertile times for pregnancy avoidance, pregnancy achievement, and connection to your body and your cycles. Here are the dates, costs, etc:

Portland, Oregon: Saturday 2/7 and Sunday 2/8, 9AM-1PM

Austin, Texas: Saturday 2/21 and Sunday 2/22, 9AM-1PM

Iowa City, Iowa (tentative): Saturday 2/28 and Sunday 3/1, 9AM-1PM

All classes are $94 for women, $120 for couples. Fee includes printed materials and private followup consultation. $30 non-refundable deposit required. For more information re Sarah and her practice, visit her website, www.graceofthemoon.com. To sign up for a workshop, call or email Sarah. Contact info is on her website. (Take that, spambots.)

"Dias Especiales" (Special Days) at Bronx Bedroom Project

2008-12-04T10:44:00.009-05:00

Bronx Blue Bedroom Project (BBBP) is an innovative "gallery" in the bedroom of artist Blanka Amezkua. A new exhibit entitled "Dias Expeciales" (Special Days) by Jessica Lagunas opens on Saturday, 12/6.

From the artist's statement:

"The installation consists of a full-size sheet on a bed where I printed etchings inspired by medical books' images of biopsies from different menstrual cycle days. This project is an introspective exploration of the female body, but rather than offering a negative connotation with the association of dirtiness and impurity of some cultures and religions, I want to cherish women's bodies by exploring menstruation in a positive way.

The printing of this project was made possible thanks to a grant from NoMAA (Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance) and the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone."

More info on this exhibit, the opening, and the BBBP, can be found here:

http://www.bronxbbp.com/current.html

A real (not symbolic) way to fight breast cancer

2008-11-29T11:48:00.005-05:00

Pink ribbons? Please. Now you can do something concrete to help researchers defeat breast cancer. Army Of Women is a collaboration between the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and the Avon Foundation. The idea is to link women with researchers so that both causes and cures of breast cancer can be studied. All American women are welcome to participate. (Women from outside the US are welcome to make donations but currently cannot participate in research studies.) As a member of the Army, you will receive periodic email notices about research studies. If you are eligible to participate (for example, if they are looking for women within a certain age group, and you are within that age group), then you can volunteer for the study. And if you don't want to participate in that study, then you don't. Participating might involve filling out a questionnaire or giving a sample, such as blood. Participating does not cost anything, and you will not have to pay any fees should you be asked to give a sample.

There are several things about this new initiative that are innovative and promising. For one thing, it takes research out of the lab, where cancer research is typically done, and moves it into the field of actual human subjects. Large-scale studies involving people are usually not feasible for researchers. By providing a large group of willing participants, the Army will enable research to move forward in a way it has not been logistically able to do before. Moreover, the focus will be on actual women, and on prevention, and the causes of breast cancer, rather than on killing existing tumor cells in lab animals and trying to eradicate cancer that has already arisen.

If you are interested in learning more or signing up, just go to http:www.armyofwomen.org. Their goal is half a million women by the end of 2008. Currently they're up to about a quarter million, as you can see by the nifty counter on their home page. Under "getting involved" you'll see easy options for spreading the word. Take a minute out of this crazy holiday season to do something truly good.

Radio Lab takes on Sperm

2008-11-16T12:57:00.006-05:00

You may or may not be familiar with Radio Lab. It's a science-oriented show that airs on WNYC, New York Public Radio, and is wildly popular in the podcasting world. This Friday, 11/21, they will be taking on the subject of sperm. Why sperm and not eggs, you may ask? I've no idea. Ask them. But based on their 8 minute preview podcast, it promises to be be both entertaining and educational.

There will be many ways to hear this show. If you're in the New York area, you can catch it on 93.9 FM from 3-4PM and on 820 AM from 8-9PM on Friday, 11/21. If you're near a computer at those times, you can stream it at www.wnyc.org. After the show airs, it will be available for both streaming and download on their website on this page. (This page is also where you will be able to post comments about the various segments, and there are links to things mentioned on the show such as the Donor Sibling Registry.) And of course you can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes.

If you haven't heard Radio Lab before, you may be pleasantly (or unpleasantly) surprised by the sound of it. It is highly produced. Unlike sperm, which, as my students have heard me say, is a classic example of quantity over quality.

NY: Protest Genital Cosmetic Surgery on 11/17

2008-11-11T14:46:00.003-05:00

The New View Campaign will be staging a demonstration in NY on 11/17/08 to protest the rise of genital cosmetic surgery. Surgeons who promote these procedures claim that they restore and enhance the appearance of the vaginal area to reclaim the "youthful appearance and function of the vulvar and vaginal area." These claims are unsubstantiated by research, and there is some evidence that these surgeries may actually create health problems, such as scarring, pain, obstetric risk, loss of sensation, and reduced pleasure. Of course they also prop us the idea that there is one specific, idealized vision of what a woman's genitals should look like. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has come out against the procedures.

The New View Campaign demands new regulations requiring that women considering these procedures receive information regarding possible risks, and also calls for independent post-operative research to assess adverse reactions.

The protest will take place in NYC from 12-2PM outside a cosmetic genital surgeon's office. The specific location will be posted on the New View website on 11/16. The New View Campaign is working in conjunction with the National Women's Health Network, which provides information about women's health issues unbiased by the pharmaceutical industry, medical device manufacturers, etc. I find them to be a very valuable source of information. You can sign up for email alerts on their website, and consider supporting them. Barbara Seaman (see earlier post) was one of their founders, and they have been fighting for truth in women's healthcare ever since.

If you work in Manhattan, do something good on your lunchbreak on 11/17.

"The Business of Being Born" at Bluestockings

2008-11-01T23:09:00.009-04:00

Bluestockings is a radical bookstore, fair trade cafe, and activist center in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. They host interesting events nearly every night, and admission is free or by donation. Does it get any better than that?

On Monday, November 10th, they will be screening THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN, "a documentary which examines the culture and medical approaches for making American babies. The film interlaces personal birth stories with historical, political and scientific insights and statistics about the current maternity care system. A discussion with a doula and midwife will follow the screening." Start time is 7PM but I suggest getting there well before that if you want to get a seat. Lots of stuff to look at & snack on while you wait. Make efficient use of your time and start buying your community-supporting holiday gifts while you're there!

Bluestockings is located at 172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington (1 block south of Houston and 1st Avenue).

By train: F train to Second Avenue (one block south; exit at 1st Avenue) or JMZ-line's Essex / Delancey Street stop (5 blocks).

The Vagina Festival is coming! October 24-26, 2008

2008-09-27T00:02:00.005-04:00

My friend Alexandra Jacoby, an artist and activist, is organizing the second annual Vagina Festival, and if you live near New York and are reading this blog, you should definitely check it out.

Vagina Festival will feature over 30 visual and performance artists presenting a wide variety of works including comedy, dance, music, painting, performance art, plays, poetry, and video. The aim is to create a comfortable and creative space in which to consider sexuality, body image, personal identity, health, and well-being. The Festival is an outgrowth of Alexandra's photography project, Vagina Verite, "an unabashed exploration of the plain, ordinary, mysterious matter of vaginas." Works from this project will be on display.

Vagina Festival takes place at Sage Theater in Times Square, NYC, October 24-26, 2008. See the website for program schedule and ticket information. Tickets go on sale October 1, 2008. While Vagina Festival is for and about women, it warmly welcomes men. For additional information about Vagina Festival, contact Alexandra Jacoby at alexandra at vaginafestival dot com or visit http://www.vaginafestival.com.

Personal note: I presented at and attended the first Vagina Festival, held in a downtown gallery. It was a warm, ecletic, stimulating experience. This year sees a tremendous expansion of the Festival, thanks to many amazing volunteers, some of whom I met recently. I also met some of the artists, all of whom seemed outrageously smart and talented. I can't wait to see what they come up with.

Donations Now Tax-Deductible! We Have Fiscal Sponsorship!

2008-09-25T09:03:00.003-04:00

Fabulous news, people. Thanks to the good folks at the Harm Reduction Coalition, who have agreed to be our fiscal sponsors, donations to the Fertility Awareness Center are now tax-deductible!

-If you think Fertility Awareness has value and should be (much) more widely known,
-If you think women (and men) are not being informed of all their reproductive health care options (with respect to both birth control as well as pregnancy achievement),
-If you think sex is better when you don't have artificial hormones coursing through your blood or chemicals in your yoni,

...then put your money where your heart is. Any amount is appreciated and will help us to carry out our mission. If you're tired of looking at that shabby website we've had forever, help pay for the new one! If you want me to be able to attend the first Fertility Awareness conference to be held in North America since 2006, help me buy the plane tickets! If you want to make sure there is always someone to answer the phone when someone is rural Idaho wants to learn more about Fertility Awareness, help pay for that service!

Making a donation is easy, and we will send you a receipt for your taxes. Please make checks or money order payable to HARM REDUCTION COALITION and (this is very important!) put FERTILITY AWARENESS CENTER on the memo line. Send your donations to:
Fertility Awareness Center
PO Box 1190
New York, NY 10009-1190

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Troubling Aspects of Assisted Reproductive Technology, Part 2

2008-09-13T20:57:00.006-04:00

Chances are, you wouldn't want to date your half-sibling. But what if you didn't know s/he was related to you? If you were conceived with so called "donor sperm," i.e. sperm that your mother had purchased, you would have no idea who your siblings were. And you might have a hundred of them. Or two hundred. Should any one man be allowed to have that many offspring? From a genetic standpoint, it's madness. From an ethical standpoint, it's also pretty crazy. But of course ethics have little if any place here, in the wild wild west of assisted reproductive technology. A young man "donates" (i.e. sells) his sperm, and women and couples from all over the world have the opportunity to buy it. Usually, anonymity regulations prevent purchasers, and their children, from learning the identity of the donor. But as one child said in a recent BBC documentary about the children of donors, "He signed those agreements, I didn't." Recently, thanks to the internet, families that are related by donor have been able to connect, via online registries. This documentary, entitled "The 66 Club" tells the story of one such extended family, and the complexities that surround this new type of relationship, which really has no precedent in modern society. As this is a podcast, I can't post a direct link, but if you go to this page, and scroll down to "The 66 Club," you'll get to it. This is a really interesting podcast series, btw, consisting of documentaries produced by the BBC on a wide range of topics, usually socio/political stories in countries outside the UK. They run about 20-25 minutes long.

The 66 Club

Pathologizing Your Period

2008-09-10T23:10:00.005-04:00

Does PMS (Pre-Menstrual Syndrome) exist? What about PMDD (Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder)? The makers of Prozac, and men who think women are inherently unstable, have a vested interest in making you think they do. Charters, weigh in: do you get (more) nuts before your period? I've long thought so called PMS was mostly about blood sugar becoming more unstable, and women needing to eat healthfully and more regularly in the days before their periods. But I recently read a study that showed that blood sugar did not vary during the cycle. One study is one study, but still, it made me wonder. I also think caffeine plays havoc w/moods, especially when one is premenstrual. If those last few days have you reaching for your shotgun, spend a few months (yes, it takes a few months) drinking Fair Trade decaf and see if you don't feel better.

Ms. Magazine | Pathologizing Your Period | summer 2008

Toni Weschler to give workshop at Omega Institute, 10/3/08-10/5/08

2008-08-26T19:25:00.001-04:00

Toni Weschler, author of Taking Charge of Your Fertility, will be giving a workshop at Omega Institute, in Rhinebeck, New York. The workshop, entitled "Breaking Fertile Ground," is for women seeking pregnancy. You can get all the details here.

Troubling Aspects of Assisted Reproductive Technology, Part 1

2008-07-30T22:26:00.004-04:00

When you start to really look into the burgeoning field of assisted reproductive technology (ART), there are so many things to get upset about that it's hard to know where to begin. There are nightmare scenarios everywhere. Lately there have been a few stories about the situation in India, where women from more affluent countries go to take advantage of a state of virtual lawlessness surrounding assisted reproductive technology. Whether you're coming from the perspective of women's health care or that of social justice, these stories have it all. Economically oppressed people selling their bodies? Check. Women on both ends making decisions without being fully informed? Check. Doctors making decisions designed to maximize their profits in the absence of legislation meant to safeguard all participants? Check. The inevitable outcome of a grossly unbalanced global economy in which health care and fertility are commodities, bought and sold and profited upon like crops? Check.

Guardian UK on Fertility Tourism in India

Judith Warner on Wombs for Rent in India

Getting Off The Pill

2008-05-16T23:06:00.005-04:00

One of my current students is actually blogging about her experience of getting off the Pill and learning Fertility Awareness. Normally I only get to hear about how FA has affected my students' lives AFTER they've learned it. It is absolutely fascinating to read about what it's like in the present tense, with all the nervousness and trepidation, not to mention the complete lack of affirmation from doctors, friends, etc. We who take FAM for granted can forget how scary it can be to give up the familiar and easy pharmaceutical control and take matters into our own hands. Do check it out, and don't overlook the comments that have been posted. Consider posting one of your own. Give this woman some support!
http://gettingoffthepill.blogspot.com/

FAC in the Media

2008-05-01T09:51:00.003-04:00

For some unknown reason, we’ve been getting a lot of media attention of late. I was interviewed twice for an article that will appear sometime later this year in a national magazine, and I also participated in a documentary on the topic of sex education in America. I’ve no idea when that film will be coming out, or if I’ll be included, but the filmmakers did film one of my classes, and they seemed pretty enthused. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, you can check out a couple of articles that have appeared in regional papers. This first piece was published in The Radish, a Midwestern magazine focusing on healthy living:
http://radishmagazine.com/stories/display.cgi?prcss=display&id=356095

And another piece ran in two Vermont papers, The Times Argus and the Rutland Herald. It’s the same piece, picked up from a news service, so no need to read both:
http://tinyurlw.com/2xvydw
http://tinyurl.com/ytvofb

FAC Participates in Dine & Learn Brooklyn

2008-04-30T09:09:00.001-04:00

On November 9th, 2007, we participated in a massive
health fair for women, held at Brooklyn’s famous Tabernacle
Church. The fair was presented by SUNY Downstate Medical
Center, in conjunction with The Brooklyn Tabernacle, American
Cancer Society (Brooklyn), Diaspora Community Services,
and Center for Women’s Development at Medgar Evers College/
CUNY. Over 1200 women pre-registered for the event,
and I’d guess that at least 800 attended, despite a nightlong
downpour. Our information table was staffed by Shakti Ziller
(then a volunteer and now a board member) and me, and gave
us the opportunity to reach a very large, primarily African-
American audience. We also met lots of other like-minded
health care providers and representatives of community organizations
and advocacy groups. Most memorable visitors: the 3
teenage girls who kept circling back to our table, giggling, but
definitely interested.

Thank you, Barbara Seaman

2008-03-01T10:24:00.006-05:00

The comparison to Ralph Nader is apt. Like Nader, she was a controversial muckraker. She opened our eyes at a time when people were used to blindly trusting their doctors, trusting their government, etc.

NY Times obituary

Washington Post obituary

Benefit is over, long live the benefit

2007-12-22T21:13:00.000-05:00

THANK YOU to everyone who supported us before, during, and after the benefit. It was a lot of fun. And of course we have a zillion pictures, but (a) some of them are somewhat risque and (b) I think we need to put them up on a Flickr page or something to avoid clogging up this blog. In the meantime, here are a few to tide you over:

Suzanne & Autumn deciding the fate of the raffle participants.

Stage kitten Carter chatting with Liza.

The Baronass Von Harmer doing her gender-bendy thing.

Autumn and Ilene, happy that it's over.

Buy some raffle tickets!!!

2007-10-28T23:03:00.003-04:00

Here's the dope: some wonderful, generous people have donated some really groovy stuff to support the Fertility Awareness Center. You can buy tickets online, and/or at the benefit. Winners will be picked at the benefit on 11/27 (see BENEFIT post, below this long one). The great thing about this raffle is that you can enter for just the prize(s) you want to win. If your heart is set on one of those beautiful lucite purses from the 1950's, put all your tickets in that pool. Or, if you can't decide between the bodywork session or the class at Babeland, and part of you just really wants that biscotti, distribute your tickets between all three. Most of the prizes are things that can be shipped, so if you don't live in or near New York, don't fret! You can still participate. And we've made the tickets affordable so that you can buy a bunch:

1 ticket - $3
2 tickets - $5
5 tickets - $10

Prizes are described below. Pick what you want, then go to Paypal and send us some money! Here's how you do it:

Go to PayPal.
Log in (or create account).
Click on "send money" tab.
Enter our email address - admin@fertaware.com.
Specify the amount you want to send, based on prices, above.
Choose one of the options in the "for" menu - service/other or goods - doesn't matter which.
Click "continue."
On the next page you will see "message to recipient." For subject, please put "raffle tickets." For message, here's the important part - tell us what you're trying to win!!! You can say "5 for x, 3 for y," or, if you're feeling lucky, "1 for z." Every bit helps!
Don't forget to click the "send money" button :)
You will receive a confirmation from PayPal.

And now for the prizes!

(1) 90 minute essential oil restorative bodywork session. Ahhhhhhhh. Union Square area. Expiration date 1/31/07. (New York area only)

(2) $50 gift certificate to Flower Powe r , an Herbal apothecary, staffed with caring, knowledgeable herbalists offering the highest quality organically grown medicinal herbs. Can be used online or at store.

(3) $30 certificate good for one workshop at Babeland. Workshops cover a variety of topics related to sexuality. Take a class at Babeland University and get smarter in all the right ways! Note: we have 2 of these certificates, so 2 people can win this one. (New York area only)

(4) Yummy hazelnut biscotti from 'n Joy Sweets & Pastries. 24 pieces, will keep for several weeks (right - like you're not going to eat them before then).

Now, are you ready for the antiques? Deco Etc (122 W 25th Street, 212.675.3326) has made an amazing donation of some truly unique & beautiful items.

(5) One of two lucite purses, both from the 1950's. This first one is perfectly clear with a gold-colored clasp. It's about 8.75" long, 4.25" wide, and just over 3" deep, and is in the shape of a long octagon. Lucite is lightweight and easy to care for. And you'll always be able to find your cell phone! Please refer to this as "clear lucite purse" if you're going for it. Antiques are often not perfect - one handle seems to have been replaced and is translucent, rather than clear.

(6) The second purse is also lucite, but this one is red, in an imitation tortoiseshell pattern with what looks like brass trim. 8" long, 4.25" wide, 3" high. Some overzealous fashionista tried to clean this purse with vinegar, and now it has a faint eau-de-salad, mostly noticeable when you open it. Do not clean your purse with vinegar! Plain water will do nicely, or a glass cleaner mixed half & half w/water if you need something stronger. Carry a scented handkerchief and no one will notice. Please refer to this as "red lucite purse" in your entry.

(7) Our last item is a beautiful old desk clock, probably from the 1930's, maybe 40's. Face plate is lucite, with a black dial with gold numbers set against a larger clear panel. The dial itself is a brass-colored metal. This clock has to be wound, and it makes a ticking noise that most of you young'ns are probably unfamiliar with. It has an alarm, which also works, but I wouldn't count on it for anything important. If you win this clock, and you love it, you should take it in to a professional for a cleaning & general tuneup (in particular to get it to run faster). Antique clocks need a bit of periodic maintenance as they work on mechanical bits like springs and gears. But how many of your little electric alarm clock/iPod docking wonders are going to be around & working in 70 years?

Lighten Up, Take It Off! A Night of Comedy & Burlesque to Benefit the Fertility Awareness Center

2007-10-27T20:56:00.001-04:00

You are NOT going to want to miss this. Top-notch comedy & burlesque, fabulous food and libations. And did we mention the raffle prizes??

Tuesday, 11/27 at 8PM.
The Living Theatre, 21 Clinton Street, Manhattan
F train to 2nd Ave (use 1st Ave exit, walk East on Houston, make right on Clinton)
or F train to Delancey Street
buy tickets here

Hosted by the incomparable Howlin Vic, as Liza (with a Z), performers include:

(burlesque)
Fetchin' Gretchen
Baronass Von Harmer
JZ Bich

(comedy)
Brooke Van Poppelen
Queefer Sutherland
Giulia Rozzi
Margot Leitman

and sideshow man Sam Conway.

Tickets are $40 advance, $45 at the door. You can do us a big favor by buying your tickets in advance, so we know how much food & drink to get for y'all. And again, here's where you can do that:
Brown Paper Tickets

Now let's talk about those raffle tickets! Note: if you can't attend the benefit, buying some raffle tickets is a great way to support our work. Most of the prizes can be shipped. Please see the RAFFLE post for all the details.

Kudos

2007-10-09T14:34:00.000-04:00

Thanks to board member Melissa King for having the idea for this blog and for setting it up. Even though I said I would never have a blog.

Books of Note

2007-10-08T23:23:00.003-04:00

On 10/31/06, Toni Weschler somehow managed to come out with two books at the same time.

One was a tenth anniversary, updated edition of her landmark book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility.

The other book was Cycle Savvy, a book about Fertility Awareness for teens (minus the birth control and pregnancy achievement parts).

Share the Love - FAC’s first benefit leads to projector purchase

2007-10-07T23:50:00.002-04:00

On 2/14/07, we held our first benefit, which we called “Share the Love.” Largely organized by FAC’s new board president, Autumn Brown, the event was held at The Stroll, an eco-friendly clothing store located in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn (recycledrejectshop.com). The Stroll is affiliated with the nearby Habana Outpost (HabanaOutpost.com). Habana Outpost is NY’s first eco-eatery, and they really walk the talk. Part of their mission is to facilitate community – hence how we ended up there. Sofia Santana, the manager of The Stroll, was unbelievably helpful; we could not have pulled this off without her.

Despite the inclement weather (remember the Valentine’s Day slush-storm?), we had a full house. We were entertained by Aisling Roche, Amelia, Keith Otten, Onome, and Zahava. Some lucky raffle winners walked away with fabulous prizes, most of which were donated by supporters, including Melissa King, Bluestockings Bookstore, Lagusta’s Luscious, and The Stroll.

We’re very happy to say that as a result of the benefit, we were able to purchase an LCD projector. This is something we’ve wanted for a long time, as having one means that we can now teach our workshops, and give lectures, pretty much anywhere. Most facilities, particularly non-corporate community spaces, do not have projectors, and getting one is often a stumbling block to giving a presentation. While we are lucky enough to have a projector available to us at the Continuum Center, where we currently teach our classes, we are excited about the possibility of teaching in other locations, both here in NY as well as elsewhere.

Thank you so much to everyone who made the benefit possible, and to all of you who came out and supported us, or who made donations We had a great time and are looking forward to our next one.

Film - Power and Passion: The Technology of Orgasm

2007-10-07T23:44:00.003-04:00

On July 28th, I attended the premiere of Passion and Power: The Technology of Orgasm at Lincoln Center. This new documentary by Emiko Omori & Wendy Slick has what seems like a rather esoteric topic as its subject matter: the history of the vibrator. But the filmmakers do an extraordinary job of placing this history within the context of feminism, by examining the different ways that women’s sexuality and pleasure have been viewed over the years. The movie is based on a book of the same name by historian Rachel Maines, and the filmmakers enriched that story by incorporating interviews with several women who themselves made history. They did so by making vibrators available to women, and by actively teaching women that they could have orgasms, even if they weren’t getting them from their partners, or if they had no partner. To my immense delight, some of these women were there at the opening, and participated in a brief Q&A after the screening. Alongside Professor Maines, the directors, and the comedian Reno (who provided some of the film’s funniest moments), stood Betty Dodson and Dell Williams. Betty Dodson is well-known for her books & workshops, which together have taught countless women how to masturbate (without guilt). Dell Williams facilitated that process by opening Eve’s Garden, a store where women could buy vibrators & be educated about their use in a safe, non-sleazy environment. Now, we take these things for granted, but back in the 60’s & 70’s, this was very, very radical stuff, bound up intrinsically with the women’s rights movement. Betty and Dell are in their 70’s and 80’s respectively, and while Betty in particular continues to be very active and Eve’s Garden is still open, it was absolutely wonderful to see them there, at the premiere of a movie that places them in their proper historical context. Unfortunately, one of the women whose story was featured could not be in attendance. This woman, the most solid citizen you can imagine, sold vibrators in Texas, one of four states which still prohibits the sale of sex toys. Without giving away all of her story, I can tell you that it ended badly, and the filmmakers told us that they have no idea where she is today.

You can read more about the film, and buy a copy of it, here:
http://www.technologyoforgasm.com/index.asp

For more on Betty Dodson, see her website (note: contains explicit sexual material some may find offensive):
www.bettydodson.com

And to explore Eve’s Garden:
www.evesgarden.com

HELP US BUILD OUR LIBRARY!

2007-10-07T23:41:00.000-04:00

The Fertility Awareness Center would love to have a copy of Passion and Power: The Technology of Orgasm for our library!

Can you help us out? A copy costs $30. Donations received beyond the cost of the film will go toward other library purchases. Just put “library” in the comments section of PayPal, or in the memo line of your check. Thank you!

(1) http://www.paypal.com

Our address for sending donations via PayPal is admin@fertaware.com

(2) or use our snailmail address:

Fertility Awareness Center
PO Box 1190
New York, NY 10009-1190

US Statistics re Sex Education

2007-10-07T23:38:00.001-04:00

Percentage of teens receiving formal education regarding birth control:
1995 – 87%
2002 – 70%

Percentage of teens receiving abstinence-only sex education (no information regarding contraception):
1995 – 8%
2002 – 21% of females, 24% of males

Percentage of sex education instructors teaching abstinence as only way to prevent pregnancy and STIs:
1988 – 2%
1999 – 25%

Percentage of Americans who believe that students should be taught about both abstinence as well as other methods of preventing pregnancy and STIs:
82%

Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute

The Vagina Festival

2007-10-07T23:30:00.002-04:00

In addition to the aforementioned benefit, Ilene also participated in the Vagina Festival. The Vagina Festival was a performance and art event that took place February 16-18, 2007, at the Agni Gallery, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Organized by Alexandra Jacoby, the Vagina Festival was held in conjunction with V-Day, an enormous project born out of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues which focuses on ending violence against women. Two performances of the Vagina Monologues took place at the Vagina Festival. I was one of several presenters who did informational, as opposed to arts, presentations. I gave a short introduction to Fertility Awareness, entitled “Do You Know What’s In Your Underwear?” It was a unique and fun experience to give my talk in the presence of 60 or so V-Portraits, photos of vulvas, taken by Alexandra. She is working on a book of these portraits. For more info about her work, and to learn about upcoming exhibitions, see her extensive website:
http://www.vaginaverite.com/

For info on Vag Fest 2008, visit the website and sign up for the mailing list:
http://www.vaginafestival.com/index.html

(Astute readers of the vaginaverite website will notice that Alexandra often uses the word “vagina” instead of the anatomically correct term “vulva.” We have had extensive & interesting conversations about this and she discusses this on the anatomy page of her website.)