Well, the French should be commended for more than just having good wine and a healthy taste for smelly cheeses...they are funding perineal 're-education' for postnatal mums. Perineal re-education? That's right. Classes to strengthen the pelvic floor. For many women, this is a particular poignant reminder of childbirth as weakened pelvic floor muscles can lead to leaking from a stretched birth canal. American doctors tell women to do Kegel exercises; the French fund 10 sessions with a specialist. According to the New York Times:
"France spent $3,464 per person on health care in 2004, compared with $6,096 in the United States, according to the World Health Organization. Yet Frenchmen live on average two years longer than American men do, and Frenchwomen live four years longer. The infant mortality rate in France is 43 percent lower than in the United States."
What a fantastic idea! I have heard countless stories from women in my study who have experienced embarassing instances of leaking. Moreover, this is one of the reasons many women want to have elective caesars; the fear of perineal trauma. Surely, this would be a great way to look after women post-natally and take care of one of the niggling issues of birth that is rarely talked about.
I think writer Pamela Druckerman sums it up the best:
"This American has certainly been converted. Do I want the government in my crotch? Of course I do. "
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/opinion/13druckerman.html?_r=1&ei=5070&oref=slogin
Why pregnant women don't tip over
According to the New York Times, researchers from Harvard and the University of Texas, women have evolved a stronger, more flexible spine in order to accommodate pregnancy. Katherine K. Whitcome, a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard and the lead author of the paper, saysthe lumbar, or lower back, curve in women extends across three vertebrae, as opposed to just two in men. And the connecting points between vertebrae are relatively larger in women, and shaped differently in ways that make the stack more stable and less prone to the bones shifting out of alignment or breaking. Without this adaptation, pregnancy would be alot more painful. Even more interesting, this particular adaptation is no present in chimps so it must have something to do with walking upright.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/science/12cnd-pregnant.html?em&ex=1197781200&en=9ee163509360e953&ei=5087
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/science/12cnd-pregnant.html?em&ex=1197781200&en=9ee163509360e953&ei=5087
At Your Cervix: a documentary about pelvic exams
That's right, pelvic exams. We've all had them. I think every woman can attest to the discomfort, pain and relative humiliation of cold steel and stirrups that comprise a trip to the gynecologist. A new documentary is revealing the experience of pelvic exams as disempowering for women and how the medical system needs to change:
"At Your Cervix breaks the silence around the unethical methods used by medical and nursing schools to teach students how to perform pelvic exams; the most egregious being on unconsenting, anaesthetized women. At the same time, the film highlights the Gynecological Teaching Associate (GTA) Program in New York City. Fuelled by the spirit of women’s health activism, the GTA program began over 30 years ago and it has been shown to be the most effective way to teach exams and is also the most ethical and empowering to women"
You can watch the trailer for the doco here: http://www.atyourcervixmovie.com/
This looks really exciting and the filmmakers are in need of donations for editing and costs of production. Donate in the name of your favourite feminist friend for Christmas!
Who needs a mother when mechanical hands can look after your baby?
"Behold the Zaky Infact Pillow. "Zaky -- It's Like Leaving a Part of You with Your Baby." It's $38.95 at the Pregnancy Store."If you’ve ever wished for a “hand” to leave behind so that your baby would feel as if you’ve never left the room, your prayers have been answered with the Zaky.
I don't know if anyone else finds this sort of disembodied motherhood disturbing but apparently the manufacturer of the 'Zaky' thinks that a pair of hands that cradle your baby is equivalent to skin-to-skin contact with mum.
"The Zaky is also great when you have to leave your baby with someone else -- at your baby’s daycare facility, when he stays with a babysitter, or goes to visit his grandparents. The Zaky will provide a constant and familiar support giving your baby a sense of security. The Zaky also assists the caregivers on positioning your baby and your baby will feel and smell mom. "
This is the more disturbing part...women can 'scent' the hands so they smell like a human being. What's next? A pair of mechanical breasts that replace a mother's own?
Sam Taylor-Wood shows off her post-baby body
Artist Sam Taylor-Wood, 40, poses in the latest 'Body' issue of Harper's Bazaar along with a batch of other celebrity women to talk about their relationships with their bodies.
She says the best thing about her body is "the fact it has coped with and fought two different cancers and produced two beautiful children".
Source:
Celebrating body hatred: The 'Mummy Makeover'
A recent survey in Britain among new mothers found that one in four was considering cosmetic surgery to restore their pre-pregnancy figure. Three-quarters said they were shocked by the effect of pregnancy on their bodies, and almost all said they were repelled when they saw their stretch marks, flabby stomachs and sagging breasts. Well, folks. Hating your post-baby body has official gone transnational. Thanks to the 'Mummy Makeover' cosmetic surgery packages (liposuction, tummy tuck, breast augmentation) sweeping the US and Australia, British women are hopping on the nip/tuck bandwagon.
I find it extremely discomfiting that cosmetic surgery procedures are treated as mundane or routine as a manicure or hair cut. As Jennifer Cognard-Black argues in Ms Magazine, 'choice' is often used in reference to women and cosmetic surgery as a way of sidetracking the more significant underlying issues.
"The word "choice" obviously plays on reproductive-rights connotations, so that consumers will trust that they are maintaining autonomy over their bodies. Yet one choice goes completely unmentioned: The choice not to consider cosmetic surgery at all."
Sure, having a 'flabby' belly post-baby is no walk in the park and who can blame women for feeling as though their self-image has taken a huge hit?! But, since when is it okay to tell women that they should pay alot of money to have the fat sucked out of their thighs just because they gave birth?
Recent media stories suggesting plastic surgery and 'Mummy Makeovers' are the new feminist aesthetic is more problematic than perhaps I'm willing to discuss. In light of the plethora of makeover shows, the constant barrage of celebrity body 'enhancement' stories in the tabloids, and the thriving weight loss industry in America it is no wonder that new mums think that if they only lose a few extra kilos or just get their thighs a bit thinner or have perkier breasts, they will be happy. In my opinion, the 'Mummy Makeover' is the latest capitalist salve for antenatal depression that often goes undiagnosed during pregnancy and continues postnatally. Losing weight and looking good don't go very far if you still have a baby that wont stop crying or a husband that can't seem to do his share. Cosmetic surgery for women has become normalised. It is NOT 'normal' to cut up your body. The desire for homogeneity, for all women to look the same, slim hips, smooth skin and no 'fat', is a blatant attempt to de-individualise women and we should all be angry and not complicit.
Pregnancy and obesity: moral panic?
"Obesity is one of the "greatest threats" to women of childbearing age in the UK, experts have warned. A new report showed that more than half of women who die in pregnancy or shortly after birth are overweight or obese.
These women are putting themselves and their babies at risk of complications that could lead to death, the study warned."
The Guardian reports (again) that obese women are in essence, selfish for 1) getting pregnant 2) even attempting to give birth. Whilst there are plenty of medical studies reporting the risks inherent in obesity for both pregnant and non-pregnant women alike, I find it particularly troubling that no one bothers to report the immense health risks implicit in both the British and American maternity systems. Sure, being overweight can complicate your birth...but so can over-monitoring, unnecessary medical intervention, 'elective' caesarean and induction. Overweight women have unnecessarily been dealt the bad hand when it comes to prenatal care. It is hard enough for overweight pregnant women to find a doctor or midwife that will look after them without suggesting that they lose weight before the birth. Moreover, the idea that obese women are knowingly putting their unborn children in danger by even wanting to become mothers is offensive. In addition, what the reports fail to mention in their vague soundbites is that the 'obese' women who are at most risk are refugee and immigrant or poor women who have little access to quality maternity care. This little bit of information completely changes the timbre of the original report.
Of course women who have poor health care are going to be more at risk; obesity only compounds the risk. Obesity, on its own, does not necessarily produce a higher maternal mortality rates. If you look at the maternal morality rates among Anglo-Celtic and African-American women in the US, the disparity is astounding and the difference really comes down to prenatal health care (not the amount of weight gained). There are plenty of 'healthy' fat people in this world. Obesity is not necessarily a cause of maternal mortality; fatness is inconvenient for doctors and big women are and always will be a problem for hospitals that do not have the facilities to look after these 'special' cases.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-7124334,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/dec/04/health
These women are putting themselves and their babies at risk of complications that could lead to death, the study warned."
The Guardian reports (again) that obese women are in essence, selfish for 1) getting pregnant 2) even attempting to give birth. Whilst there are plenty of medical studies reporting the risks inherent in obesity for both pregnant and non-pregnant women alike, I find it particularly troubling that no one bothers to report the immense health risks implicit in both the British and American maternity systems. Sure, being overweight can complicate your birth...but so can over-monitoring, unnecessary medical intervention, 'elective' caesarean and induction. Overweight women have unnecessarily been dealt the bad hand when it comes to prenatal care. It is hard enough for overweight pregnant women to find a doctor or midwife that will look after them without suggesting that they lose weight before the birth. Moreover, the idea that obese women are knowingly putting their unborn children in danger by even wanting to become mothers is offensive. In addition, what the reports fail to mention in their vague soundbites is that the 'obese' women who are at most risk are refugee and immigrant or poor women who have little access to quality maternity care. This little bit of information completely changes the timbre of the original report.
Of course women who have poor health care are going to be more at risk; obesity only compounds the risk. Obesity, on its own, does not necessarily produce a higher maternal mortality rates. If you look at the maternal morality rates among Anglo-Celtic and African-American women in the US, the disparity is astounding and the difference really comes down to prenatal health care (not the amount of weight gained). There are plenty of 'healthy' fat people in this world. Obesity is not necessarily a cause of maternal mortality; fatness is inconvenient for doctors and big women are and always will be a problem for hospitals that do not have the facilities to look after these 'special' cases.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-7124334,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/dec/04/health
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