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This is an ongoing contest for dominance of behavioural and personality characteristics between genetic and environmental influences.
 * Week 1-- Is it nature or nurture that defines women to be more subordinate and have fewer aspirations than men? **

I too have often pondered over this growing up with my twin brother. I loved barbies and he loved cars but personality wise we were both very shy, at times reserved and clam children. And I believe this was due to our environment: our mum is very quiet, calm and gentle nature and we have learned this from her and we often balanced each other out. Gender didn’t play a role in our ranks; we shared everything and grew up to be slightly different versions of each other.

In this case, I would definitely have to say that nurture is much more dominant than nature- without completely ruling out the important influence of nature. As young children we chose our own respective paths, likes and dislikes but remained very similar in our personalities. And it is our personalities that determine why we are they way we are, the way we think and do things, how we apply ourselves and OUR ASPIRATIONS. Because we do all have them!

I also found a very interesting experiment that shows a fostered finch bird developing non-genetically transmitted personality characteristics from their foster parents and their environment. This new research is now raising questions about personality inheritance in humans.

[]

This may be news to some but others have known this all along. **// “There is no such thing as an inheritance of capacity, talent, temperament, mental constitution and characteristics. These things depend on training that goes on mainly in the cradle.” //**(Watson, 1924) I believe that aspiration is trained. Children are very observant and learn this from their parents, siblings and their environment. If this positive reinforcement is encouraged at a young age, gender bias __should not__ exist in determining one’s degree of aspiration. But should help women overcome socialistic stereotypes and subordinate gender roles resulting in a more confident pursuit of aspiration.

=**Week 2-- Poise Vs. Stance**= The role of women and expectations of how women should behave have been set down by society. Society is a system, which requires structure and order to place people into categories of gender that are determined by a specific criteria of characteristics. Some of these characteristics for women include being quite and restrained, taking up less space and less risk, putting others ahead of themselves, having poise and sitting cross-legged or "lady-like". This is usually engrained into us at such an early age as boys are allowed to run around, yell and play much moreaggressively than girls. Childhood is the time for us to experiment, learn and most importantly venture out of our comfort zones tonew things and grow into confident and equal individuals. By encouraging girls to be submissive and subordinate and to conform to society's vision of gender stereotyping we are practicing and condoning sex suppression. Girls are born with as much potential and opportunity as boys and it is up to the previous generation to encourage equality and not to take away that potential and confidence.

Amy Cuddy (Associate Professor of Business Administration at Hellman Faculty Fellow) recently appeared on TED with her brilliant work on comparing two critical traits of warmth/trustworthiness and competence/power, which are often used to describe the difference between gender, and how these traits shape social interactions that will inevitably lead to success or failure. Cuddy empowers women to "act powerfully in order to think powerfully". She assure us that dominance, power and success is all about "power poising" and encourages women to fake it until they make it.

http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html
The fact that women are told to sit cross-legged, be polite and quiet and to take up less space, they are really being told to take an inferior and less dominant position. Women are therefore being told by society to stand inferior to men by assuming such closed, small stances and positions and being poise, but poise is not dominating it is submissive.

What I have taken from this TED talk is that power is portrayed in one's body language and shines through personality and confidence and is not determined by our, as Julie-Anne calls them "bits" :). Girls need to be encouraged to be confident, to assume strong stances, be louder and be counted.

=Week 3-- What's this ad about?= Women's bodies have always been open for scrutiny and objectification in the public setting by the media. The media has always scrutinised those women's bodies that don't fit the society's constructed ideals and objectifies the ones they believe are acceptable and attractive. So unfortunately women can't seem to catch a break!

The objectification of women comes with media and marketing that use women's bodies as a means of selling. And what better way to sell anything then by accompanying the item with something outrageous and eye catching...like sex. This is normally in the form of an object that is a woman's body. The relevance of the woman or sex to the item on sale does not seem to matter, which I find strange.

Take the Guess ad for example: I notice the woman half naked and the man with her intimately and would not say it had anything to do with Guess clothes and accessories because they are barley wearing anything. So why women? why all the sex?

@http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2040218/Sex-DOES-sell-Attractive-men-women-ads-affect-capacity-rational-thought.html

The above is an article from the online UK Mail supports research that "seeing an attractive man or woman in an advert excites the areas of the brain that make us buy on impulse, bypassing the sections which control rational thought". Ok,that answers the sex? But why the sexism?

The Apology episode of Seinfeld delves into a "good naked and a bad naked", where it is ok for women but not for men to be naked and be seen. Elaine calls it a "work of art": @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9v8hcAezkk

Ill take the compliment but that still doesn't justify the media and society objectifying women as sex objects for the mere purpose of marketing and selling. Especially when there are significant health repercussions to women's health as a result particularly mental health. I would think the men would feel the same if the roles were reversed.

=

= =Week 4-- To abort or not to?= When are we ready to have a baby? If we are not ready, for whatever reason, is it ok to terminate? I think yes! Pregnancy is physically, mentally and in some cases socially straining on the woman and HER body. As it is her body I feel it is only fair to give her complete control over it.

Last I checked we weren't living in a dictatorship. So who is Tony Abbott really to say what women should and shouldn't be doing with bodies. His comments regarding abortion being the //easy way out// and the //unspeakable shame// on the rates in 2004, could only be the comments of a closed minded and ignorant person. And it is those men in high power that dictate and influence the population to think like they do. These individuals are usually in well off circumstances and like to trivialise the stress and trauma some women experience during an unplanned pregnancy and their own moral dilemmas on whether or not to abort. These men in power seem to think it would be an easy decision for them to make and that it is all so black and white- I mean I've seen the movie //Saw// and I thought I could cut off my own leg to survive... But in reality its not that simple.

magazine published 'The 10 Dumbest Things Ever Said About Abortion and Women's Rights' by men in power, which is just interesting to read and just makes you think, how so ignorant?

"Women shouldn't terminate pregnancies resulting from rape because it's what God intended."
Read more: [|http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-ten-dumbest-things-ever-said-about-abortion-and-womens-rights-20130715#ixzz2bqA29rS0]

To that I say... Are you serious??

Abbott's overall message targeted women as shameful criminals. And here I thought sex and making a baby involved TWO people; so why then does all the blame and all the unspeakable shame fall on the woman. The man can choose to be a father to the child but the mother cannot. Making abortions legal is about giving that power back to the women and creating gender equality; and equality can only be met by equity. Equity is about giving people what they need and not what is considered fair.

Women are given a little more (choice of abortion) to ensure they have a choice about whether they want to enter parenthood just like men have the same choice and voila... we have equality!
“No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body.” ― Margaret Sanger

=Week 5 -- The Powerful World of Fashion.= Fashion is primarily a women's industry and it is safe to say that the majority of the power is controlled by very high up, influential women. Whether these women are the designers, models or brand ambassadors, they are the one's that set the fashion, trends and set ideals for the perfect woman. These ideals are always in our faces- on the media, advertised in the streets, in magazines and in social situations. We literally cannot escape!

[[image:futuristic-window-mannequins.jpg width="208" height="298" align="left"]]
It is such a shame that the ideals being presented to the rest of the women in society are so unrealistic, unattainable and un-human that all we mere mortals are left with is body and self loathing and constant dissatisfaction. The fashion industry consistently presents photoshopped images and ideals of what is healthy and how girls and women should look. When realistically some of the images are really not healthy at all. In fact this is quite detrimental to health both physically affecting the whole body and mentally increasing depression, mood swings and poor cognitive function, not to mention the ongoing self-esteem issues related to emotional health.



Fortunately, it is great to hear Dr Angela Dwyer tells us today that through her investigations into some of Australia's top modelling agencies do not hire and therefore encourage girls and women as models that are too skinny. And also agree with the results from her focus group that photo-edited pictures should have warnings particularly for the younger girls. And Internationally; a Brazilian modelling agency //Star Models// has released a series of new anti-anorexia advertisements that aim to create awareness of the dangers of adhering to the fashion industry's ideals. So it is good to see how some parts of the industry are trying to pave the way for more positive body image and proving that health and fashion can work together. Read the article: http://www.psmag.com/culture/the-fashion-industry-institutionalization-feminine-beauty-body-ideals-59207/

=Week 6-- Is Pregnancy a Disease?= Pregnancy can be considered within two philosophies as being //medical// or //non-medical.// These two categories for pregnancy I believe, are the very ideas of what pregnancy is to women and what pregnancy is to the society. Pregnancy from a woman's or mother's perspective is stimulated by emotion of the significance of the event in a woman's life. Where as society's perspective portrays pregnancy as emotionally uninvolved procedure of giving birth and the word //procedure// is usually followed by the word //medical.// This type of terminology takes away from the idea that pregnancy is an important stage or path in a woman's life if they choose to follow it and instead it confines it to a disease or condition. And conditions and diseases usually require treatment. Just for clarification I typed "what is pregnancy" into the dictionary and this is what I found: Portraying pregnancy as a condition, problem or disease can in turn result in complications that may or may have been occurred otherwise, as defined in the lecture. However, there is some sense to all the jargon. By having pregnancy medically monitored unforeseen complications can be detected and resolved earlier. The efficacy of medical interventions in pregnancy is truly evident in the maternal health statistics comparing developed countries with the opportunity for medical interventions and the developing countries that do not have this choice.

So in conclusion, I think a balance is in order! Medical intervention is important for ensuring mother and baby health and reducing unforeseen complications without forgetting what pregnancy really is to the mother as a human and as a person, whatever it may be to each individual woman.

=Week 7--Gender and Health= Gender is set by the society and culture based on values and norms. And with the label of gender, comes roles and responsibilities that are engraved into us. Often we hear that women live longer than men (for whatever reason) and this often leads to an assumption that women are //healthy// and eludes to the idea that we are have evolved to a time where there is health equality. Unfortunately this isn't the case. The roles of gender in society and culture affect women's health by means that are often forgotten or un-thought of. The World Health Organisation recognises some of these gender related factors that impact on women's health to be:
 * Limited access to health care in countries where women are not allowed to travel alone (due to cultural reasons) and receive medical care or treatment.
 * The cultural and societal norms and double standards that allow the husband, of a young women, to be promiscuous and infect her with HIV.

This may just sound like issues in a developing country, however is any country really, completely developed. In Australia we have pockets of communities that are affected by health inequality including the low socioeconomic groups and the Indigenous communities. And within these communities women generally suffer greater health inequalities than men.



Gender equality will be a difficult to achieve. However it is vital to the health of women both physical and mental. Fortunately this is one of the priorities of the Millennium Development Goals that aim to empower women and improve the level and quality of education young women and girls receive to provide them with the best opportunities.

On a side note: I found this article very interesting on "why women live longer than men?" Which states that it may be due to iron deficiencies (because of our menstrual cycle) that causes us to develop chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease much later in life. @http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1827162,00.html

“He is a gentleman, and I am a gentleman's daughter. So far we are equal.” ― Jane Austen, // Pride and Prejudice //

=Week 8-- Violence against strong women= Violence against women is a very confronting and real topic. Violence and abuse in relationships come in many forms and can lead the victims physically, mentally and emotionally drained and battered. Many women can't leave these relationships for various reasons. And in the context of public health, poverty is a vital determinant that is often overlooked and forgotten about. Women that feel they cannot leave their abusive relationships due to financial dependence and insecurity. The question of why victims don't leave is frequently asked by those who cannot empathise and often don't understand.

The TED talk by Leslie Morgan was a real story and an inspiring one. Leslie talks about why she as a victim of domestic violence could not leave and answers the question "Why victims don't leave?" They don't leave because they can't. Leslie talks about crazy love, where the she was in denial and stayed with a man that abused her and threatened her life and could not leave because she believed it was out of love. It was a very eye opening story for me in the sense that she was a strong and independent woman who at the thought of finding a 'soul mate' lost her sense of self and sacrificed her career in New York (which was her dream and something she worked very hard for). This idea of finding love is something that is very alluring to women and this can is where excuses are made and crazy love kicks in. The talk by Leslie Morgan clearly shows that domestic violence does not stereotype by race, culture or social class and power. Abuse and domestic violence can affect even strong, independent, powerful and influential women.

Recently, news wide photos were publicised of Nigella, the celebrity TV chef, physically abused by her husband in a very public place. These photos were quite recent but how long could Nigella have been dealing with this sort of thing behind closed doors.

And in the past, these photos of singer Rihanna were released after the brutal attack by her partner Chris Brown. She has now reconciled with him and they are back together. Could this be a part of the abuse cycle? Could this be a perfect example of crazy love?

=Week 9-- How identity impacts the health of Aboriginal women= Health for an Aboriginal woman does not only consist of the physical, mental and emotional aspects, but extends to cultural and spiritual wellbeing and a sense of wholeness within a community. Identity overlaps with the health aspects of cultural and emotional wellbeing and a sense of wholeness as part of a community. Having a sense of identity as an Aboriginal woman comes from the culture and the connectedness within a community, which in themselves must be healthy to reflect on the health of the woman. The //Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies// (AIATSIS) refer to autonomy as a necessity as part of their identity that allows the Aborigines to go from "being looked after to looking after others". This autonomy is related to culture and tradition awareness, practice and connectedness. The AIATSIS identifies this lack of connectedness as causation to substance abuse, violence and overall disconnect.

__The ABS reports on:__
** INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S PERCEIVED HEALTH RISK FACTORS(a), 1994 ** || || || (a) Refers to the proportion in each age group who perceived the health risk factors listed to be a problem in their local area. People could identify more than one risk factor. Percentage calculations exclude perceived health risk factors not stated. Data exclude prisoners. (b) Total people who identified each health risk factor as a problem in their local area.
 * [[image:http://www.abs.gov.au/icons/ecblank.gif width="1" height="1"]] || ** Alcohol ** || ** Drugs ** || ** Diet/nutrition ** || ** Other substances ** ||
 * ** Age ** || ** % ** || ** % ** || ** % ** || ** % ** ||
 * 13-17 || 49.5  ||  30.0  ||  12.2  ||  4.9  ||
 * 18-24 || 63.4  ||  32.8  ||  16.3  ||  4.8  ||
 * 25-34 || 61.5  ||  31.4  ||  21.2  ||  6.0  ||
 * 35-44 || 62.6  ||  33.0  ||  25.7  ||  6.4  ||
 * 45-54 || 58.1  ||  28.7  ||  24.7  ||  8.0  ||
 * 55-64 || 56.9  ||  21.2  ||  22.7  ||  3.7 ** * ** ||
 * 65 & over || 51.9  ||  16.8  ||  17.0  ||  3.2 ** * ** ||
 * [[image:http://www.abs.gov.au/icons/ecblank.gif width="1" height="1"]] ||
 * ** Total ** || ** 59.1 ** || ** 30.3 ** || ** 19.7 ** || ** 5.6 ** ||
 * [[image:http://www.abs.gov.au/icons/ecblank.gif width="1" height="1"]] ||
 * [[image:http://www.abs.gov.au/icons/ecblank.gif width="1" height="1"]] || '000  ||  '000  ||  '000  ||  '000  ||
 * ** Total(b) ** || ** 114.3 ** || ** 58.6 ** || ** 38.0 ** || ** 10.8 ** ||

__And:__
Source: 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, 2007–08 National Health Survey
 * CURRENT DAILY SMOKERS, by **** Indigenous status—2008 **

It is clear that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have some of the highest rates of engaging in risky health behaviours that can impact on their health. So could this be due to a lack of identity? It is important for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, particularly women to have a strong sense of identity not only to prevent them in engaging in unhealthy behaviours that could be decremental to their health but also to create a healthy culture and tradition rich environment for their young girls to grow up in.

Find the (AIATSIS) report here: //Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies //

=Week 10-- Healthy ageing women= As a population we are living longer than ever before, which the AIHW predicts to be 84 years for women. We are living longer now that we have decades and centuries ago and we have science, advanced technology and medicine to thank for that. However, it has turned out to be a doubled edged sword as living longer is accompanied with its own set of diseases and risk factors. One of the major and most common issues for women is the risk of osteoporosis. Based on the research by Osteoporosis Australia, osteoporosis affects 1 million Australians that makes the bones more fragile and increases risk of fractures and breaks. Osteoporosis, as well as many other chronic diseases are preventable through lifestyle modifications. As noted in the lecture, there are things you can change and things you can't change.

__You Can't Change:__ -Your gender -Age including menopause -Family History -Physical build -Your race (Asian or Caucasian)

__You Can Change:__ -Diet -Low physical activity -Smoking status -Amount of alcohol you drink -Have more thank 4 cups of coffee daily = = The lecture also discussed the bone life cycle, which made me think about early prevention in life. As young people we often don't think about the future chronic disease prevention strategies because we are too focused on the here and now. However, it is always good to have a lecture about ageing and health to redirect some of my priorities. It usually doesn't take much, just simple lifestyle changes such as making time to go for a jog or walk and diet modifications such as drinking that glass of milk.

=Week 11-- Why do lesbians need to come out?= There was no lecture this week, however I thought this topic would still be interesting to write about. The question that made me stop and think was //Why do lesbians need to come out?// Straight or heterosexual women don't need to stand up and announce to the world they are straight nor are they asked or persuaded that it is just a phase. Why does the public need to know? And why does it matter really if the individual is a good person?

The lecture notes showed that lesbians have been around since ancient roman times where they were treated, not much differently than today, as oddities. Whether you are looking at the theory of creationism or Darwin's theory of evolution, we can basically conclude that humans have evolved since our first day on earth and will most likely continue to evolve. So how can we be so primitive in not acknowledging same sex relationships? Same sex relationships have been around a long time (since ancient times) and still people cannot come to terms with accepting the difference and valuing that difference. I know I have come across many people that would say 'why would they need to hide? they need to come out so other people know.' Why do they need to tell everyone? (Studying women's health this semester has really changed me to be questioning). Coming out seems to be more for the benefit for the public because for some reason people need to know. And this //need// //to// //know// business leads me only to believe that people are still uncomfortable around lesbians and gays despite what they might say. There is a lot of pressure on people to be defined in society and if the norm is not met than these people are discriminated against. The video below is of an anti-gay add; which tries to convince the audience against gay marriage in such a ridiculous and un-logical way that it is comical.

media type="youtube" key="6jrngYNGNeE" width="560" height="315"

Gay and lesbian couples are subjects of emotional, mental, physical and social discrimination and bullying. These are all linked to 'coming out' about their sexual orientations. Lesbians as a result have some of the highest rates of mental disorders including depression, high rates of smoking, alcohol and drugs use and are more likely to self harm (Better Health Victorian Government). As individuals in society we need to be open to the idea of 'different' and accept the uniqueness of these differences to change societal views.

=Week 12-- Not what the doctor prescribed= In women's health the topic of mental health is a significant one. Women suffer from higher rates of depression and anxiety than men. These stem from a range of determinants including physical, mental and emotional violence, discrimination and inequalities (Department of Health Victoria). Since the beginning women and women's bodies were not well understood and therefore deemed as diseased, ill, poisoned by the devil and dangerous. And therefore treatment has always been prescribed. In the 1800's women were diagnosed and treated for hysteria, in the 1950's women who were depressed in their joyless middle class life took valium to deal with it and this continued through to the 1990's. And even today many women self medicate to deal with stress in their daily lives. I have observed this first hand working in a pharmacy. I have found that women more so than men tend to purchase over the counter pain killers with a calmatives (clams you down and relaxes you) to help them sleep after a long day at work. Another medicating trend that has not slowed down is the use and over use of diet pills. The first available and proven diet pills were amphetamines which stimulated the metabolism and suppressed appetite in the 1950's. These were used and abused as many women became heavily dependent. And now the latest drug on the market is Xenical which stops the absorption of fats in the intestines by blocking fat receptors. The trend of self and over medicating doesn't seem to be slowing down. This has always been the norm and women have always had great access to all types of medications to treat their mental, emotional and physical health problems. But as science advances (as it has in the past, which came with restrictions of amphetamines) we become aware of the dangers of drugs. So in the long-term all this self medicating is contributing to more harm than good. I think women need to stop accepting diagnosis and diagnostic labelling because they are not diseased.

N7358687
I recently came across a great wiki and left this comment:

//Hey. Love your wiki. I found it all very critical and nicely accompanied with images.//

//I particularly found your week 10 entry about age and how it affects women very interesting. Its such a shame there is such a stigma around this, its the society's perception that men grow wiser and better with age and women just get old.//

//great work//

I especially like this post about women and ageing and how many women feel anxious about their age and letting people know how old they are. There is such a negative stigma around this topic as if once you turn a certain age you lose all value in society and can be disposed of. Which I find very upsetting as women are and always have been valuable members in their partnerships, families, communities and societies.

In conclusion:

//**“Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.”**//

//**― Cheris Kramarae **//