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Those with a lower socioeconomic status are less likely to be physically active and have a higher chance of being obese. They are more likely to have an unhealthy lifestyle and no or almost no education. A poor lifestyle has been linked to the lack of education as those with a higher education are more likely to live longer and have a better lifestyle. How is it that those with a poor socioeconomic status can’t afford a healthy lifestyle or be physically active, but got the money for regular smoking?

These are questions which can’t be answered without thorough research, but we know that everything is connected with knowledge and education. How can they improve their lifestyle if they don’t know how or even what the unhealthy lifestyle is doing with their health? It’s all about reaching out those who struggle and informing them of the risks and what they can do to improve their health.

It’s important to consider the ‘who’ and ‘where’ before designing a health program as well as the social and cultural differences. Easy measures that can be done; Let them know how easy it is to be physically active and that it does not have to cost a thing other than some will power. What about talking a walk around your neighbourhood- and bring along other women! Let them know about easy measures that can be done for improving their diet, what they could replace and let them know that it does not have to be more expensive as long as you plan far ahead. This is of course just some simple measures that has to be planned out to each specific group and individual, but this gives an idea of my thoughts about how we should reach out to women who needs to improve their lifestyle.





Baby blues!
In this lecture we mentioned baby blues and depression connected to baby birth. As mentioned earlier giving birth is one of my biggest fears and getting postpartum depression is one of the reasons for why it scares me so. Many women suffers from it and I could never imagine wanting to hurt my own child or even kill it. Even though the headline for today’s wiki says baby blues (which isn’t that serious at all) it is the postpartum depression that scares me. The fact that you can do something that you normally never would think about doing is so off to me.

If you get postpartum depression it might lead to postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder. These thoughts arise spontaneously in the first couple of weeks after giving birth. Most commonly, they focus on harming the baby somehow, such as stabbing the baby with knives or putting the baby in the oven. Some also perform ritualistic behaviors to protect themselves from having bad thoughts. They may hide the knives or avoid the kitchen in an effort to ward off thoughts of harming the baby. Some women may avoid basic care, refusing to bathe their baby out of fear of thoughts about death by drowning.

The thought of disliking Your own child from the day it's born untill the end of time seems unreal to me and I'm terrified of ending up doing so. There are so many things that scares me when it comes to adjusting to the New life of motherhood and I think to get passed it I have to get more knowledge of it all, or just learn not to worry about stuff that might not even happen.

Some facts about it:

What is postpartum depression? Postpartum depression can begin any time during the first two months after you give birth. Symptoms may include: Some women with PPD believe they can't adequately care for their baby or may harm their baby.
 * Irritability or hypersensitivity
 * Difficulty concentrating
 * Anxiety and worry
 * Crying or tearfulness
 * Anger
 * Negative feelings such as sadness, hopelessness, helplessness, or guilt
 * Loss of interest in activities you usually enjoy
 * Difficulty sleeping (especially returning to sleep)
 * Fatigue or exhaustion
 * Changes in appetite or eating habits
 * Headaches, stomachaches, muscle or backaches

Healthy aging for women and osteoporosis
When women age, we got a lot of health factors to think about- osteoporosis being one of them. When women reach menopause we lose more bone mass then usual which increases the risk of osteoporosis. The risk of osteoporosis increases if you are smoking, drinking, having a thin body composition and a bad diet.

My grandmother passed away a couple of years ago due to osteoporosis. This made me realise how important it is to be aware of this. I’ve seen how the body changes from being healthy- to breaking a bone just by lying in the bed. It was hard seeing my grandmother in such pain and her passing might have been for the best as she struggled so much with this. It had a huge impact on my grandfather as well (who is still alive) as he had to see his love of his life go through with every symptom that osteoporosis have to offer. Because this have made me so aware of what might happen to me later in life, I have knowingly increased my calcium intake as well as vitamin D.

Women should be aware of every health risk there is, especially the ones who is at higher risk when we age. Women should get enough knowledge about having a good diet that suits their needs and body- like having enough calcium and vitamin D to reduce the bone loss. There are a lot of factors to keep in mind when reading about healthy aging and by researching this further- every woman can get help in small steps, usually by the government who has a lot of tips and tricks.



Unisex restrooms
Is unisex restroom in school something we should promote or refuse? Two schools in Tasmania have started using standalone unisex toilets as part of a strategy to reduce bullying. But is it really the unisex toilet that is reducing bullying?

"Previously transgender students who felt uncomfortable with toilets segregated by gender had been given a key to a staff toilet. Now any student at the school who feels comfortable using a unisex toilet will be able to access one. ‘I did not drink liquids from the hours of 6 am and 3:30 pm,’ Morrison said. ‘If I had to drink something, I’d go into the women’s bathroom. I would rather feel kind of unpleasant [in there] than terrified in the men's bathroom.’ For students like Morrison, 17, not having unisex bathrooms created a distraction. He couldn’t always concentrate at school. He had to strategically plot out his day, including figuring out if he could hold it long enough after school to make it home to the bathroom."

Many children are born as a transgender, which is a state of one’s gender identity not matching one’s assigned sex. Having a unisex toilet in school might have a huge effect on transgender children, as they might experience bullying.

In Colorado, for example, a six-year-old transgender girl was forbidden from using the girl’s bathroom at her public school because officials said other students would be uncomfortable with her presence in the female restroom. Her parents took her out of school and filed a discrimination report against the school. Experts say the attention on such cases helps with understanding, especially when it comes to the media. “Not long ago, we saw almost uniformly negative coverage of transgender people. While we still need to do a lot of work, the fact that we’re seeing more balanced coverage is a huge step forward,” says Tara Borelli, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal, a Los Angeles law firm that specializes in gay, lesbian and transgender issues.

This is a hard topic in many ways as it would affect someone one way or the other.

“I would rather be a person than a gender,” - Westphal

Parental leave
I have to admit that I became quite proud of my home country (Norway) when it got mentioned in today's lecture. Norway allows both parents to share the 46 weeks of full payed leave and that 12 of those weeks must be taken by the father. I feel like we might have taken a step further than many other countries.

It's important to let the father have time with the new born so they can create a stronger bond with each other. Many fathers might want to take the time off, but others might feel it's the women's job (which I feel is kind of old fashion thinking). By having to "force" the father to use those 12 weeks, it gives them the opportunity to take a part of the whole situation, and even give the mother some space from it all to do her own thing- which I think is important. One of the nicest things I see when walking in Norway are when fathers are strolling their children around. I sat down at a café once and next to me there was a group of fathers with their new born just hanging out and discussing whatever they were discussing. This made me smile and think about how perfect their family must have been. Even in Norway I’m used to the mothers sitting at a café with their babies discussing girly stuff, but we are in a new era now, and that’s amazing.

In Australia the father gets two weeks to stay at home with the baby while getting paid. Is it supposed to take two weeks to get to know your own baby and its way of behaving? Will two weeks prepare you to be a good father to that child? I’m not saying that the parental leave is all about getting good parental skills, but it will certainly help when you don’t have to worry about your job at that time. As I have stated earlier; I think Australia has a long way to go when it comes to certain things- this being one of them.



Giving birth
Today’s lecture was about women giving birth. I am 24 and have yet not experienced a birth, not for myself or for someone else. We talked about how media affects and influence women around the world and give the idea of it being stressful, panicky and a lot of yelling. This has certainly affected how I look at giving birth. Giving birth has been something I have been avoiding in discussions, television etc.

I could go on and on about how much giving birth terrifies me, and this did not improve much of that. It was a great lecture with a lot of good points, but what I got out of it was that hospitals isn’t that friendly and helpful as I thought they were. Can women even chose where they want to give birth? Can they choose what they want to do in the hospital? What about ceasection or epidural? I know I would like to have full control over my decisions and choices. The doctor’s and midwifes can tell me what I should and shouldn’t do, but I’d like to have a say in things.

I’m not sure how things are in Norway compared to Australia, but I’m guessing the situation stays the same. I know I would like to have a lot of information around this topic before actually having to give birth. I'd do whatever it takes to calm myself down and realise that this is a normal and natural process of life. Isn’t it funny how I always worry about the pregnancy, but not the fact of taking care of the child once it’s out there? That should be my main concern, yet it isn’t. I’ve always wanted two children as I am a lonely child myself, but I can’t even imagine squeezing number 2 out after having the knowledge of how painful it is. Most people say you forget the pain, but can you really? I’m not convinced.



Domestic violence
Today’s lecture was about domestic violence (DV). This is a problem all over the world, and some places is affected more than others. Women are usually the victims of DV and statistic shows that Women are more likely to be attacked by a family member then a stranger on the streets. Why is this happening to women and what is can be done to stop this? “Captain Picard’s” speech mentions one important thing; it’s the men who can stop domestic violence against women. I feel there are so many women working to stop DV against women, but here we got a man talking about his own experiences from his childhood where his mother where strongly abused. That keeps me thinking of the children in all of this and how greatly they are affected by DV in their home even though it’s not directed at them. How does DV affect their childhood and even adulthood? I hope that most of who are affected will learn from it and do it different with their own family later in life, but that’s not always the case- many can follow in the same footsteps and abuse their future wife/husband.

In the US most women who are affected by DV is around the age group 16-24. This made me really think of me and my situations in previous relationships. I will not go into details, but this is a topic that is worth working with and I would like to be a part of the non-DV wave that I hope will come soon! Let’s put an end to it.

**Strive for progress, not perfection**
In today's lecture we were discussing body image and how that might affect us. Why is it that we have the need to look up to someone else, can't we just be happy with the way we look and accept the fact that everyone is different? I have always been aware of how I look and act around other people- Why? That might have something to do with the fact that I got bullied for my weight as a child, even though I wasn't that big. Children have their way of speaking without thinking about the consequences and I got stuck with this image of myself and not feeling good enough for anyone. Even though I dislike how the body image affects people today and I wish I could say that it don’t affect me, it does. For me- the ideal body is a lean and strong. I want to avoid being skinny, but rather healthy. It’s not about looking a special way, but rather do whatever makes you feel good and accomplish the things you want in life. After living alone for 6 months, I realised that it was time to change my way of life. I wasn’t happy with how I looked or felt, so I decided to lose 12 kg’s which took me about 2 years. I struggled a lot with my diet and I felt so bad every time I lost control over my food intake. It was hard to find a balance with a healthy mind and a healthy body. I kept using women’s magazines for inspiration and the thought of having the “ideal” body ready for summer.

My point of this post is that I feel like it’s so much more important focusing on personal goals and a healthy way of life instead of using an ideal body image as a motivation factor. It might help a lot at the time, but how healthy is it for your mind? They don’t even look like that in real life, why should we? Accept your body for what it is, and if you don’t you can do something about it without using size 6 models as motivation. What motivates me is this saying “Strive for progress, not perfection”. Facts: Source
 * 80% of children who are 10 years old are afraid of being fat.
 * 80% of 10-year-old girls have dieted. 90% of high school junior and senior women diet regularly. Young girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer, or losing their parents.
 * Nearly a quarter of girls age 15-17 would consider undergoing plastic surgery.
 * More than 90 percent of girls – 15 to 17 years – want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance, with body weight ranking the highest.
 * 8 out 10 women are not happy with their reflection.
 * More than 50% of 10 year old girls wish they were thinner.
 * The current media ideal of thinness is achieved by less than 5% of the female population.
 * Approximately 1 in 100 women in the US binge and purge in order to lose weight.

**Abortion and fears**
Today's lecture was about birthcontroll and abortion. One of the first things we talked about was how abortion isn't legal in Queensland which was quite shocking for me seeing I am from Norway where it is legal. Even though it's legal in Norway there is still a lot of questions around the topic and if you should actually go through with it. A person may have several reasons for why they want to go through with an abortion and in my oppinion it's up to every one of us to decide wether or not we need or want to go through with it.

I could never picture myself as a mom at this stage in life. I'm sad to say that it would have been a huge burden and I've always imagined myself doing an abortion if it would come to that. One of my biggest fears in life at my age (23) is getting pregnant though I do want my own kids at some point. The reason for why this has to be my biggest fear is the fear of having to actually give birth. From an early age I have been picturing it as something horrible and painfull and never thought otherwise. This wiki might go slightly off topic from the lecture, but I think a lot of young women struggle with the same issues and how to get past these fears? Does it ever stop and do we just have to go through with a birth to get over it? I must admit that today's lecture made me wonder about Australia and they being a bit "uptight" seing abortion isn't legal and from other lectures it has given me the impression that Australia still has a lot to improve when it comes to women / women's health. I can't wait to learn more about this.

**Gender, body image and princesses.**
Today's lecture was about the roles women have in our society. We discussed topics such as different kind of wifes, "how's your coffee?" and how Disney princesses has helped shape our body image in our society. At first I have to admit I thought it was hillarious that we compared disney princesses with our body image and how it has affected it from an early age. Then I realised how much of a sucker I was for princesses as a child, actually so obsessed that I colored my hair red to look more like the little mermaid princess- Ariel. About disney princesses- they have the "ideal" body with a small waist, long hair and other beauty aspects which every little girl dreams of, and I have to admit I've always had a weak spot for how they look, but has it affected me as a young adult? I myself as a girly girl, I love make up, doing my hair and dressing up, but I also love not wearing make up and I use slobby "boy-ish" clothes when I can. I think every girl has a need to feel beautiful, but it's hard to define why seeing there is a lot of aspects to consider. Back to the princesses- we started talking about the princess Fiona from Shrek. Now this story is different, since Fiona starts out as the beautiful princess everyone expects her to be, but ends up as a dirty, smelly troll even though the goal is the same- to get married. This topic got me thinking about when I first saw Shrek, and every time I've been seeing it since then I always hope she ends up as the same beautiful princess she used to be, not the hidious troll. Why is that? Why can't I accept that she wants to be a hidious troll and that she is perfectly happy with it? After some thinking I've come to the conclusion that all this might be derived from my childhood and my obsession with the beautiful princesses.

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**Lift like a man, look like a goddess**
One of the topics in today's lecture was about gender roles and how that affects women around the world. I'm passionate about exercise and fitness, you might even say that the gym is my second home, that's why this topic spoke to me, specially when our lecturer started talking about gender roles at the gym. What if men and women switched places? Most women go to the gym to do their cardio work out. Do we feel more comfortable staying at one place instead of drawing attention to ourself by lifting heavy weights? Why are there so few of us women at the "men's corner"- You know that corner with the free weights, squat stand and pull up bars. The corner where the men are breathing so loud you could almost imagine them doing something completly different. It's time for us to step up and face that corner- claim it even!

I think there is a fitness craze going on these days where more and more women steps off the treadmill to do some heavy lifting, but I think every woman has to face the fact that it might be a bit scary to claim that corner. What if you manage to do a squat wrong and look ridiculous while doing it? What if the bodybuilding men are watching you as you do it and you loose all the motivation you had when you started? I had these exact thoughts when I started out a while back. I remember standing at the treadmill after a warm up thinking; "Is someone using the squat stand? Can I go over there now?". I was so terrified someone would push me a side saying they wanted to use that squat stand, or telling me I did the technique wrong. I faced my fears and went over there and did my work out, even though it took me a few weeks to feel comfortable it was worth it! The results were amazing, and to be honest so were the guys. They were nothing but helpfull, and you know what? I think men would love to have some women in their work out corner. I think the world is ready for a new fitness era. So to every women out there; go claim that corner and do some serious lifting. Your body will thank you for it, and I imagine the guys will too!