Jane+Doe


 * Week 13: **


 * I have decided to take this week off, as we were told we could do so without penalty. :)**


 * THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL SEMESTER AND A VERY ENJOYABLE CLASS! :) <3**

Week 12: Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Women Across the Ages

This week's lecture was pretty interesting. I always find the topics of drugs and alcohol and how people use/abuse them quite intriguing. I myself don't drink. I have had a few drink in my life time, I admit, but never to the point of drunkenness or to the point where I completely black out and don;t remember anything, I just don't find the appeal in going crazy with it, especially since I would actually prefer to remember what I did the night before. I am also always afraid of the consequences that may come with alcohol. It's movies and lectures like this that remind me why I'd rather be sober.

The term "**drunkorexia**" made me pretty sad. To think that there are actually women out there who do this is pretty upsetting and a little disturbing. The quote, "You don't want to feel gross and fat. You want to look good for the night you're going out drinking and partying' -- Leah Ellacott" is honestly pretty stupid, if you ask me. You're going to go out and feel "fat and gross" by the end of the night, anyway, with all that alcohol in your system, so you might as well just eat something beforehand.

I've just never understood how someone can let themselves get that far with drugs/alcohol/food/tobacco. I understand these things are addiction and are diseases, but why/how is there no permanent cure for these things, yet? I guess I'll never understand until I am actually put in that type of situation, which hopefully I never will be. I mostly end my journals with some sort of "why can't life and the world just be perfect?" sentence, so again... why can't life and the world just be perfect? Hah. :)

Week 11: Women's Health in Same-Sex Relationships <3

This week's lecture was unfortunately cancelled, due to Julie-Anne's daughter being ill (hopefully she is well and recovered now :)). I was quite disappointed that it couldn't be rescheduled, as I was very much looking forward to the discussions on this topic! But thanks to the slides put up on blackboard, I was able to skim through them and pretty much lecture myself on the topic. It's very ironic that this topic was chosen for this week, because just a few days later, I came across an article online that mentioned how some GCC countries are banning homosexuals from entering their countries and claiming to have "new technology and medical tests to detect homosexuality" that will be carried out in their international airports. Now, excuse my French, but that is a load of crap. Absolute bull. It makes me so angry knowing there are still people like them in the world. So closed and narrow minded, it really is so sad. I have been told that the Middle East is a beautiful place to visit, but since this has come out, I would never plan on going there, ever. What do they mean "new technology and medical tests"?!! How is that even possible?!?!

I read once that Saudi Arabia has the largest population of homosexuals in the Middle East. It will be very interesting to see how that rolls out with their "new technology". Typing everything down here will unfortunately not stress the amount of anger I feel towards this topic. I just don't understand why people can't just get over it and let everyone live their own lives without making it their business, when it's not and shouldn't be,

Week 10: Healthy Ageing of Women

What caught my attention in this lecture was that it was mentioned that one third of women do not exercise. I personally love exercising. It takes away stress and keeps me healthy! I always make time for some exercise, whether it's walking around the mall, or running on a treadmill. I usually prefer to walk to places, rather than drive my car or take the bus. I always get my daily dose of 10,000 steps a day, as that is what's needed for me to keep healthy and fit, according to my personal trainer. The fact that one third of women don't exercise alarms me quite a bit. It's no wonder almost half of the women in Australia are over weight or obese! That is quite a shock to me. Obesity can affect the heart and eventually lead to heart problems or even heart disease and then death. This isn't an uncommon fact, everybody knows it, or at least SHOULD know it. As you get older, it's harder to maintain your health. Exercise could get more difficult as you age. I think exercise plays an important part in everyone's lives and people should consider it a lot more.

Breast cancer was also a topic in this weeks lecture. I and my group members presented the topic of breast cancer to the class for our group assessment and while I was doing my research on the topic, I learned so many things about breast cancer. Things I never even knew like the fact that you can increase the chances of getting breast cancer by just refilling a plastic bottle up over and over again. And that a lot of every day house hold sprays can increase your risk, as well. Breast cancer is unfortunately one of the leading causes of death amongst women in Australia. I think everyone should be cautious and ESPECIALLY know their family history to make sure it is not hereditary, as this would be one of the cases where at least you can get a head start and do something about it. Catch it before it gets worse or even fatal!

I really hope that one day a cure is found for this horrific disease to end it once and for all!!!


 * Week 9:**


 * I have decided to take this week off, as we were told we could do so without penalty. :)**

Week 8: Domestic Violence and Violence Against Women

The content and videos during this lecture made me really upset. How a man can touch a woman in those ways are beyond me. How ANYONE can touch anyone in those ways are beyond me! A video of a guy who severely started beating up his wife/girlfriend who wouldn't cook for her husband/boyfriend's friends during a party was shown in class. This one in particular made me really upset and quite angry. Again, going back to last week's lecture with "gender roles", I mentioned men and women should be equal when it comes to the house work and how being a "house wife" was the most stupid thing anyone has ever come up with. I am aware it was all acting in the clip, but I wonder what goes through peoples minds in real life situations like that. "My wife didn't make me a sandwich, so I beat her up until she bled." How is that okay to someone? How is that mentally okay to them to think? What do they think that's going to solve? Sure, she'll make him a sandwich, but then what? Ah... this honestly just makes me really frustrated and furious to even think about!!!

Somebody in class mentioned something about a woman who said her husband DID have the right to hit her, if she had made a mistake. I'm sorry, but that is just bull. No woman should ever be okay with being physically punished for her mistakes. Not even emotionally! There are better and calmer ways to sort out your issues, especially if it's with the person you married. If my partner were to ever physically abuse me, I would leave her in a heartbeat. No one, not man or woman, should ever tolerate that kind of behaviour from anyone.

Okay, I think I'm just going on a rant now, so I'm going to stop here.

Week 7: Changing Gender Roles in Families: Paid Work, House work and Child-Raising

I was unfortunately not able to, yet again, attend this lecture due to recovering from the flu, but I did find the slides interesting and have a couple of opinions of my own regarding gender roles, in general. Okay, so I know that a lot of the girls, if not all of the girls, in this class are feminists. I, myself am not so much. When it comes to the world, in general, I do think men should be in power. I do not believe they should treat women like their maids and have the women do all the house work, child raising, etc., but in terms of paid work, I think men should have more authority. I mean, there is a reason men are known for being stronger in that department. When it comes to house work and child-raising, I believe both the men and women should take part in those things - together. I hate the term "house wife". I think it's complete crap, to be honest. It should have never been a thing to begin with. Both parents are responsible for their children and the roof they live under. Why should the woman be the one doing all the cooking and cleaning when the man is completely capable of doing the exact same thing? I know I just said I'm not a feminist and what I'm saying makes me sound like one, but I just believe in equality when it comes to those circumstances. I still believe men are more "logical", (not really the word I'm looking for, but I can't think of the right word to use), in making decisions when it comes to paid work.

Equality is all this world needs... if only.

Week 6: Having A Baby - A Women's Health Perspective

Is pregnancy a disease?
Life Report recently did a brief discussion of the "pregnancy as a disease" model championed by, among others, abortionist Warren Hern. Hern and his fellows hold that pregnancy is a sexually transmitted disease, the "cure" for which is abortion. But pregnancy hardly fits a disease model. A disease, by its very nature, is dis-ease. Nobody is happy to be diseased. Nobody calls their friends and family to express delight at a diagnosis of cancer or diabetes. Even lesser, self-limiting diseases, such as chickenpox or the flu, don't elicit the joy that pregnancy often does. Even the schoolchild glad for the respite from school or the worker happy to have some time off the job doesn't delight in the pox or flue per se; he or she is only pleased at the enforced time of rest, and not directly with the disease. So it's not the pregnancy itself that women are seeking "treatment" for at abortion facilities. It is //their distress at the pregnant state//. Many people are distressed enough to seek medical treatment for things that are, of themselves, perfectly normal. This is what keeps cosmetic surgeons driving Porches. There was nothing inherently wrong, say, with Michael Jackson's nose. The problem was that he was upset about his nose. Had the doctor treated this distress -- with a referral to a competent psychiatrist -- rather than treating the nose itself as if it was a disease, Jackson's life no doubt would have gone down a much less tragic path. So clearly pregnancy -- a state that leads many women to rejoice -- is not itself the "disease." Let's look, then, at the distress that leads women to climb on the abortion table. Is it a disease that is best treated by abortion? Is it, like Michael Jackson's distress about his nose, a sign that there is a psychological problem? Or is it something else entirely? ([])

One particular thing said in this week's lecture caught my attention. The part where the lecturer mentioned that child birth was considered "pathology" or a "disease", really surprised me. How is child birth a disease? I just don't understand how anyone can say such a thing. Although I do not specifically like children or would have them myself for personal reasons, but I still think child birth is a blessing to those who desire children. The fact that it is considered a disease is false, because no one willingly wants to be "sick". Most of the time, pregnancy is a choice. Some women cannot fall pregnant, unfortunately. So, why would they be upset about being immune to getting a disease? It just doesn't make sense to me and shouldn't really make sense to anyone, really.

I don't know what it is about pregnancy, but it was never something that appealed to me. I think people have children to fulfill their lives. People rely on family, it's like a socialization thing. We are social creatures. Some people don't have children because they are either unable to conceive, or they have reasons such as not wanting to ruin their body image, or just not liking children in general, or some may not be financially situated to ever have them.

Week 5: The Fashion Industry And Body Image

I kind of already wrote my opinion about the fashion industry in my 'week 3' journal, but after attending this week's lecture, I learned a few more things that I have opinions about. So, what is the fashion industry? It is basically a field filled with models, clothes, shoes, trends, make up, designers, etc. When people think "The Fashion Industry", they mostly think, "tall, skinny models". I'll admit, that is also what I think when I hear the term. And I blame the fashion industry for that! They all started out by using stick thin models, so this "trend" progressed until today. Sometimes I think, what if world famous designers like Vera Wang started putting her clothes on average weight models? Would people still buy her clothes? Are they afraid people will stop buying their products or think what they're designing are ugly because of the models they use?

I don't think it's fair for them to use models who are six feet tall and skinny. I'm short and petite, so when I buy the same clothes on a tall, skinny model during online shopping, it just doesn't look right or the same as it does on the model. I know everyone has a different body image, but sometimes I wish it were possible for the fashion industry to use all kinds of different girls with different body images to advertise their products on -- which honestly I think could be pretty possible to do these days... Come on, people! It's the 21st Century, after all!!!

Week 4: The 'Right' Time to Have a Child

So, I don't really know what I thought about this lecture. It was interesting, yes, but since this class is all about women's health, I've been pretty much relating all the lectures, so far, to myself. I have personally never used birth control as a way to prevent pregnancy. I have however, used it to control my menstrual cycle - perhaps those who were protesting against birth control could have considered this point. The menstrual cycle has a big impact on a woman's health, after all. Something else that caught my attention in the lecture was the Oasis music video by Amanda Palmer. She was basically making fun of herself throughout the song and someone in class pointed out how they thought it was terrible of her to do that. I say, good for her! No one will really know what was/is going through Amanda Palmer's head, so no one should really negatively judge her. Maybe that was her way of healing from the whole situation. Rape is a big deal and everyone who has been raped heals differently. I think that her making fun of her situation publicly was a message to girls/guys who've been in the same situation. Maybe she was trying to send the message that life goes on and that everything is okay, that it's not the end of the world. I just think that everyone is entitled to their own way whether it's made public or not. I actually enjoyed the video and thought it was quite entertaining.

Week 3: Women in Popular Culture, Advertising, and the Media

Something that caught my attention in this week's lecture was how the media portrays women's image. Honestly, the fact that they use skinny models to advertise clothes, for example, kind of makes sense. I don't agree with how some say that being skinny is better than being curvy, or being skinny will get you all the boys/girls, but if you think about it in the fashion world, putting a tall, skinny model in clothes they're trying to sell, as opposed to clothes on a short, chubby model seems a little more ideal because of the way it would look on both girls. There is a higher chance that the clothes would look better on the tall, skinny model because of the way the clothes would sit and fit on her body. I am not saying I agree with the way they portray women in the fashion industry, but honestly... it just looks better, in my opinion and that's what would make me want to buy the clothes - how they look on the model. And that's what they want. They want to sell their clothes and have people say "wow!" instead of have people just talk about what the model looks like because she's not the "typical" model and completely miss the point of what they're trying to sell. Let's face it, nowadays, if they DID advertise their clothes on anyone who wasn't tall and skinny, the world would just talk about the fact that they didn't use the "ideal" girl to sell their products. Everyone is so used to having things done the way they are that when one little thing changes, all hell breaks loose.

Week 2: Women's Amazing Bodies

While attending this week's tutorial, the question "Do you think homosexuality is a choice?" was asked to the class. I personally think homosexuality is a choice, yes. If you think about it in a literal sense, a new born baby cannot think for itself. Being "born" a homosexual is kind of impossible. When you're just two months old, you don't know whether you like girls or boys. You grow up and you meet people and that's pretty much how you decide. Now, before I start getting any hate, I am a lesbian and this is how I pretty much came to the conclusion on liking girls. I'm speaking from my own experience and thoughts on myself. I have dated boys and I've dated girls. I CHOSE to stick to girls because they make me feel better, I found that I am much more attracted to them, and I have a better emotional connection to them. I just don't believe I was born this way because I didn't know that I liked girls more as a child. I didn't even find out until I was in my early teens. To those who think it isn't a choice, that is completely fine and I do not argue with people who think so as I have many gay friends who say they were "born this way". In fact, my girlfriend is one of them. In the end, it's each to their own. It all comes down to how that person felt growing up and what they think for themselves. Honestly, it shouldn't even matter whether it's a choice or not. We are who we are.