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This subject was selected because I have a strong interest in women’s physiological and psychological health. Being a female myself and a nutrition student, I thought this subject would give me the knowledge and understanding to be able to provide a more personal relationship with any future clients, target groups and colleagues I will work with. I have very little political knowledge and interest therefore I am nervous and excited to be introduced to feminism and learn how it effects the overall women’s health status. Although today’s lecture got me thinking about what feminism really is and how it is portrayed in today’s society, I gained a lot more concern watching the video about [|Sex Trafficking of Young Women in Cambodia]. Although I had a brief understanding of its occurrence, I was not aware of there severity of this issue – I had to re-watch the clip just to grasp a proper understanding of its reality. I guess I am so used to living within my society were we sometimes take for granted the luxury and privileges we have such as freedom of speech and education. I am relieved to see many people such as Somaly Mam (in this video) taking action for this issue and I have been inspired to help in any way possible. Obviously I cannot understand as much as those who have personally suffered from this trauma however I do understand that it is something which needs to be addressed.
 * Week 1 - A Red Light on Sex Trafficking **

I am looking forward to this semester as it allows me to think and reflect on the current health issues associated with women not just in Australia but internationally. I am hoping this subject will become an eye-opener and allow many Australians such as myself to not take what we have as women for granted.

**Week 2 – Do looks matter?**

During today’s lecture we discussed the physiological aspects of women’s health and what makes our bodies amazing! We discussed the roles and responsibilities of body parts specific to women including the breasts, vagina, cervix, uterus and ovaries to establish why they are crucial and significant components of women’s physiology. However, what was most frustrating was when I was sat down and considered how the female body is recognised as normal by today’s society.

The media portrays a female’s body as “sexy” and “attractive” when their breasts and buttocks are large, perky and quite frankly unnatural. The same goes to areas such as the outer vagina including the Labia Majora, Labia Minora and Clitoris. Factors such as the Classification Boards’ regulations on the vagina’s appearance in unrestricted soft-core magazines create an unideal perception of what a normal body should look like. According to the classification board “there should be no genital emphasis”. In other words the appearance of the outer vagina should be neat and tidy therefore defiantly not portraying the natural physiology of most women! And what’s more shocking is that the women who are displayed in these images have to be photo-shopped into looking like this!!!



//...And how does that effect women? // Well, with an increase in this type of media women are beginning to second-guess themselves. Women will compare their own body to those displayed in these images and if they do not like what they see (which is most of the time) they will want to change it. Then there is an increase in labiaplasty where women spend excessive amounts of money and go through excruciating pain and often still not have a desired outcome. To me this is ludicrous as it shouldn’t matter what it looks like downstairs as vaginas serve a more important purpose- to give birth! Unless you’re going to be a famous pornography star no one (except your partner) will even know. And if they do not like what they see then they are most likely ignorant and you’re wasting your time!



** Week 3 - Is Violence Against Women a serious Issue? (Please tick) ** Violence and sexual assault against women is a health issue commonly tampered within by today’s society. This is a serious issue affecting a large proportion of women – in fact, according to the AIFS and Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault Study; over half (57%) of the Australian female population has experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual assault in their lifetime. What’s even worse is very few of these incidents are performed by strangers of the victim hence an increase in unsafe home environments for these women. After seeing these shocking statistics in today’s lecture, I wanted to reflect on how our country prioritises violence and sexual assault against women as a health issue. Surely we have all heard the slogan “Violence against women, Australia says NO!” however do we really take this campaign serious enough? Let’s start with the government’s opinion:
 * □ Yes/□ No **

‘I think there does need to be give and take on both sides, and this idea that sex is kind of a woman’s right to absolutely withhold, just as the idea that sex is a man’s right to demand I think they are both they both need to be moderated, so to speak’ (Tony Abbot)

So basically the message Abbot is sending is that us as women need to shut up and‘put out’ more so we therefore have a decrease in sexual assault incidences. He is also stating that men have the right to demand sex – this is sounding a bit degrading to me! To top this off there are television programs out there such as America’s Next Top Model who ridicule this issue by trying to make it look as sexy as possible – that’s what women do best right? The picture below demonstrates this whereby the women is photographed lying on a bed half undressed and bruised around her neck suggested she has been a victim of both sexual and physical abuse. Now I did a bit of research and found that this program is viewed by over 6 million people. So that’s at least 6 million people who now perceive violence and sexual assault as an unserious issue.

Overall I believe these images and messages of this issue are decreasing its seriousness and need for attention. They make this behaviour acceptable and downgrade the rights and respect of them and what’s even worse, allowing women to second-guess their own positions in this country.

**Week 4 - Smart mums in their 20's **  One of the main topics about this week’s lecture was when and why women are falling pregnant. I particular had an interest about why there is an increase in older women and a decrease in younger women having children (see graph). Being a young person myself, I have experienced a few (more than I would have thought) of my friends fall pregnant whilst still in their teenage years. Whereas I’m sitting here thinking I have enough troubles balancing university, work, a social life and relaxation time I could not image having a baby on top of all that! Then I started to consider how old my mother was when she had me and how old my grandmother was when she had her. My grandmother was very young and my mother was quite young when they first gave birth however I do not at all feel encouraged to follow this trend.

Is this because society has changed and I feel women are taking more control over their lives which includes getting tertiary qualifications and a proper career? By the time women can settle comfortably within a career, find the right partner and be in the right financial situation to be able to have a baby they are usually within their late twenties or early thirties. So I could not understand why there are so many people around me starting at a young age and how they are coping. To help me I jumped on Google and searched ‘why do women have babies at a young age’. One website promoted women who have babies in their 20’s as being very smart. This was because at this age women’s fertility and body is at its healthiest, they are less likely to have developed chronic diseases, have less difficulties during birth and they don’t have any set goals and priorities which are more likely to be changed during motherhood. In a way this makes sense to me however it is not something I personally would do particularly without the support from the father. I believe you should be able to have your own life sorted before you are able to bring in someone else’s.


 * Week 5 - Young Wannabes **

This week’s lecture focused on women’s bodies throughout the fashion industry. Although according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013) the average women’s body is 161.1 cm tall and 71.1 kg in weight (approximately size 10), the media’s perceptions of the ‘ideal’ body image does not comply. This image is commonly displayed as a ‘Barbie’ like figure whereby they have are large breasts, a small waist, filled out bottom, tall and with flawless skin. Realistically there are very few people who naturally have this body shape however there are many people who wish to look like this. So much so, that there is an increase in plastic surgery, cosmetic surgery and eating disorders. But what makes people want to change their figure to this extreme? This question arose in today’s lecture and was suggested that it may depend on how this body image is reinforced throughout one’s life. I believe there is a strong influence from these images if exposed at an early stage. This includes the famous Barbie doll used by many young girls around the world. Not only does this doll reflect an unrealistic body image but also causes girls to believe that they will likely grow up in this perfect world Barbie lives in.

The reality later hits them in their early teens when young girls begin shopping at places like Supre. Not only are there sizes ridiculously unrealistic (i.e. starting at XXXS) but the way in which they advertise their products is ludicrous. Below is one advertisement for their jeggings. This ad portrays a young female who looks about the age of 14 with a very thin shape, long legs and is topless with her hair covering her small breasts suggesting she is of a young age.



According to their website, Supre’s target group are young to mid teenagers so what kind of message is this sending? Females at a young age are very judgemental to not only themselves but others – being a female myself I have experienced this throughout high-school. Therefore they obsess on their body image thinking skinny is sexy. This then commonly leads to health concerns such as disordered eating and psychological concerns such as depression. With an increasing rate of these health concerns, especially within young females I am surprised there have been no strong regulations enforced on media. Although in 2009 there was the Industry code of conduct on body image placed this was only voluntary. I believe there should be stronger regulations. This to me is a massive issue our society is faced with however it has not received the attention it needs.

Week 6 - All natural? What's the go with water births?
Throughout today’s lecture we discussed the rights women have during child birth. One topic which arose was water births and a women’s decision to give birth in this manner. I have previously heard of water births before however was not confident that I knew the advantages and risks associated with this method.

A water birth is when an expecting mother chooses to deliver her baby in a bath of water in attempts to relive pain associated with labour and the birth itself. This is popular for those who believe strongly against using pain relieving drugs and medical intervention therefore having an “organic birth”. The warm water in the bath is said to not only relieve pain but to also decrease stress and anxiety, support the mother’s weight to stay upright to open out the pelvis, reduce the risk of perineum tearing and releases feel good hormones.

Although research has found that water births are just as safe as dry births, there is a strict criterion about who can and can’t use this method. Those with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease and heart disease are unable to use this method nor are those with high blood pressure or with more than one child (i.e. twins). It is also a law to have a trained midwife or doctor with you during your labour and birth who have the right to tell you to get out of the water if there are complications. Although this is supposed to be a natural form of birth, society has pathologised it with this law degrading the women’s authority in this situation. It seems to be a struggle in Australia today for women to get the same treatment as they have previously did whereby they had a choice to deliver how a women’s body was designed to do.


 * Week 7 - Women in the Workforce **

Today’s topic focused on women in the work force and how hard it is for them compared to males. It is not so surprising to find out that women will generally earn around a million dollars less than males throughout their life. This does not account for the time taken from work to have children and the money required to raise a child. For example, say you want to have two children (2.33 is the average number of kids per Australian family), you will be required to take at least a year off for each child and spend around a million dollars per child to support them. Therefore if you add up the two million dollars plus two years out of work (average wage is $62000 p/a) plus the one million dollars less than you earn you are losing around $3.1 million. This is a lot of money to pay and it no wonders why women feel the pressure to not want to leave work or to go back as soon as possible in order to pay the bills.

However there is little opportunity to do so and many women find it extremely difficult to maintain the working skills after they have taken maternity leave. Many women also will want to work part time to be able to still spend time with their children and to be able to have the time to take the kids to school, cook, clean and run a household – you know, the typical “women jobs”. Working part time or within a casual position also has its cons, superannuation is reduced and hours may be chopped and changed resulting an unstable job. These all contribute to the barriers women are faced with.

It is pleasingly reassuring to see politics are now starting to worry about what women want and are taking action in this field. However does Tony Abbott’s plan to provide 26 weeks of paid leave for those women want to work and have children enough to make a significant change in the gender differences in the workforce? Although female roles in the jobs such as the labour force are increasing (see table) the ratio of females to males is still quite significant. There is a lot more change which needs to occur in order to achieve equal roles in the workforce. These changes need to account for not just the money and time burden but to focus on the attitudes and perception of women’s roles in today’s society.



Violence against women in particular domestic violence has become a large disputed issue within Australian society. Although it is frowned upon by the majority of the population there is still a sense of rape culture whereby some believe that is acceptable and encourage sexual abuse. The ideas of women accepting this behaviour today can be strongly shaped around what the media promotes. Although the message may be subliminal to most women, in fact I can admit I don’t often see the hidden message myself; they are (successfully) targeting many females to avoid the warning signs associated with domestic violence. This is generally though the perceptions of romance and glorification men may portray during the pursuit and honeymoon phase of the domestic violence cycle.
 * Week 8 - There’s a fine line between pleasure and pain **

One main example the media has promoted is the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy written by E.L James. For those who have not read this series, in a nutshell it is about a man who is very rich who meets a girl. The girl agrees to become his submissive by signing a contract in order to fulfil his sexual pleasures brought upon by his own past of sexual abuse. Throughout the story he is very control both psychologically and through his money by stalking where she is, who she is seeing and how she dresses. It is overpowering to the point where he controls what and how often she eats. At one stage the girl leaves him but only to run back forgivingly. Although the books portray this as an irregular relationship it is also shown to be romantic and overlooks the issue of domestic violence. These books aim to make the reader desire this kind of relationship. So much so, that 50 Shade of Grey inspired lingerie has been introduced into Target allowing all women to become a part of this fantasy.



With this kind of influence how can we prevent and discourage this issue within our society? The media in this case has brainwashed women into thinking this behaviour is sexy and acceptable and therefore could potentially put women at harm of being victimised. In order to target this issue within our society I think it is best to eliminate messages such as the ones demonstrated through these books and educate women on the warning signs of an abusive relationship.

** Week 9 – Indigenous Health: How to address it ** The women’s health topic for this week is Indigenous health. This topic is one I am familiar with and have a strong interest in due to the work I have conducted in Central Queensland rural regions for my Nutrition practical placement. I have also done my website on this topic and I am very passionate about working with this population in order to close the life-expectancy gap.

As we all know there is a 17 year life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women. The prevalence of many health issue including cardiovascular disease and domestic violence is even higher for those in rural and remote areas. This is prominently due to the lack of access to health services. In addition to this, Indigenous people in the past have also been disadvantaged through lack of education and individual rights caused by colonisation.

The risky health behaviours such as alcohol consumption, smoking and the use of drugs contribute to the burden of chronic disease however I believe these cannot be blamed as the fundamental cause. Literature states the importance of community involvement within Indigenous communities however it is not until you have personally experienced being a part of the community when you realise its extreme significance. I have been fortunate to be able to recently travel to central Queensland and have worked within small Indigenous communities to address cardiovascular health. Although I am not Indigenous myself I was able to see and hear for myself the limitations they have compared to other urbanised areas. Some communities are fortunate enough to have access to small health clinics whilst others have to travel over 100km. These clinics are also very basic so for severe heath issue, they are required to travel even further. There is no wonder why issues such as domestic violence, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are ignored. I believe in order to address some of the major health issues present in Indigenous populations we need to literally place ourselves in their shoes. It is not effective if we just research what issues are out there and go in and tell them what they should and shouldn’t do – we need to work with them, build rapport, determine what they believe is required and address the issue together.

I have added some photos taken in a small town I visited called Muttaburra. This town has a population of 97 people. After talking to the locals I found out that there is only one food store (which only just re-opened), one general store, no school, a pub, swimming pool, a police station and 2 churches. If the residents need anything else they have to travel the 114 km to Longreach. The health clinic acts as a doctor’s surgery, hospital, ambulance station, and pharmacy and retirement home with limited resources.



** Week 10 - Aging women and breast cancer **

During today’s lecture we had a guest speaker Professor Deborah Anderson come in and talk about ageing women and the chronic diseases associated with aging. I found this lecture really interesting as I come from a public health background and I enjoy looking at the determinants associated with health issues to therefore observe how it can be preventable or managed. Doing volunteer work with the elderly, I often am aware of the physical changes made to the body however I have not really considered physiological issues especially associated with menopause – something that every woman goes through.

What surprised me most about this information was the epidemiological evidence surrounding breast cancer. It was interesting to hear that most post-menopause cases were not related to the person’s heredity and that most pre-menopause cases were. This got me thinking about the large public health issue associated with this. Women may not feel susceptible of this disease and therefore do not get checked/screened. If women by the time they fall into the post-menopause phase have not suffered or been diagnosed with breast cancer their susceptibility most likely decrease. However little do they know, their likelihood increases dramatically.

After this lecture I did a bit of research to emphasis the prevalence and importance of this chronic disease. The Table shown portrays the rate of incidence of breast cancer by age for Australian women in 2008. Based on this data, 76% of women diagnosed with breast cancer are over the age of 50 and the average age of first diagnosis is 60 years. This strongly emphasizes the risk older women have. Although around 89% of women with breast cancer survive, I still believe it is a large public health issue within our Australian society.


 * Week 11 - Week off **


 * Week 12 - The F*** You (And Your Liver) Diet **

Today’s lecture focused on mental health and substance abuse and how they go hand in hand in terms of being a women’s health issue. It is often that women who have some form of mental sickness seek medication and other substances for help while those who may abuse substances form a mental illness. Although I acknowledge this issue’s seriousness there was a topic brought up in the lecture which grabbed my attention. Being a young person myself (although not really a party animal) I was curious to hear about drunkorexia. Up until today I had never even heard of this term yet alone what it means or its purpose. To find out more I jumped onto trusty Wikipedia for a definition...

“Drunkorexia is a colloquialism for self-imposed starvation or binge eating/purging combined with [|alcohol abuse]”

Okay so now I understand what it is but I was still unsure of why there are many young women doing this to their bodies? After researching this a bit more I discovered that the primary reason young girls do this is to avoid weight gain from alcohol. The person will not consume any food one or two days prior to a night out drinking in order to save the calories for all the alcohol they consume in that night. So in other words this is a combination of an eating disorder associated with poor body perceptions as well as inappropriate substance (in this case alcohol binge drinking) abuse – again a perfect example of the association between mental illness and substance abuse.

I believe that this may be strongly influenced by social media and our surrounding social environment. Women are almost expected to look a certain way and maintain a certain weight plus do social activities such as drinking. This then creates barriers for women trying to fit in both physically (through their appearances) and socially by following social norms. Although I can now see why this may be a problem in our Western society, it is saddening to see it as contemporary women’s health issue.


 * Week 13 - No lecture, Week off **