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__** Week 1 - Introduction to Women's Health **__
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__** Week 2 - Women's Amazing Bodies **__
//“I am not an angel," I asserted; "and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself.”// //-- Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre //

In this week lecture, Julie-Anne talked about the women's amazing bodies which reminds me of some famous women stars. Boobs are not only unique sexy components of women but also great food sources of infant. Miranda Kerr is known as the Australian's most fantastic model who is the model of Victoria’s Secret and has the most graceful body shape. After giving birth to her child, she insist on breastfeeding which is good for her child and herself. World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding babies under 6 months, because breast milk contains carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and Taurine, etc. which meet the nutritional needs of infants. Meanwhile, breast-fed infants also increased with close skin to skin contact, establish a more intimate relationship between mother and child. Some mothers worry about the shape of their boobs so that they refuse to breastfeed their children. There is no need to worry about the shape of boobs, Look at Miranda Kerr, after 6 months breastfeeding, she still has sexy body and a pair of beautiful boobs. So, even a world famous model can breastfeed her child, why not every mother have a try?

Indeed, in the social environment and the constraints of traditional concepts​​, relative to men, women are still belonged to vulnerable groups. Actually, I think male and female are equal in this world but the public opinion and media campaigns give misunderstand-able information to us. They think women should stay at home and take care of their husbands and children and unquestionably obey to men. However, I strongly disagree this opinion. I believe that women should have a job which helps them be economics independent, should have enough education and could control the life of their own. Because I am an international student from Asia, I know that, in some areas of Asia, the rights of women are always being ignored They have no right to their bodies, social status, work and etc.

The famous Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie did double mastectomy operation to decrease the risk of breast cancer. After surgery, she is still confident and charming. She act an example to all the horror of a woman's a hint: we can take the initiative to make a choice. This is your body, in addition to breast-feeding and the caress, the breasts also belong to you as a unique significance. I understood that women must be brave, be confidence, jump out of the limit and just be yourselves.

__** Week 3 - Women in Popular Culture, Advertising and the Media **__
//“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth - and truth rewarded me.” // // -- Simone De Beauvoir //

Long time ago, the story of Eve in the Christian Bible resulted in a prevalent belief that women are weak, untrustworthy and selfish. Popular culture, advertising and media are the most important factors that influence the image of women in society. The majority of medias such as advertising, drama and movies shaped women as a vulnerable group in today. Women in the media always do not have job, express their real thoughts hardly and couldn't say NO to their husband and their boss. However, because of this, women are often treated unfairly in terms of vote right, career, economic freedom and so on. No matter in what status women were in the past, in modern society women should be treated equally with men, should be more protected or should have more priority in all aspects. Remember, 'ladies first'!!

Also, women are mostly naked on magazines cover wearing sexy dresses or bikinis but rarely present in serious political discussions. Women are more likely to be as a entertainment while men are always sitting in social, economic, political and academic discussions. As a result, women are to be thought as 'vase' which only has a beautiful appearance but with empty ‘inside’. Although the number of women politician and brilliant professionals in all walks of life are increased, the prejudices for women are still there in this world. Therefore, how to break the media mode and re-shaping the fixed image of women is a severe food for thought because it would enhance and promote the status of women is very helpful.

__** Week 4 - The ‘Right’ Time to Have a Child **__
Unprotected sex is a big issue for getting pregnant accidentally. And that’s why the abortion rate is increasing year by year. Obviously, abortion is really ruffian. I think unsafe sex is a kind of irresponsible action or behaviour for both themselves and the little baby if abortion after unprepared pregnancy. If a woman got pregnant and go to the illegal clinic for abortion, that would be a huge mistake. Unprotected sex might result in some venereal diseases and unintended pregnancy. I believe that a baby is also a human and he/she has the same rights as other human beings even if he/she has not born to the world. So, why not just take a little step before your sex? Talking about the factors of depression rate of the total fertility rate, as the time goes by, the cost of feeding and raising a child which has become more and more expensive is the most important reasons. Many women would be worried about if their social economic status would change after they have children, not to mention the depression of world economy trends at present. I totally agree with this statement because I can feel that the daily necessities are really expensive especially of babies and children such as the infant milk powder, the education fee and so on. In China, I heard that when you raise your child until 18 years old with middle living cost standard and well education till high school graduated in a middle city, you will pay at least 1,000,000 China Yuan which is about 180,000 Australian Dollars. You might think 180,000 Dollars is ok, however, the average salary per year per person is around 30,000 China Yuan which is about 5,400 Australian Dollars. So you can imagine that the average cost for raising children till 18 years old is really a large amount of money. The cost of raising children in Australia has skyrocketed in the past five years, with middle-income families spending up to $458 a week to raise a child (Morris, 2013). "The cost of (raising) two children to the age of 21 is about $800,000”, Ben Phillips, a NATSEM researcher said. So now, you can imagine why people are worried about their economic status when they think about having baby.



Infographic: NATSEM chart showing weekly costs of a child by total income and age of child (NATSEM)  On the other hand, the factor has to be mentioned is the gender equity. Before having babies, women seem to have the relative competitive status with men in the workplace. However, at present in many countries, women who are having babies or had babies are highly at risk of losing their job or affecting their career promotions. I think the government should establish some policy to deal with this inequity situation to maintain the women's equal rights in the workplace and for their whole career. 

**__ Week 5 - The Fashion Industry and Body Image: Impact on Women's Health __**
"Don't cook the dish but be the dish."

From ancient to the present, appearance seems to be the most important thing throughout women's life. Women are influenced by themselves, media and family mostly, not quite by men. Some online investigation shows that most men prefer women with curve shape but not the thin shape modeled by media. However, women don’t realize this. Some of them keep trying to lose weight, to learn how to makeup and learn to get dressed. And some of them start to be self-esteem, and having mental problems. What's worse is leading to self-harm and suicide. Everyone is unique in the world. I think women no need to care the gossip about your body or your appearance, you just need to be the real you. Don’t listen to the tales of what somebody told about you. You need to believe that you are the one that influence you the most. What is a successful woman? I kind of conclude it from media that a woman who has pretty face, great body shape and has good family, house, husband and child is successful. This idea has been passed to me through the Disney animation, and then deeply entrenched in my mind since I was a child. In Disney’s story, the beautiful princess met a handsome prince and then stay together happy ever after. In my opinion, these stories kind of mislead girls and women that if you are not beautiful enough or you don’t met a prince or a good man then you will not with happiness and don’t have a bright future. It is totally wrong, I think. No matter you are women or not, you can live well by yourself. People live for themselves, rather than live for others. Similarly, women can live well and be success without men. Women can do many things to succeed on their own, as long as you work hard and jump out the limitations from your mind, from the woman image created by the media.

__** Week 6 - Having a Baby: a Women’s Health Perspective **__
Having baby is a normal process and a facing problem in most of women’s lives. But what is the right time to have child? And what are the elements women need to prepare till the right time? The right time means that the things we need for a baby are well prepared, both psychologically and materially. We need completed study, stable career, the Mr. Right, traveling, own a house and a car and psychological preparation. Evidence shows that the fertility rate starts changing at the age of 28. When women turn to 35 years old, there is only 15% chance for pregnancy. Most women have life plan for their selves when to study, when to work, when to have relationship, when to marry and have child. Does this plan really work? Of cause not! There is no doubt that a planned work is right for a day, a week, a month even a year. However, there are a lot of things cannot be planned for your whole life. For example, you plan to have baby at the age of 28. What if you don’t meet the right guy to be my baby’s father? What if you don’t have a stable career? What if you can only afford to rent a house but not own it? Are those really matter for you to be a good mom? Do you necessarily need those things to be a good mom? Obviously, the answer is no! It is no need to follow your life plan step by step. Try to be flexible, not too idealistic. Remember, babies are not the icing on the cake. Don’t wait the other things went perfect to have child. Although most of women want to have baby in their life, there still has someone who doesn't want baby ‘ruin’ their life. Everyone has her choices to whether having children or not. So we all need to respect to people’s different thoughts and ideas as the lives are belong to them.

__ Week 7 – Women at work __
In workforce, much more men have permanent full time jobs than women. So why, in this era of workplace "flexibility", do so many women and so few men work part-time? The answer seems to be mostly children. The kids’ age have much more effects on females’ career. There are many barriers faced by mothers in workforce. Time issue which related to child and family care is the primary one. Imagine, a woman who has husband and kids have to prepare dinner, do the housework, take care of child and husband and then do things for their own after full time work. The tragic thing for workforce women is that you cannot work worse than men, at the same time you have to take more responsibilities in families. What a stressful life for this woman! She doesn't even have time to think for herself and to do things for her own. So that’s why I think this as the biggest reason for women to choose do part-time work or stay casual. And that’s why I think this world is not fair to women in both workforce and families. If men can pay more attention to their responsibilities as family members, husbands and fathers, women will no longer feel that stressful for working full-time, having promotion in workforce and being successful. Children have more negative effect on women’s personal, professional and academic productivity. There is an embarrassed story told by the presenter from the TED video. The manager moved in to the office about a year but still didn't know there was no women restroom there. From this little thing, we can imagine that how few women were shown respect in workforce. I know there is far more less women working in the top position in workforce than men. In fact, women do work much harder than men. Good women can do both great work in top workforce and with family and children. I think while a man and a woman have same level of work productivity, the woman is much more worth to gain praise and reward than the man.

__ Week 8 - Walking into doors – domestic violence __
Talking about the topic of the lecture in this week, I felt sad and angry because I believe that violence cannot solve any problem anything! What’s more, it is the families and domestic violence, from men to women. I think the primary reason why domestic violence happens to women is the patriarchal thoughts from the ancient society. And of course, family and domestic violence have happened since then. Domestic violence might happen when one partner feels the need to control and dominate the other. In my life I am lucky enough to have never witnessed any acts of domestic violence or know anyone who has been subjected to it. When I was 15 years old, I saw a movie about domestic violence. The heroine was beaten by the hero as long as the heroine talked to someone else or meeting someone else even the person is female. This women silently endured it all because she loved her husband. But at the end of this movie, this hero was identified with psychiatric problem. And then they were divorced. However, in my opinion, psychological problem cannot be the excuse to beat someone or have violence. I also believe that domestic violence are not only acting by the fists but also the oral language. To some extent, the language violence has more serious and much greater long term effects than the physical violence. In the tutorial I learnt a valuable life lesson on how to be aware of domestic violence and to ensure that I never allow myself to become trapped in that situation. From my aspect, if my friends and I overcome domestic violence in the future, I will be strong and be brave to maintain my own rights. Remember, women are and cannot be weak! Stand up! Be brave!

__ Week 10 - How does age affect women? __
I am interested in the topic of this week and I think there are a lot of things can be talked about. Every person in this world will grow old someday. Since ancient times, age has become a very sensitive point for women It is rude to ask “how old are you?” or “What is your age?” to a lady. Age can be linked to appearance, body shape and psychological change which all are the important aspects that women pay attention to. Imagine, one day, you will be looked like my sister, my mother and my grandmother. How will you react? Majority women show anxiety, worry and depression about ageing. They begin to buy skin care products to fight with their first wrinkle. They start to think about doing plastic surgery to deal with their loose body skins. They are worry about losing young and beautiful appearances so that they will think they are losing value for their own, their husband, their families and their careers. They start to be afraid to see and to hear people’s reaction to their age. Some people think that women over 40 will become invisible for men because men won’t look them anymore. Also, women turned to 40 will undertake increased level of social pressure. Some women believe that young appearances will help them remain young mindset so that they can live more passionately and happily. I agree with this opinion. However, ageing is naturally happening. It must be there for a reason. For aged women, I think they might need calm rather than passion, they might need elegance rather than freshness and vigour. The women’s mature aura and the impassivity, how can it be compared to the lively passion girl? I believe that time and experiences are indeed the best things for women throughout their lives. Don’t be afraid of being old! Time is a treasure thing for a woman! Ukraine Barbie mother and daughters. Can you recognize the mother?

__ Week 11 Lesbian and Their Health __
The topic of this week is the most controversial and international issue in the present society. There were many topic components discussed throughout this lecture. History, legislation and health were all discussed. Actually, I didn't know the term of “Lesbian” for describing females who fall in love with females until 4 years ago. I only know there was a term called “Gay” for men in romance with men. Homosexuality was criminalized in many countries in the ancient past time. However, as the time goes by, more and more people and governments start to understand and accept homosexual people and decriminalize homosexuality in the society. Although people understand homosexuality, the same-sex marriage was still banning in Australia and some states of United States. Here is the question: how can it happen that people accept homosexuality but not same-sex marriage? In my opinion, people who live in the world have the rights to choose the one to live with and marry with. Even a lesbian is a human so that she must have the same rights with others. Lesbians do not harm any other people in this world. And I think that lesbians and gays deserve to have a small family, a baby and a happy life. I also came up with some possible factors that might influence lesbian and bisexual women’s health situation. Lesbian and bisexual women often have experiences of discrimination from the public which might result in their low quality of mental health. Lesbians are more likely to smoke and drink alcohols which might because they suffer much more pressures from bias than others and they feel anxious about hiding one's sexual orientation. Also, lesbians are high in risk of breast cancer and endometrial cancers due to not having children and not pregnant. I think the most important thing for lesbian women is to be brave, be confidence, and be indifferent. You need to feel as normal as others to access to your health care services and maintain your health situation. It’s your choice to be a lesbian or not, no one can judge this but you involved in the relationship. J

__ Week 12 Mental Health and Drug Alcohol Use __
I felt this week’s lecture really interesting. And I was really surprised and attracted with the History of the female reproductive system and how it used to be understood. Many statements just completely ridiculous! Historically, men believed that menses were a poison, and menopausal women were repositories of this distilled evil. All throughout history it was strongly believed by men who held positions in the state, in religion, and in medicine, that women’s reproductive organs greatly influenced their brains and their thinking. These connections were believed to make women incapable of pursuing intellectual thought, weak-willed, and prone to madness or hysteria. This is actually silly and without any scientific knowledge. Fortunately, after the development of society, these feudal superstition thoughts were forgotten by the public. Talking about mental wellness of Australian, women were recognized to be more likely to experience mental disorders than men. Disordered eating is emerging as a norm in Australian society with 90% of 12-17 year old girls having been on a diet of some type. Drunkorexia is the new term I learnt from this week’s lecture. It means disordered eating combined with alcohol abuse which was indicated to exhibit more risky behaviors such as unprotected sex and alcohol overdoes. In Australia, women were are more likely to report effective disorders, such as depression. Suicide is the leading cause of death in Australian women aged 18-34 years of age, and depression is the main cause of suicide. The prevalence rate of high risk alcohol consumption is increasing rapidly with a trend of small age among women in Australia. To be concerned, of those who drank at risky, more people reported high psychological distress compared with those who drank at low risk levels especially for women. In my opinion, alcohol is the risk factors of women’s mental disorders which is easily to be addressed. And also, alcohol can be linked to many other diseases such as breast cancer and CVD. Thus, there is no time to delay the intervention plan for keeping Australian women away from alcohol so that decreasing the probability of developing mental disorders.

__ Week 13 International Women’s Health __
This week's lecture showed an incredible comparison to the health of women in developed countries and those living in a third-world country, such as India or Somalia. It was great to see the extent of women's health in these particular countries. The health of girls in third world countries are obviously a serious current issue for us to pay attention to. Girls in these countries have much higher prevalence of underweight and malnutrition, and have much less opportunity to education. Girls are experienced in child labor, and have hardly any access to any public health knowledge. In most Indian and some Chinese families, a daughter is viewed as a liability while sons are idolized and celebrated, and she is conditioned to believe that she is inferior and subordinate to men. This is related to gender selective abortion and infanticide have led to ‘missing girls’. I can’t accepted this gender discrimination circumstances, I strongly believed that no matter what a girl or a boy, they are selected naturally which means they need to be treated equally. Furthermore, the other topic I need to discuss on my reflection was the Child Marriages, in which young girls and boys below the age of 18 are arranged to marry an older partner, although the practice is far more common to younger girls. To me, child marriage is a terrible destruction of humanity and particularly interferes these girls with their access to education, health and future dreams. I consider that no girl should be taken from her childhood, education and health, and her voices. Nonetheless, millions of girls are denied their rights each year when they are married as child brides currently. This in itself is a very complicated problem which has very deep roots, unfortunately, although the action in place, it seems that nothing can change, for these girls. So I appeal to the public to think of the human rights of these girls, and put yourself in the thought of these girls. If one of the child brides is your daughter, how will you react? For those countries which are still having child marriage, please stop it because you have violated the rights of children.

__ Final Reflection of Women’s Health Unit: __
I felt really appreciate to be as one of the student of Women’s Health unit. The reason why I choose this unit as my elective unit is that Women’s Health is an important topic for every woman in this world much less for public health professionals. I think this unit commendably gave me an overview of how should I do for being a woman and it raised my awareness of how I should deal with my physical and psychological conditions. I believe feminism theory will be helpful throughout of my life while I am facing on problems. Thank you all teaching staffs! I had a really good time for learning from you J