n7561946

At the end of each weekly PUB336 Women's Health lecture and tutorial I have reflected on topics discussed in class, shared my thoughts, done more research on topics that caught my attention and asked a few more questions. Below are my personal thoughts and reflections.
 * __Welcome to my Wiki Diary and Reflections... __**

I have chosen to use this weeks reflection space to introduce my self a little. I am a 20 year year old female studying Public Health. Choosing this subject as an elective was exciting and interesting for me as I haven't really studied anything like it at uni. I spent my younger years growing up in a country town and when I was 10 my family and I moved to Brisbane. I come from an Italian family, that is quite traditional. T hroughout the semester I am interested to see how this has influenced my views about women in society. I am looking forward to welcoming the notion of new concepts, theories and ideas about women's health,.
 * __Week 1: Introduction __**
 * __Week 2: Thighvertising __**

During today’s week 2 lecture, on the topic **Women’s Amazing Bodies: How they Work and What Happens If they Don’t,** discussed was the likes of what is gender, what is sex, what is normal and what is healthy. What particularly caught my attention was the topic of how women’s bodies are always public and on display. What accompanied this is how men’s bodies are more private and guarded. Whether it is that women are 9 out of 10 times plastered across the front of men’s and women’s magazines and more recently the fact OK! magazine published an article on how the Duchess of Cambridge was going to lose her post baby weight only days after Kate gave birth..it is largely true; women’s bodies are always public!

After doing some research on how women’s bodies are always public and on display I came across the term **thighvertising. ** That’s right thigvertising! Which is basically thigh advertising. Women in Japan are renting out their thighs to advertisers in a bizarre media blitz and over 3,000 women have signed up to become walking billboards. Japans PR company ‘Absolute Territory is behind this and claims ‘it is an absolutely perfect place to put an advertisement as it is the place where guys are eager to look at and girls are eager to expose.’ The young females involved in thighvertising are encouraged to make there thigh billboards look ‘more seductive’ by wearing mini skirts and long socks.

Nothing creepy about that (total sarcasm) and immoral you could say. I don’t agree with the notion of using female’s bodies as billboards through ‘selling space.’ This reiterated society’s normality of males and the general public gazing directly onto a woman’s thigh, and keeping it there. Yes, I agree with the statement, that women’s bodies are amazing but using them as an advertising space..im not too sure that’s what they should be used for. Take a look for yourselves. Is all this really worth earning a lousy, minimum, __13 bucks?__

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 * __Week 3: Over time has Anything Really Changed? __ **

Many things about the week 3 lecture took my interest. The topic was **Women in Popular Culture, Advertising, and the Media – Implications for Social Inequalities and Women’s Health.** What particularly caught my attention was the way women were historically. But has everything from then to now REALLY CHANGED?I mean really! Having known quite little about this I found myself rather intrigued. It was during the lecture where Julie-Anne introduced a new term to my ears “Post Feminism.”

**Post Feminism, what is it anyway?** Post-feminism began in the early 1980′s when journalists and academics began proclaiming that //feminism is dead//. The basic idea behind the movement is that feminism has achieved its goals and now it is time to distance ourselves from the movement.  1) “death of feminism”, “anti-feminism”, “feminism is irrelevant now”  2) the next stage in feminism, or feminism that intersects with other “post-” philosophies/theories, such as postmodernism, post structuralism and post colonialism.

So are we really ready to accept the term post feminism? No way have we won the war. The Global Gender Gap Index shows this first hand, take a look. media type="youtube" key="DIv63UbYFUk" width="505" height="303"

__** In **____**terestingly enough..**.__In 2003 my mother was very close to getting a promotion, at work, her boss (a male) had been promising. When her boss heard that my mother and father were soon filing for divorce he did not give her the promotion. He had said the reason for not getting the promotion was because my mother would ‘now have to stay at home and look after the kids and won’t be able to handle the more higher demanding position.’ Needless to say that was not exactly a very fair call.



<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">It is too very intriguing to observe how underlying concepts of females being **cleaners and cooks** remain the same. The video on the left is from 1960 and the video on the right is from 2010. Both of these ads <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">for household cleaning products show women cleaning the home opposed to a men, despite being made four decades apart. It <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">presents the notion that women have not been separated from domestic duties.

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 * __<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Week 4: No Baby on Board…No Worries __ **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">The topic of the week four lecture was **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">The 'Right' Time to Have a Child: Changes in Reproductive Trends and Outcomes for Women. **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;"> What has me particularly interested was why women CHOOSE TO have children and why women CHOOSE NOT TO have children.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Up until several decades ago it was always almost assumed that most women would get married and soon to follow would be the pitter-patter of their new born baby’s feet. Society had set strong **prejudices** about what women ought to do. Within today’s society there are more and more women who are child-free and have made a conscious decision not to have children. Dare I say..this has been labelled as the last female taboo. Of recent this topic <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">has been plastered all over the media - with discussions on breakfast television shows, newspaper articles and online discussion boards.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Despite the reasons as to why women decide not to have children are varied, often deeply personal and circumstantial, childless women face constant scrutiny for there situation. They are often scrutinised, labelled as 'selfish' and <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">are questioned for their decision. These women must constantly fight a war against what society thinks. Is the judgement a little <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;"> insensitive or what?

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">American News website **__newsweek.com__** published an article, entitled ‘//Where Have all the Babies Gone?’// calling women who decide not to have children ‘selfish.’ Read the article here: []. I disagree with all of these demeaning terms. Everyone has a right to make their own choices and be respected for that without question. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Women who don't want children should not be made outcasts <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">.


 * __<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">Channel 7's ‘Sunrise’ __**<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;"> breakfast show featured a segment presenting a positive and supportive light on women who choose not to have children. Sam and Kochie spoke with Jody Day, founder of Gateway Women. Gateway Women is an organisation for childless women (or #nomos – the not mothers, as Jody Day says) by choice or circumstance so they can feel less isolated and can offer each other support. As the slogan of Gateway Women goes:
 * <span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: Rockwell,serif; font-size: 15pt;">We may not be Mothers but we’re here, we care, we count and we ROCK!! **

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<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It is okay for women to choose to not have children! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The number of women choosing not to have children is on the rise worldwide, but why does it bother so many people? We have to keep taking about these issues.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Whilst having a look through the other students Wiki pages…I came across many different opinions and ideas. I found it interesting to look at what topics from the lectures caught the attention of other students, compared to what topics caught my attention. I particularly found Week 3 of n7211902’s reflections interesting. In this wiki reflection was a quote from Leviticus 15:19-24 which discussed that when a women is menstruating whoever touches her, where she lies and anywhere she sits will be unclean until the evening. The quote from the bible also says that whoever touches her bed and whoever touches anything she sits on must wash their clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until the evening. I agree with n7211902 when they put ‘I guess I should start levitating so as not to make anything dirty when I’m on my period.’ The Leviticus quote is so ridiculous and is clearly an outdated notion.


 * __<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Week 5: Barbie vs Real Women __**

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">For the week 5 Women’s Health lecture the very interesting Dr Angela Dwyer presented a lecture on **The Fashion Industry and Body Image: Impact on Women’s Health.** Coming from an all-girls high school I regularly had classes surrounding the topics of body image and body image disorders. I found this lecture very fascinating and interesting as it shed an evidence based perspective on the fashion industry + body image + impact on women’s health.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Airbrushing and digital altering is now everywhere! Whilst we hear in day to day life that the images we see of women in magazines and advertisements have been, you name it: airbrushed, edited, digitally enhanced and smoothed out - these images still have such a powerful effect on the health young females. Its modern media and fashion industries that are imposing the ‘perfect’ way women should look. With the click of a mouse we can have no cellulite, a tanned even-toned skin, no freckles, larger breasts…and the list goes on.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">This leaves people thinking skinny is best and us asking questions like what is her secret and ill have whatever she’s having PLEASE. Many of us don't realise how much of what we see is fake and this has a damaging effect on the way women feel about themselves. From this women look in the mirror and think they are worthless, not pretty and not skinny enough. Take the picture of Model Valentina Zelyaeva below. The picture on the **left** shows the original image and on the **right** is the airbrushed image with slimmer waist and hips.



<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">SO…take 29cm plastic __**<span style="color: #ff9cff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">BARBIE **__<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">. She has been around since 1959, and (dare I say) is almost a typical present for young children. From an early age (I know I got my first barbie when I was around 7 years old) we are exposed to these unrealistic figures. __So Just how impossible are her proportions?__ Real life barbie would be quite disproportionate that she would have problems walking and would topple over from carrying an over sized bust on such a small frame. She would weigh 49kg, and have a BMI of 16.24 – putting her in the severely underweight category. Her tiny waist would provide room for only half a liver and a small section of intestine. Her small feet would make it difficult to balance and her small wrists would make it difficult for her to lift anything. Yikes! The images below show a real women compared to the Barbie doll. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Maybe Mattel should start producing Barbies with body-shapes more realistic and similar to most women! What do you think?




 * __<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Week 6: Giving Birth to Misconception..Media VS Reality __**

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">The topic of the week 6 lecture was **H** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">aving a Baby: A Women’s Health Perspective. **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;"> Dr Yvette Miller presented a very insightful lecture! An important concept of this lecture was how do we learn about birth? Is it by seeing it, family, peers, education, or print and broadcast media? Having never given birth myself, nor been present at a birth I found this lecture both fascinating and interesting. The closest I have come is watching SBS’s //One Born Every Minute.// This being the case I think it is safe to say the only representation of birth I have is from what the media has presented to me.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**So…**how does the media represent childbirth? Through doing some research I have found that film and media never fail to exaggerate childbirth and there portrayal of childbirth is less than accurate. In the media childbirth is presented as a medical emergency, a rush to the hospital to arrive just in perfect time for the delivery, there is a presence of beeping machines, doctors in white scrubs..and of course everyone screaming ‘PUSH.’

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I feel the medias representation has also contributed to my minimal knowledge about childbirth.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Research shows that there is poor birth knowledge in the population. Particularly relating to what happens during pregnancy and birth. Despite we are fortunate to be surrounded by a wealth of knowledge we are largely influenced by the media and its representation of childbirth.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Have a read of the effects the media has on childbirth. This article discusses how the media can have a huge influence on the perceptions of childbirth: []

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">__**One born every minute**__ is a program aired on SBS. This program celebrates what it really feels like to become a parent, <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;"> by taking a bustling maternity hospital and filling it with 40 cameras. Here is an episode:

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 * __<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Week 7: Lets talk about Gender __**

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Presented by Julie-Anne was the week 7 lecture entitled **Changing Gender Roles in Families: Paid Work, House Work and Child Raising.** Coming from a somewhat traditional type of Italian family I was immediately intrigued.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Big family events, for me, involve the grandparents, grandchildren, cousins, parents, siblings, uncles, aunties and friends all getting together. It is the women who cook the food and prepare the table. When the food is ready it is the men who are served their plate of food first. I find this frustrating being a female in the 21st century but what Nonna wants everyone always respects. This shows me first-hand how over three generations the role of women is changing and females are becoming less sub-servant in “traditional” roles. I took the photo below last weekend at a family gathering, it shows, in a picture, what I am describing above. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**I can largely see how stereotypes as dynamic constructs for women have changed when looking in the past and at the present.** Traditionally females were expected to wear dresses, raise children, cook, clean, have a delicate body, be passive, pure and moral…along with being inferior to man. In today’s 21st century it is excellent how we are seeing great independence, individuality and almost a sense of non-conformity of the “traditional” expectations by women.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It is interesting how society expects (and some still expect) females to adopt and fulfill roles and stereotypes that have been established. We are bombarded with gender stereotypes from birth until death. It is important that we are all flexible in our assumptions, attitudes and approaches.




 * __<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Week 8: Lets Talk..Domestic Violence __ **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">In week 8, Julie-Anne presented a highly educational lecture on **Families and Domestic Violence, ‘Walking into Doors.’** Domestic violence is a **__violation__** of the right we all have to healthy, supportive and safe relationships. Admittedly I hadn’t known much about this topic. It was shocking to hear that the lack of agreement about the basic features of domestic violence causes difficultly surrounding case identification.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">I have a passion for health in Indigenous communities and refugees. The number of domestic violence victims is astounding – with many undetected cases of abuse. It is important that we talk about this issue due to the prevalence rate and the significant negative impacts domestic violence has on individuals and our communities. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">By doing further research I found that (ABS, 2005):


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Just under half a million Australian women reported they had experienced either physical violence, sexual violence or sexual assault in the past 12 months
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">64% **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> of women who experienced physical assault and **81%** of women who experienced sexual assault still did **not report it to police**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">73% said that the perpetrator was a male
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">33% of women had experienced physical violence since the age of 15

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">When reading these statistics I was shocked to read the prevalence of domestic violence!

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Recently in the Press: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Whilst researching I found a number of initiatives in place working to educate and reduce the prevalence of domestic violence. These initiatives include: <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">The poster and video below is for <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> the White Ribbon Hotline. White Ribbon is a primary prevention campaign. It works to change the attitudes and behaviours that lead to violence against women. There are national and state-based agencies that can assist 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) media type="youtube" key="FNO0pBB6RYs" width="529" height="258"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Routine screening for domestic violence in health services
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Women’s Aid
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">ReachOut
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">White Ribbon Hotline
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Salvation Army’s National Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Helpline

__**<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">More Resources Found: **__
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">This document is the National Policy document for Austalia: Family violence and sexual assult in Indigenous Communities. Walking the Talk: []
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">This link explains domestic abuse in the workplace: []
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"> This link has a number of myths and facts about abuse: []


 * __<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Week 9: Indigenous Women's Health __ **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The topic for week 9 was **The Health of Indigenous Women In Australia**. This immediately brought me back to my subject I did HLB001: Health Needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia, with Odette Best (which I absolutely loved!!). This week really reiterated to me that there is still a long path to go with regards to improving the health of Indigenous Australians and particularly Indigenous females.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__**T****his week:**__ I was inspired and moved by the work of Anita Heiss as an Indigenous activist and as a patron of ‘The Alliance of Girls Schools.’ During this week there was one thing in particular that stuck with me and really made me stop and think. During the tutorial Mangalam presented us with the notions of :

If these women were white, we would hear very loud outrage from feminists If their killers had been white, we would hear outrage from the Indigenous activists Why is there such a deafening silence when both victim and perpetrator are black? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It’s no lie..there is a significant gap in life expectancy between Indigenous Australian women and non-Indigenous Australian women. I found from the ABS (2013) that life expectancy at birth for Indigenous females is 72.9 years and life expectancy at birth for non-Indigenous females is 82.6 years. It’s just not right! This shows that life expectancy at birth is 9.7 years less for Indigenous females, compared to non-Indigenous females. This is a significant difference!! Also…shockingly…Indigenous women are 80 times more likely, then non-Indigenous women to be hospitalised for assault and injury. This alarmingly shows there is a high risk of violence to Indigenous women. I think this is unacceptable and such a high figure (any figure at all) is inexcusable. Something needs to be done about this. I think awareness, education and support are paramount.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The //__**Australian HealthInfoNet**__//, online resource, provides a significant amount of information and resources specific to the health of Indigenous women. This is in the form of an Online Women’s Health Portal. The **AIM** of the portal is to provide the health workforce and Indigenous women with access to quality information. The topics cover menstruation, contraception, planning a pregnancy, problems getting pregnant, pregnancy, menopause, polycystic ovary syndrome and workforce – with links, for all topics, on key facts, publications, resources, programs and projects. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Have a browse:** []

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 * __<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Week 10: Healthy Ageing of Women __ **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">During today’s week 10 lecture, on the topic **Healthy Ageing of Women**, discussed was: the health and social challenges women face as they age. Having completed my Assessment 1:Online Resource for Women’s Health on Older Australian I was intrigued about what would be discussed- due to the fact my webpage had more of a lifestyle focus over a medical focus. My webpage i made, entitled Happy Healthy Ladies, can be found at [].



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It is definitely safe to say that I learnt a lot from this lecture! What particularly caught my attention was the topic of menopause. This is because my grandmother went through surgical menopause in her early 40s, as a result of ovarian cancer. **So what is surgical menopause?** It is menopause that occurs as a result of the removal of the ovaries from a woman who is still having periods. **What are the symptoms of surgical menopause?** It is said that the symptoms are similar to those in women who are going through natural menopause – but are often severe and interfere with quality of life. I asked my grandmother about this and she definitely agrees! <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//__**On a side note…**__//I am currently in Hue, Vietnam completing my Public Health placement. I have only been in the country for a few days and have already observed a number of things that relate to Womens Health. I am doing my work with the Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy. At the university I have noticed that the female toilets do not have sanitary bins (only a small bin below the hand wash basin) - this had me asking questions about their regulations surrounding the implementation of sanitary hygiene practices in schools, universities and workplaces. Whereas in Australia it is mandatory for toilets to be supplied with hygienic means to dispose of sanitary items. It was also a struggle to buy tampons here in Vietnam..until we finally found some in only one of the supermarkets. After doing some research I found the reason for this. One reason I can attribute to why they were hard to find is because women fear they will damage their hymen. Research says that females in Vietnam tend to use pads.


 * __<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Week 11: Lesbians in the Media __ **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">The lecture this week proved to again be really interesting for me. The topic was **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Women's Health in Same-Sex Relationships **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">. I have chosen this week to write about the portal of lesbians in the media. We see that there are many ways lesbians are portrayed in the media.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">You would think having lesbian lives portrayed in film and television would be a great opportunity to present a normalised portrayal of lesbians. Instead in productions lesbians are depicted as **‘villains’** and are often the __**‘token characters**__’. This is causing a negative portrayal. In order for the viewer to understand a characters sexuality we see, as early as possible, different characteristics are used - certain gestures, clothing and even codes of language adopted in order to visualise an individual's homosexuality. <span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"> I think this is rather immoral because it leads to negative <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">stereotypical portrayals of lesbians. That’s show biz for you! – and I think it’s ridiculous.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">I mean we do see a number of lesbian actors and TV personalities in the lime light, such as Ellen DeGeneres who is married to Portia DeRossi. But on her talk show we really don’t hear much mention about the health issues lesbians face, or any issues they face for that matter..other than same sex marriage.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Chris Straayer (author of the book // __<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Deviant Eyes, Deviant Bodies: Sexual Re-Orientations in Film and Video __ //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">) said:

//<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Not only are [lesbians] underrepresented and misrepresented, but also they are consistently punished. Usually that punishment is severe, i.e. death, and it is presented as destiny. If a lesbian or pre-lesbian “fell” for this depiction of homosexual destiny and unworthiness, no doubt she would either commit suicide or “go straight.” In fact, however, though a pessimistic and unflattering presentation is essentially the only one available in mass culture, lesbians do live healthy lives with surprisingly few lesbian-related problems. // <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">I think it is safe to say that lesbian sexuality is often misunderstood and ignorantly portrayed.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">__**Here in Vietnam…**__I asked a few of the students at the Hue University of Pharmacy and Medicine, where I am doing my placement, about same sex relationships in Hue. They said that many homosexuals are forced to move to Ho Chi Minh City as their sexuality is not accepted in this conservative city of Hue, Vietnam.

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 * __<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Week 12: Substance Abuse..1950s, 1960s and Now __ **

There were many things discussed this week that caught my attention. Week 12 was focused on **Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Women Across the Ages**. It was taught in the lecture that a relatively large amount of self-medication was present. Easy access in the 50s and 60s to over the counter sedatives and amphetamine-based stimulants didn't help this. It was only after research found that use of these medications was linked to worsening mental and physical conditions, that prescriptions were required.

With all of the gender roles, gender inequality and the fact women were expected to stay home, cook, clean, look after the children and play a subservient role…I DON’T BLAME THEM for self-medicating! I also found it really interesting when Julie-Anne mentioned poisoning was often seen as a typically women’s crime because of the strong connections with food and the domestic roles of women and the fact little physical strength is required to actually poison someone..sounds justifiable right? – Sarcasm. So basically before the 1990s we can say women took a lot of drugs to calm them down and guide through the rigor of being a girlfriend, wife and mother in the 20th century. So if we fast-forward to today’s society what are the reasons women today self-medicate? Reasons include: lack of job security, poor mental health, financial problems, relationship problems and daily stressors.



Thinking about this tho I guess it is good to know that our society has evolved and there are many women specific services available to help those caught in substance abuse and those who have poor mental health, because we have finally understood that women’s health needs are different to men’s.

This lecture was the first time I had heard of the term //__**drunkorexia**__//. What does this mean? Drunkorexia is a colloquialism for self-imposed starvation or binge eating/purging combined with alcohol abuse. It sounds shocking that some people think this is best. Especially when it can lead to such an array of physical and psychological consequences such as render the drinker more vulnerable to alcohol-related brain damage, a detrimental impact on hydration and the body's retention of minerals and nutrients, further exacerbating the consequences of malnutrition and denigrating an individual's cognitive faculties.



To do with //Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Women Across the Ages// –kinda – I have heard a lot about the movie hysteria. I really need to watch it!




 * __<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Week 13: Women all over the World __**

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In week 13 the topic of the lecture was **International Women’s Health: How the Other Half Live and Die**. Many of the topics on the slides stood out to me. I literally got goose bumps when I read the following statistics from the lecture notes: <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In Somalia and Chad **over half of the girls** are engaged in child labour
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In Guinea-Bissau less than **7%** of the girls are in the correct grade at school
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In Swaziland **22%** of girls and women aged 15-24 are HIV+
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In Niger nearly **80%** of young women currently aged 20-24 years have no education – compared to **64%** of young men have no education

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**SO WHAT ARE WE DOING ABOUT THIS?** The Australian Government has committed to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Which are a number of targets set by the world’s nation to reduce poverty by 2015. Four of the eight MGDs relate to the well-being of women. These are:


 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[[image:1.png]] || **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Promote gender equality and empower women **
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015 ||
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[[image:2.png]] || **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Reduce child mortality **
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate ||
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[[image:3.png]] || **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Improve maternal health **
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Achieve universal access to reproductive health ||
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[[image:4.png]] || **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases **
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases ||

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**So Far…**Since the 1990s progress has been made towards the MDGs, however there are still a number of formidable challenges ahead!

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">My cousin recently returned from a trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia where she volunteered at the **SHE Rescue Home.** The SHE Rescue Home is a safe haven for girls aged 5 to 16 who have been trafficked, raped, prostituted or who are at risk of these things. It is factors such as poverty, abuse, trickery, deception, unemployment or addiction in the family unit that contribute to a girl’s vulnerability to trafficking. The SHE Rescue Home works to give the girls and their families an opportunities to reshape their lives. The goal of SHE Rescue Home is the safe reintegration of the girls to their families and communities. The girls and parents, though SHE Rescue Home, are educated and trained so that they learn new skills. This project helps the families to produce an income and alleviates the poverty, which initially contributed to their daughter being vulnerable and placed at risk of sexual abuse and trafficking. A way you can support these girls is by purchasing their hand-made products from []. Efforts like this are amazing and show the progress we are slowly making to help women around the world. Reading about what the SHE Rescue Home does for females and the work Chloe did over in Cambodia really puts a smile on my face!

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