New research shows 26% of teen girls in abusive relationships reported that "their partners were actively trying to get them pregnant by manipulating condom use, sabotaging birth control use and making explicit statements about wanting them to become pregnant."
In the heart of abstinence-only and virginity-pledge country, STDs flourish.
A profile of the women who are Mexico's top environment-defenders. They've been at this since long before climate change became a prominent issue.
Rebecca Traister on TV's new gender order.
A Washington state court dismisses a suit filed against stores that refused to stock EC.
Women say they feel patronized when pink gadgets are marketed exclusively toward them? I'm shocked!
A New Jersey school bans a video made to teach kids about gay marriage. (Video.)
On female boxers in Thailand.
An academy teaches the forced-pregnancy advocates of the future. Ugh.
CosmoGirl magazine acknowledges the gender spectrum. (Whoa!)
The scientists who developed the HPV vaccine are in the running for a major award.
On the forced-pregnancy movement using their children as political props.
Muslim women’s bodies are too frequently used to symbolize the state of Islam in Iran, Erin Wiegand writes.
On the prominence of the "abuelita" figure in Hispanic marketing.
Will this be the year Democrats stop considering white men an important part of their base?
Arlen Specter adds earmarks to fund abstinence-only programs in Pennsylvania.
New York rejects millions of dollars in abstinence-only money.
A prominent televangelist says her husband (also a prominent televangelist) abused her.
On the messy overlap between the repro-rights movement and “reprogenetic� technology.
Why one self-described "pro-lifer" supports the supposedly pro-choice Rudy Giuliani. Add this to the list of reasons Giuliani would make a truly frightening president.
A Harvard med student won't be allowed to duck out of exams in order to pump breastmilk.
The battle over FGM rages in Egypt.
Birth control use is on the rise in Pakistan.
Why would a Polish political party calling itself the Women's Party -- which advocates for things like contraceptive access and equal pay -- put up a billboard ad featuring naked women?
A woman at high risk for breast cancer decides to have a mastectomy. She calls herself a "previvor."
Sara at F-Words on the double standards for women and men in the kitchen. (or, " Get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich...but don't make it too good.")
Chris Matthews can't stop talking about his female guests' looks.
On Barnes and Noble advancing racist and sexist stereotypes with its display selections.
And the latest Carnival of Feminists is up!
Go ahead and post additional links in comments... or point us to a great post you've written yourself in the past week or so.
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From the vomitrocious anti-abortion kids article:
Jesse, despite being the most vocal, is not the eldest. His sister Lauren, 20, sat out most of the demonstration away from the big crowd and megaphones.
"I grew up in a church. I know my place," Lauren said. "God set up a certain hierarchy and I have my place in that." She said that men were more suited to take care of important matters. "They're more commanding," she said. "We're supposed to be more submissive."
She ain't even good enough to participate in her own disempowerment.
They don't show the actual billboard in question, but it's on the front page of the party's site. (Um, now I'm thinking twice about posting that in case it just sends people there to drool, but whatever... :/ )
Thanks for the powerful commentary on racism and sexism at Barnes & Noble. I'm a current part-time employee at Barnes & Noble and I plan to take this article to work to share with my colleagues.
I would like to say that corporate policy, and market forces, can sometimes work in positive ways. For example, I live in a very conservative part of Michigan. The strongest-selling section in our store after fiction is religious titles. But we still carry The Advocate, for example, despite some employees' objections. And when gay pride month came along this year, we were required to put up an endcap with GLBTQ fiction for teens. I doubt this would happen without a mandate from the company.
I'm not saying this erases the negative examples or justifies working there (something I do wrestle with, for a variety of reasons). I do think it's a complicated picture, though.
From what I've being hearing from my feminist Polish friends for years, being able to show flesh in public is a very bold act for women in Poland. Under the Communist regime, women were told how to dress. Personally, I think it's a great picture. It's less pornographic than most fashion magazines and the women look strong and powerful. It definitely doesn't look like they are posing for the male gaze.
ooh ooh I have a link:
"Putting Money on the Table," a NYTimes Style article about the "pitfalls of dating down" for professional women:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/fashion/23whopays.html?ref=fashion
This is an interesting phenomenon (it attributes the phenomenon of high-earning women dating lower-earning men to higher rates of women in college and graduate school). But the author decides that the problem really arises not from the disparity, but the women's expectations and their dishonesty about what they want from a man!
sample below:
"The discomfort over who pays for what seems to be not really about money, plain and simple. Instead, it is suggestive of the complex psychology of what many of these women expect from their dates (for him to be a traditional breadwinner) and what they think they should expect (Oh, I just want him to be a nice guy).
"On a first date at a lounge in Hell’s Kitchen, Thrupthi Reddy, 28, a brand strategist in Manhattan, watched her date down several cocktails to her one, then not even flinch when she handed the waitress her credit card. Initially miffed, she recognized her own contradictions.
"“You wonder if you’re being a hypocrite,� she recalled, “because all date long I’m telling him how independent I was, and how annoying it was that men wouldn’t date strong independent women.� (The relationship ended after six months.)"
Her own contradictions??????
Ugh, Chris Matthews was absolutely embarrassing to watch. That disgustingly gleeful look on his face when he was denying ulterior motives for replaying the Britney Spears clip, coupled with his assertion that his guest was "God's gift to men," was too much for me. Gross.
What if taking such a radical step made it harder for Deborah to find someone special and become a mother herself?
Still, they discouraged her from surgery. Most women who had a preventive mastectomy, a breast surgeon told her, already had a family.
Deborah’s mother agreed it was important to know the risks. But not knowing them could be a luxury, too. Had she had the same options as her daughter, would she have found a man and had a family?
I hated that all of the objections to Deborah's surgery were based in the idea that she wouldn't be able to attract a man. Would a mother really want her daughter to be with a man who would reject her if she didn't have breasts or didn't have perfect or natural ones?
I would mourn the loss of my breasts, too, but not because of my perceived attractiveness to men. I would mourn the same way I would mourn the loss of a leg or my hands. It's just awful that on top of the suffocating fear a woman may have facing breast cancer, others pile on guilt for changing her body in a way that does not fit the culturally embraced ideal.
I know that if I were facing the odds that Deborah was, Mr. KMP wouldn't hesitate for a moment. He would want me to live; I can't imagine a man who would prioritize a woman's breasts above her life. I know they are out there, but I can't wrap my mind around it.
Just a reminder: the students at Central Connecticut State University are trying to fight back re: the cartoon advocating the kidnapping and urinating upon a 14-year-old Latina girl. They're up against that old First Amendment wall (which seems to protect those who *have* free speech) but are arguing that their Fourteenth Amendment rights matter too. It is an important story that has gone overlooked in mainstream and alt - media but they're taking charge nonetheless. Blogs include http://takebacktherecorder.blogspot.com and http://ccsurejected.blogspot.com (the latter is a blog of stories that have been rejected by the so-called editor of the newspaper who has now decided that the cartoon is old news. You know, 'cause misogyny and racism are so five minutes ago). Send some love in that direction, if anyone's so inclined.
And note: this is not a hijacked post--there was a call to post additional stories....
Oh, and a major shoutout to Shark-Fu at http://angryblackbitch.blogspot.com - the analysis of Jena 6 there is spot on. If S-F is reading, much love. p/a
I second that KMP.
For me it also echoes the whole "Save the Ta-tas" thing where people act as if the worst thing that could happen with breast cancer is a woman losing her breasts, rather than her life.
There was also an episode of Grey's Anatomy where a young-ish woman decided to have preventive surgery and her husband struggled to cope with the loss of her breasts.
Not sure how I feel about the breast-feeding medical student. She is already being given an entire extra day to take the test- she has dyslexia- and she already gets 45 minutes in breaks, but wants an extra hour. That does seem excessive to me, and I do wonder how she is planning on doing her job while breast-feeding. I may be wrong, but it seems that doctors by necessity don't get many breaks in their day. At my job (which is retail, basically) we get 15 minutes of break for every 3.75 hours we work. I have never heard of someone getting extra time at my job to pump breast milk. I don't want women to not be able to work after pregnancy, but at the same time, I am not sure how it would work to give them different hours while the rest of us have to work very specific, ever-changing hours, especially when other people not being on the sales floor greatly affects the people on the sales floor.
The CosmoGirl article is great! I love when mainstream mags sound practically feminist!
Cutting off breasts preemptively sounds like one of the most difficult decisions ever, especially since we don't know how much it prevents women from getting the cancer. And this sounds terrible, but I am really curious what the fake breasts with tattooed nipples looks like.
re. pharmacists and dismissed case - violates their civil rights? If they can't do the job they're hired for (to dispense drugs) then perhaps they should be let go. I don't get to choose not to serve my customers meat just because I object to factory farming. Get over yourselves.
Cosmo girl may have recognized the gender spectrum but Cosmo (which targets the 20-30 aged women) has done a horrible disservice to human kind (which includes women) by encouraging beliefs in rape myths. Please read the above article and write to Cosmo about how awful it is for a supposedly "women friendly" magazine to publish such fallacies.
It makes me really sad to see people use their children as props for their own radical political ideas. We get these kind of creeps on our campus weekly holding up signs with messages of hate and hell and yadda yadda all over them. They stand in our "Free Speech" area. I'm all for some free speech...until it gets hateful and causes an uproar on an otherwise peaceful campus.
My dumb moment of the day: I read the line about female boxers in Thailand - and I thought it meant a new kind of unisex underwear.
I noticed the sexist, racist endcaps at Books-a-Million, too. I've been planning on saying something.
Why are you all blaming the bookstore and not the authors?
Here's an extra something for us to be pissed about... sorry
http://tobestalks.blogspot.com/2007/09/proof.html
It isn't just teens whose abusive boyfriends try to get them pregnant. When I was 26, I was in an abusive relationship with a man who would refuse to wear a condom; if I made him put one on at the beginning, he'd take it off in the middle. His next girlfriend ended up pregnant.
But to tell you the truth, until now, I never even thought of it as an effort to control me on a biological level; I thought it was just another symptom of his general lack of consideration.
The Barnes & Noble read is good. Now I know to support my local used bookstore, Cuz its what I can afford. Boo to B & N.
Hey Ann,
I think there is a link missing about FGM in Egypt?
@wombtwin - hey, do you mind saying what city you're in? We've been trying to determine how widespread these endcap displays are.
I'm always impressed (and a bit embarrassed) when I read about poor Mexican farmers who seem to be doing a lot more for the world than I'm doing in the face of government persecution.
Regarding Matthews: He is easily the most obnoxious person who ever lived. Most of his guests appear to be pained to have to speak to him and I'd surprised if he has any friends. What I liked most about that clip is the fact that she was was talking about something completely unrelated and he interrupts her to how pretty she is. Pretty embarrassing on so many levels.
Here is a great description of him.
This is a frightening post about women at a party on my university's campus being drugged en masse at a frat party.
One of the girls, who tested positive for GHB, has started a Facebook group to raise awareness and help find her attackers.
http://antigonemagazine.blogspot.com/2007/09/female-students-drugged-at-ubc.html
re: the televangelist who was abused.
This paragraph is very telling:
"Conservative critics among the evangelical clergy have accused her of exploiting the attack for publicity, calling her “loud,� “angry,� “aggressive� and “out of control,� while a group of black and Hispanic churches has demanded Mr. Weeks’s resignation. Fans responded with shock."
Does this remind anybody else of a century ago when women who spoke out, or acted a particular way (you know, said what they thought and acted as the wished) were considered "hysterical" and given medical treatment and institutionalized?
It was the description of "loud" "angry" and "out of control". As if "loud" and "Angry" or "Aggressive" are BAD things.
"Out of control"? like she is somehow a hysterical woman who needs to be put down for speaking out about her abuse. HOW DARE SHE.
Regarding the whole prophylactic mastectomy thing. Parts of that article did rub me the wrong way. Especially as was mentioned the mother's emphasis on her daughter being able to find a man and have a family post procedure. On the other had, as backwards as that may seem I think it's easy to pass these concerns off as antiquated or invalid if you've never had to deal with them. The concern for a new partner may be less, your body has been mutilated, and more, what if the cancer returns? How will I handle that? Dealing with a partner with a cancer diagnosis lot of responsibility, a lot to take on, especially in a new relationship.
I'm not crazy about the "Save the tatas campaign" either. I think mainly because I find the term "ta-ta" to be juvenile. That said I don't think they're advocating that the worst thing that can happen to a woman with breast cancer is the potential for her to lose her breasts. I think it's a whimsical take on a serious issue, which I think their mission statement illustrates.
As a woman who's had a bilateral mastectomy in the past year, I can tell you that losing a breast is absolutely not like losing a hand or a leg. I can still have full mobility. I look relatively normal on the outside. But I can tell you that coping with the fact that having two mastectomies, one prophylactic, was one of the most difficult, gut wrenching decisions I've ever had to make. I did mourn the loss of my breasts, worried about how my partner would see me both through the recovery process and with my permanent scars. To deny those concerns, in my mind is to not take the situation seriously. I think it's a bit presumptuous and flippant to act as if for some women the loss of a breast might not be devastating both to herself and her partner. I think it's valid and fair for a person to need some time to mourn the loss of their partner's breasts. It may be easy to gloss over and frame it as "men just like breasts and they should get over it", but it's certainly an oversimplified response to a complicated emotional issue.
Am I missing something, or is the article on gender in tv roles saying that for a man, having your wife make more money than you is just as bad as being ass-raped by a monkey?
noname: Bookstore vs. Authors
Remember when the only roles for Black actors were as "mammies" and servants? This is the same situation. Either the authors pay their bills by making what people expects to see, or take the chance on bringing real art into the world and not making a single cent.
Black Issues Book Review had a great article on this very subject. I'll try to find it and post it here.
I really don't get this particular breastfeeding case. I've seen it in at least three different places with people all over the board defending her or bashing her. But the main theme throughout all of the arguments has been a complete disregard to the particulars of the case. To me, I might feel differently if she was actually doing the 9 hour test in one sitting, but she's not. Her testing is spread out over two days, so I'm going to assume a schedule of a four hour day and a five hour day. On both days, she's getting a 45 min. break. That being the case, I don't see that she needs additional accommodations unless there is some extreme problem here that was not brought to light in the article.
About the preemptive mastectomies, I had to stop reading that article, because I couldn't take it anymore. My Mom had breast cancer while I was in high school, and I believe she has one of the genes (BRCA1 or 2, I don't remember). I've been offered genetic counseling to determine if I have it, but so far I've refused, for reasons that they didn't mention in the article for as far as I read (about 3 pages in) - insurance. Having it written in a medical file somewhere that I have up to a 90% chance of developing breast cancer is not something I'm interested in risking until I feel completely certain that I will never be denied health insurance because of it. Here's what I know for sure - I have ADHD and dysthymia. Because of the nature of ADHD meds, I have to go to the doctor every single month for a new paper prescription for that medication. Right now I have no copays for doctor visits and about $10 per prescription, but without the insurance I have now, that could mean paying a ridiculous sum of money every month PLUS the cost of the medications themselves. So it's just not a risk I'm willing to take.
Has anyone else had to make a decision like this? What did you decide to do?
Barnes and Noble really is terrible with the way they categorize! I was in one and couldn't find Curve magazine in any of the places I thought it would be... I finally asked someone working at the store where it was and she said it was in the men's magazine section. (wtf?)
I found it, and when I got up to the check-out desk, I laughed and good-naturedly asked the cashier why a lesbian magazine would be in the men's section. She said (I kid you not): "It goes along with, y'know, all the erotica and stuff you see in the guy's section." Um, no.
Want something to cheer about? Catherine Ferguson Academy, a public school in Detroit for pregnant and parenting teens, blows me away. I had the chance to take with Asenath Andrews, the school's longtime principal, for an article I wrote for Women's eNews, and I'm so impressed with what they're doing--urban farming, childcare, college prep, internships--that I want to tell everyone can.
Schools Pave New Path for Pregnant Students
My piece was the second of a two-part series. Megan Tady
somechemstudent-
even if the testing is for only 4 hours one day and 5 the next, how do you know that those 4 or 5 hours aren't scheduled during what would normally be her baby's feeding time? Especially if the baby is really young, it's probably going to become an issue. If they give her a separate, private area to pump, there shouldn't be an issue. When my Dad took the exam to become a PsyD (I was eight at the time, and I don't remember too many of the details, but I believe it was a one day, all day type thing, and I'm assuming that they're somewhat similar, at least in terms of the way they're set up) there was a woman there who was VERY pregnant, and I remember him saying he felt so bad for her because she had to get up and use the bathroom several times (babies tend to push on your bladder) and you're only allowed to go one person at a time, I guess to avoid cheating. So as long as she's not in there with other nursing moms where they could be swapping notes, why should it be an issue? And why do the walls need to be see-through? They don't watch you when you pee, unless my Dad left that part out . . .
about the glass walls thing . . . woops, I think we're referring to 2 different cases here . . . the one I'm referring to was mentioned in the Carnival of Feminists. In that one the women was offered a monitered room with glass walls or something ridiculous.
As for the dyslexia & ADHD thing, if she's breastfeeding she's most likely not taking anything for them, and as someone who has ADHD and takes meds for it, I can't imagine trying to take a test like that without them. I wish her all the luck in the world.
Those kids say all of that anti-abortion stuff now, but wait until they get older, like 16 or 17. I realize that this is ancedotal evidence, but I had at least four friends in high school who claimed to be against both birth control (and abortion) who later sought out those resources when they decided to have sex. And I think the statistic is something like 1 in 8 women who seek abortions identify as evangelical christians.
Fuck. I just read the forced pregnancy in abusive relationships article.
Shit like this is exactly why emergency contraception needs to be available to women under the age of 18.
"If they give her a separate, private area to pump, there shouldn't be an issue."
She already has a private room.
She also has already been granted many special favors not offered to other breast-feeding women, such as extra break time and being able to take the test over 2 days instead of 1.
And she still failed the first time. Failed.
I have sat for step 1 of the USMLE boards myself. More to the point, plenty of pregnant and breastfeeding women have sat for these boards without whining - yes, I said whining - for unfair advantages over other people who are taking the test, and they did just fine. Only a tiny fraction of U.S. med students fail. Only the worst of the bunch.
She is incompetent. She had access to the best medical education in the world and still failed. It does not matter why she is incompetent, only that she is. She whines to the media and is actually using her infant child as a prop in her P.R. campaign.
Would you want this doctor involved in your care at the hospital? How about the care of your parents? When she misses the cancerous cells in the biopsy, will it really make you feel better at your mother's funeral that hey, at least we didn't let some cold impartial exam keep a woman down?
The tests aren't designed to Keep Women Down. The tests are designed to keep dangerously incompetent people away from patients.
"Those kids say all of that anti-abortion stuff now, but wait until they get older, like 16 or 17."
...or 36 or 37!
"I realize that this is ancedotal evidence, but I had at least four friends in high school who claimed to be against both birth control (and abortion) who later sought out those resources when they decided to have sex."
Yeah, that's a possibility even if the teen antiabortionist does keep any chastity pledge she made and successfully saves sex for marriage. She who is still anti-contraception after a wedding and a baby may not be just as thrilled about conceiving again after 6 more children...
Ben_Greenberg: I live in Tallahassee, Florida.
Oh yes, the breastfeeding Mom who wants special accommodations. I too have seen her all over the place. I personally object to the notion that breastfeeding is a disability that needs special accommodations. I have two children, worked full time throughout their infancies and beyond, breastfed for a total of 4 years and pumped for a total of one. This is not a disability. She has a one day exam, that she is being allowed to take over two days. I believe that means she gets 9 hours each day, with the 45 minutes break. This is not a job where they are not giving her space to pump enough milk to feed her baby. This is an instance where she needs to pump sufficiently to relieve discomfort. That takes a few minutes, max, per side. You go, you do it, you return. Stop the whining and making breastfeeding mothers look like dunces whose breasts are about to explode.
I think the breastfeeding med student is already getting enough accomodations to enable her to pump and continue with the test. Assuming everything goes as scheduled, she will not have to go more than 3 hours without pumping if she uses part of the 45 minute breaks to pump. Certainly there are tons of people with special circumstances (diabetics who need to test at certain times, for example) who have had to adjust their usual routines in order to meet the scheduling demands of the test. No one is telling her she can't pump and she isn't being denied a space to do so, so I'm just not sure where she gets the idea that her rights have been violated - or why she needs an entire hour to pump in the first place. The test is timed for a reason, and giving her multiple accomodations (IMHO) gives her an unfair advantage.
P.S. - If she can't sit for more than a few hours and concentrate on a test because of her ADHD and dyslexia, how is she going to handle the hours upon hours of neverending patients and charts and problems that she will encounter during her residency? Won't her problems with concentration harm her ability to do her job? I'm really not trying to be a jerk, I'm just not that familiar with ADHD, dyslexia, or how they impact a high-stress job that requires regular and serious concentration. If anyone else has any insight on this, I would love to know.
Manda: My best friend has ADD. She takes medication for it, and it has no impact on her life, job, or her pursuit of her PhD. I'm sure there are lots of doctors with ADD, ADHD, or dyslexia. They aren't debilitating. I imagine the reason the breastfeeding woman's ADHD are being taken into consideration is b/c while she's breastfeeding, she may not be able to take the medication that would control her condition.
Re: The Polish thing -- I agree with Flower. All the Polish people I've known (and I AM part Polish) have been very uptight and some have been downright hateful towards me because I do not TRY to look pretty or "acceptable". That said, I think it's pretty ironic that Jessica's book has nekky tummy and y'all get tweaked when women in other countries try to be in-your-face with flesh as well. Puritanism and feminism have not been historical bed-buddies.
Re: The breastfeeding woman...I don't really see how this case is that much different from ALL THE OTHER breastfeeding fights that have been going on lately, in regards to women wanting special allowances that would compromise any other person's job. She's asking for unrealistic exceptions, and it's wrong. The fact that this is plastered all over the news just smacks of the breast Mafia (yes, yes, I'm a horrible person, but I get sick of women bitching every time a restaurant asks them to be a LITTLE discrete when suckling their young. I don't think they should have to stay home, but I don't think a blanket or at least easily manageable clothes are too much to ask for people who want to pretend they have sensibilities).
I seem to be the only one responding to the call for posts. Anyway here's my humble contribution:
http://beckyblab.com/nimble-fingers-and-no-way-out/119/
I just saw an interesting comment on another forum:
First, the context:
"...The Ibrahim Index of African Governance is releasing its inaugural rankings for the best and worst governed African states. Established by Sudanese businessman, Mo Ibrahim, the foundation claims its criteria for measuring good governance is more objective and quantifiable than any other..."
Now, the comment:
"The Ibrahim Index will not range from best to worst, it will range from least-bad to worst. This is like having a beauty contest in an anorexic/bulimic clinic."
from [groundengineer], Birmingham, United Kingdom
If you are near Toronto this weekend check out this Feminist event called Ladyfest http://ladyfesttoronto.ca/program.html - runs Thurs through Sun. I will be at all the workshops for sure!
Oops, forgot the link:
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=7474&&&edition=2&ttl=20070925105636
If you are near Toronto this weekend check out this Feminist event called Ladyfest - runs Thurs through Sun. I will be at all the workshops for sure!
The link did not show up - http://ladyfesttoronto.ca/program.html
And yet, like other standardised tests, they have at best a fanciful correlation with the skills they claim to be testing.
(We'll leave the "best medical education int he world" comment, made by someone who likely has only experienced medical education in one country. This "best in the world" thing is a cultural phenomenon, shared by the US, North Korea, and the Soviet Union, and it's good not to try to confront true believers.)
"(We'll leave the 'best medical education int he world' comment, made by someone who likely has only experienced medical education in one country. This 'best in the world' thing is a cultural phenomenon"
Even when it comes to biology, chemistry, physics, etc.? To refer back to ForbiddenComma's comment
"...Would you want this doctor involved in your care at the hospital? How about the care of your parents? When she misses the cancerous cells in the biopsy, will it really make you feel better at your mother's funeral that hey, at least we didn't let some cold impartial exam keep a woman down?..."
Or will it really make you feel better that there's probably at least one culture or subculture out there that doesn't believe in biopsies or cancerous cells?
violetlightning:
After being diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 29 I did have to make a difficult regarding genetic testing. Because one company, Myriad owns the patent on this particular test, combined with the fact that it's based on new technology, it's very expensive to have done. I had to lobby my insurance to get it. Eventually they gave in and agreed to pay for it as if it were any other in-network cost. Unfortunately, I'm still paying off the difference.
That said knowing whether or not I had BRCA1 or @ mutations was more important to me than the complications that might arise from having the testing done. My thought was that I will never again be able to be in a place where I don't carry a group insurance policy - this means no quitting a crappy job, no going into business for myself, etc. unless I can shell out for COBRA coverage. Since for me, this was the case anyway, I wanted access to the most advanced testing I could get that might give me insight as to why I had this disease at such a young age and what I could do to live a long and relatively healthy life. When I talked to my insurance company, my Drs. and Myriad, it also became clear that just because it paid for part of the test, my insurance company would not automatically be privy to the results of the genetic testing.
Deciding to get genetic testing is a very, very personal choice. For me it gave me peace of mind and a better awareness of where I stood with my condition in the medical world with the newest kind of testing available to me. I've blogged a lot about my experience with breast cancer, including a post about the genetic testing.
My best to anyone out there who's in the midst of making these tough decisions.
m00se:
Thanks - your blog is great. I'm glad to hear that the insurance wouldn't necessarily have access to the results, and I hope everything is going well for you.
I just wanted to point out something amazing: there is an article in the Sept issue of British FHM (for him magazine) about how porn is demeaning to women and how it can subconsciously affect men’s attitudes towards sex. I was so impressed. I can't find it online, but if I do I'll post it.
Thanks, wombtwin.
violetlightening - glad you found the blog useful. if you're really concerned about who will have access to your genetic testing results i'd call your present insurance company as well as myriad, and talk to your doctors for peace of mind. best to you!