Shameful Behaviour
Atheling aka wickedday is a white, middle-sized, currently able-bodied, cis- and heterosexual British woman about to start studying for an MA in medieval literature. This piece was originally posted at her personal blog, This Wicked Day, where she also blogs about language, geeky things, random crap on the Internet and University Challenge in addition to [...]
...read moreIs Refusing Bed Rest a Crime?
I don’t believe it is, but then, I don’t believe pregnant woman are incubators for the state’s fetuses either. Others disagree, as evidenced in this case unfolding in the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee, Fla. Samantha Burton was in her 25th week of pregnancy in March 2009 when she started showing signs of [...]
...read moreI Am Not a Pre-Existing Condition
Being a woman is not a pre-existing condition — but that’s exactly how it’s treated by health insurance companies. The following facts are from SEIU, via RH Reality Check: Only 14 states require insurance companies to cover maternity care Only 12% of individual insurance plans include comprehensive maternity coverage Insurance companies can consider prior cesarean [...]
...read moreThe Way We Die Now
This article by Timothy Egan is a real gem. He gets past the “death panel” and “they’re gonna take your Medicaid!” rhetoric and discusses how end-of-life care should really look. And he emphasizes that while many (or even most) people wish to die at home with their pain managed, the current U.S. health care establishment [...]
...read morePregnant woman ordered by court to be confined in the hospital
Score another one for the folks who think pregnancy makes a woman less deserving of basic rights and liberties: Imagine this — you’re the busy mother of two small kids with another one on the way. This pregnancy has been fraught with complications. During a medical exam, your doctor orders bed rest for the remainder [...]
...read moreAn email
Upon reading your article “Palin’s anti-choice legacy,” I wanted to bring a particular point to your attention. Your use of the term “anti-choice” is very misleading, and shows a significant misunderstanding of the term. The term anti-choice by definition means “one who opposes ALL choices”, no matter what the topic of choice be. [...]
...read morePalin’s anti-choice legacy
Via Feministing, a post by Clara Jeffery of Mother Jones tells us that one of Palin’s last acts in office was to accelerate a parental notice and consent law for women under 18 who are seeking abortion. We see this shit all the time: my sisters’ rights to our own bodies are routinely taken away [...]
...read moreI’m being taken over by the fear
“I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless/ cos everyone knows that’s how you become famous.” Taking a side step away from specifically trans posts (cos y’all tiring me out already, and I have another week to go here), I want to talk about fear. Recently Mark K-Punk had this to say [...]
...read moreIllinois Legislation Would Prevent Forcible Sterilizations of People With Disabilities
Last April, a court in Illinois ruled that a certain woman with a mental disability could not be forcibly sterilized at the request of her guardian. This was excellent news, and a great step forward for the civil rights of people with disabilities, as forcible sterilizations amazingly still happen far too often. But while the [...]
...read moreCreature Comforts, An Update
Rebecca Skloot notifies us via email that someone just leaked some government documents to her that include the previously unreleased wording of the new government regulations: They have banned all service animals other than dogs (initially they’d said they’d allow other commonly domesticated species like cats and birds). Specifically it says, “animal means dog,” which [...]
...read moreNC Panel Recommends Reparations for Victims of Forcible Sterilization
A North Carolina panel has recommended that reparations be paid out to some 7,600 people who were victims of forced sterilizations: A state House panel recommended the state give $20,000 to victims of the eugenics program, which sterilized about 7,600 people between 1929 and 1975 who were considered to be mentally handicapped or genetically inferior. [...]
...read moreBoy or Girl: Choose Only One
Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience is a thoughtful study of the medical treatment of intersex, or what is sometimes called disorders of sex development (DSD). Intersex is an umbrella term that covers a variety of ways in which a child’s genitals to do not match typical male or female appearance. The author [...]
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