I saw an excellent TEDx talk about the nature of feminity and its use as means to safety by Hari Nef, a model, actor, and trans activist. She is a lovely person whose insight is only matched by the grace of its delivery. It made me think about what can be done to evolve our society’s thinking on such subjects. Debates over restroom use by gender non-conforming people in our public schools are especially jarring because such rights are so basic, so essential. If the general public, especially teachers and students, were better informed on basic health education there would be more support for everyone’s rights to bodily autonomy and respect. Here is an exercise in putting my money where my mouth is: a curriculum outline for a healthier health class.
Tag: Wisconsin women’s health
Sad Girls Club
In the age of Trump, an age of unabashed sexism and robust rape culture, doesn’t it behoove us all to try to view the world through a feminist lens? I’ve found that in doing so new light is brought to the disparities in health between men and women. From a view of gender as a social construction, it became clear to me that the discussion of mental illness prevalence among women in the “Report of the Task Force on Women and Depression in Wisconsin” (RTFWDW, 2006/2016) left out an important potential cause: the burden on women of living in a patriarchal society. While I love #sadgirl culture because it’s a kind of acknowledgment and to some extent protest over the continued subjugation of women even in elite, modern American society (one of my favorites is, Melissa Broder‘s writing and tweets @sosadtoday). However, it’s not enough to admit that a lot of women are sad: we must situate it within the patriarchy to legitimize the claim that women are oppressed. It’s obnoxious because the history of women’s health is Continue reading “Sad Girls Club”
Cristina Forever 