The timing seems perfect, then, for showings of “Pink Ribbons, Inc.,” a documentary film directed by Léa Pool that takes on corporate pink ribbon campaigns, pinkwashing, and what really happens as a result of this cause-related marketing.

Variety called the film “indignant and subversive,” saying it:

resoundingly pops the shiny pink balloon of the breast cancer movement/industry, debunking the ‘comfortable lies’ and corporate double-talk that permeate the massive and thus-far-ineffectual campaign against a disease that claims nearly 60,000 lives each year in North America alone.

Based on the trailer (below), I’m really looking forward to seeing it.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, and will be shown in several U.S. cities over the coming weeks and months, including San Francisco, D.C., Madison, and Nashville. It also opened in Canadian theaters last week.

From the email announcement:

It is widely known that a breast cancer diagnosis can have far reaching effects both socially and emotionally. Less well understood are the ways in which a breast cancer diagnosis impacts the well-being and quality of life of women who have historically been underserved by the medical community. Lesbian and bisexual women are one of these underserved populations, and little research has been done to assess their health and well-being as women with breast cancer. Identifying their unique needs by asking some questions in a survey will help researchers to develop culturally appropriate programs for these women.

The researchers are interested in hearing from all lesbian and bisexual women who have had a breast cancer diagnosis. They have a particular interest in women who have metastatic disease, recurrent disease, or an additional invasive cancer diagnosis, or are currently undergoing cancer treatment. If you have ever been diagnosed with breast cancer, please read on to learn more about what’s involved and who can participate.

Women have been diagnosed with breast cancer at some point their lives and identify as lesbian, bisexual, or as a woman who partners with women are eligible to participate. Participants will complete a 45 minute phone survey about their health, medical history, demographics, and sexual orientation.

Visit this page at Army of Women to learn more or sign up online to participate.

Early in the day, Jaclyn Friedman, the symposium’s mistress of ceremonies, explained her belief that women’s health activism moves in a spiral, not a circle, because while we are connected to our beginnings, we are also continually moving forward. The day’s discussions provided a perfect demonstration of that concept.

If you weren’t able to join us for those discussions, check out video from the event, including presentations from Byllye Avery, Loretta Ross, a welcome message from Governor Patrick Deval, panels with our global partners, and more.

If you haven’t checked out the NWHN site lately, go take a look – it has been redesigned to a spiffy new look, with news and blog posts, connections to social media, and lots of great information about the organization and the health issues they work on.

Among the accomplishments, HHS Secretary Sebelius lists the development of an Institute of Medicine report on LGBT health, a rule requiring hospitals to accept patients’ wishes for who can visit them “regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other non-clinical factor,” inclusion for the first time of LGBT health concerns in the nation’s Healthy People goals, anti-bullying efforts, and policies and funds to encourage shelters for homeless young people to be properly equipped to provide services to LGBT youth.

Several items for future action were also listed, including promoting “cultural competence” training for healthcare providers to improve care to LGBT patients, guidance to state child welfare agencies on how to better support LGBT young people, and better data collection on sexual orientation and gender identity in health data collection processes in order to better understand and approach health disparities.

There’s a long way to go – a 2010 report indicated that nearly 1/3 of transgender men and women had avoided getting medical care because of discrimination, and about 1 in 5 had been refused care due to their transgender or gender non-conforming status. Lesbian and bisexual women are thought to be at higher risks of heart disease because of higher rates of obesity, smoking, and stress – which may in turn be related to discrimination faced in healthcare systems and society in general. The IOM report mentioned above reminds us that LGBT folks face “a profound and poorly understood set of additional health risks due largely to social stigma.”

Let us hope that in the coming year, as President Obama stated last night about the nation, the state of our LGBT health will be getting stronger.

For an overview of LGBT human rights and discrimination around the globe, see this United Nations report published last November.

It wasn’t always a sure deal. Back in August, HHS adopted the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation to include family-planning services as one of the preventive health care items for women that must be covered by newly issued health plans, but it was only an interim rule, subject to comments.

In November, there was a lot of worry about whether the decision that contraception should be a covered preventive service under the Affordable Care Act would survive. President Obama met with Roman Catholic bishops, and one of them came away saying, “I left there feeling a bit more at peace about this issue than when I entered.”

Understandably, many people expressed concerns that the administration was going to back away from birth control coverage requirements and broaden the refusal rule to allow Catholic hospitals and universities to refuse to cover family planning services. But the administration rejected calls allowing employers to opt out of covering contraception. The statement by Sebelius reads in part:

After evaluating comments, we have decided to add an additional element to the final rule. Nonprofit employers who, based on religious beliefs, do not currently provide contraceptive coverage in their insurance plan, will be provided an additional year, until August 1, 2013, to comply with the new law. Employers wishing to take advantage of the additional year must certify that they qualify for the delayed implementation. This additional year will allow these organizations more time and flexibility to adapt to this new rule. We intend to require employers that do not offer coverage of contraceptive services to provide notice to employees, which will also state that contraceptive services are available at sites such as community health centers, public clinics, and hospitals with income-based support. We will continue to work closely with religious groups during this transitional period to discuss their concerns.

Scientists have abundant evidence that birth control has significant health benefits for women and their families, it is documented to significantly reduce health costs, and is the most commonly taken drug in America by young and middle-aged women. This rule will provide women with greater access to contraception by requiring coverage and by prohibiting cost sharing.

Why the massive collaborative push now? As eloquently explained by Ellen Shaffer of the Center for Policy Analysis:

In 2011, a record numbers of bills were introduced or passed by state legislatures and the U.S. House of representatives restricting women’s access to: basic health care services, family planning, and safe abortion care. It has been called a “War on Women,” Many women are shocked and dismayed by these attacks and want to send a strong message to policy-makers: Government should stay out of making decisions about what happens in my womb. I have self-determination, autonomy.

The Guttmacher Institute has more detailed coverage of the abortion restrictions enacted in 2011, noting that legislators across the country “introduced more than 1,100 reproductive health and rights-related provisions, a sharp increase from the 950 introduced in 2010. By year’s end, 135 of these provisions had been enacted in 36 states, an increase from the 89 enacted in 2010 and the 77 enacted in 2009.”

If you, too, have had enough, add your name and location to a map, along with one of six messages like, “I Trust Women and I Vote,” “Reproductive Rights are Human Rights,” and “Contraception is Prevention.” If you watch the map, new names pop up in real time as more people sign on.

The next steps of this national action, as explained by Our Silver Blog, involve sending messages from virtual marchers directly to members of Congress, governors and state legislators “to underscore that Americans trust women to make their own decisions about their bodies and their lives.”

Please join all of us concerned about women’s health and rights by signing on to the march, and sharing info about the event with your friends via Facebook and Twitter.

BCA will discuss some of their concerns about the report, as well as focus policy changes required to reduce exposures to potentially cancer-causing agents.

The report, commissioned by Komen, explores the difficulties of studying how environmental factors affect breast cancer risk, recommends future research, and makes recommendations for steps women can take to reduce their breast cancer risk. Unfortunately, many of the clear actions provided in the report for reducing risk are well-covered things like “quit smoking,” while the strongest conclusion that could be drawn on many other exposures (like cosmetic and personal care products, plastics and other pollutants) was that more research was needed.

If you’re interested, you can register for register for 2pm-3pm (PST) on the 24th or 10am-11am (PST) on the 25th.

Today, the Huffington Post reports that the banners have drawn attacks from the anti-choice Life Legal Defense Foundation, which has threatened to sue the city for allowing the banner poles to be used to promote a political message not related to a specific event.

In response, Department of Public Works Spokeswoman Gloria Chan:

…defended her agency’s decision to allow the Center for Policy Analysis to buy space on the poles, saying that the banners are running in conjunction with two events: the Walk for Trust Women scheduled to take place on Market Street on January 20th and the The Bay Area Coalition For Reproductive Rights’ West Coast Rally For Reproductive Justice slated for Justin Herman Plaza the following day. Chan noted that any event expected to draw over 500 people, which DPW officials expect both of these to do easily, qualifies as a “city-wide special event” and is permitted to have its ads posted.

For more on the banners, including links to pictures, see our previous post.

A reminder: an online Virtual March will be held with MoveOn during Trust Women Week, January 20-27, to express support for reproductive health, rights, and justice, and to send pro-choice messages to Washington. Look for more details on the Our Silver Ribbon blog.

Our Bodies Ourselves is one of 42 partners in the Trust Women/Silver Ribbon campaign, a project to increase the visibility of pro-choice messages.

This week, the campaign has placed banners along Market Street in San Francisco to “spark conversations and to help build momentum and solidarity among supporters of women’s rights, equality and autonomy and access to comprehensive health care, including reproductive health care services.”

The banners display messages like “Reproductive Rights are Human Rights,” “Her Decision, Her Health,” and “U.S. Out of My Uterus,” and include related banners from the Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights, SisterSong/Trust Black Women, Catholics for Choice, NARAL-ProChoice California, and Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific. More photos of the banners in place around San Francisco are online, and more coverage is provided at Our Silver Blog.

Look for more activity later this month – during Trust Women Week, January 20-27, a virtual march will be held with MoveOn to express support for reproductive health, rights, and justice, and to send pro-choice messages to Washington.

The FDA is the agency that approves medical devices for use/marketing in the United States, so we would expect them to ask about these issues and data when companies propose that a device be approved.

This is meant to improve how risks and benefits of medical devices can be understood and communicated to women, and to encourage researchers to consider how sex-related differences may affect women’s outcomes when using medical devices.

For example, according to an evaluation of studies used to seek approval for heart-related devices, there was “persistent underrepresentation” of women – only about 1/3 of the study participants were women. Studies of certain existing heart devices have already found increased risks of adverse effects in women for some products, and possible better outcomes for women using some other devices.

Comments are due before midnight (Eastern time) on March 12, 2012. They can be submitted online, or via mail to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. If you write a paper letter, you should include the docket number: FDA-2011-D-0817.

*Note: the language used in the FDA documents defines female sex “according to their reproductive organs and functions assigned by chromosomal complement,” and gender as provided by patient/participant self-report.