A Culture Saturated in Sexism: “If you believe many of this year’s movies, tabloids and blogs, one of the most terrifying sights is an adult female body that is (gasp) slightly imperfect,” writes Johanna Schneller in a great column on sexism in popular culture.

The piece quotes many of our favorite bloggers and cultural critics — including OBOS Executive Director Judy Norsigian, who weighs in on the impact that unrealistic beauty expectations and public criticism of women’s bodies have on women’s health:

“Humans have a natural desire to feel attractive,” she said, “but our culture is pushing an extremely narrow norm of what constitutes beauty, and that results in critical risks: complications from elective surgery, from silicone ruptures to MRSA [the virulent methicillin-resistant staph infection that plagues hospitals]. Health risks from fad diets. New mothers being encouraged to lose their baby weight so soon that they can’t produce breast milk. These dangers are downplayed left and right by the beauty industry. Their marketing misleads the public in massive ways.”

N.J. Postpartum Depression Law Not Meeting Expectations: “Since Gov. Jon Corzine signed the landmark postpartum depression law 20 months ago, the state has spent $9 million on the program: half on TV and radio ads and brochures encouraging women to ask for help, and half on training more than 6,000 medical professionals in how to identify the illness,” writes Susan K. Livio in the New Jersey Star-Ledger. “But health experts and women using the hotline say the law has fallen short: Women are seeking help, but when they do, state and medical professionals often are not prepared to assist them.”

The story covers the shocking range of responses women have received after calling the hotline — one women was referred to a therapist who turned out to be a drug counselor; another had the police and rescue squad arrive unannounced at her home an hour after she told a hotline staffer she was six months pregnant and “depressed out of my mind.”

The Sunny Side of Legal Rights for Eggs: Writing at Women’s eNews, Gloria Feldt summarizes the state ballot initiatives to give legal rights to fertilized eggs, from Colorado, where a proposed initiative extends the state’s constitutional protections to “any human being from the moment of fertilization,” to similar initiatives underway in Georgia, Oregon, Michigan, Mississippi and Montana.

But far setting off alarm bells, Feldt writes that she is “sounding the gong of opportunity.”

Fetal personhood initiatives could be the best thing since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973. Maybe even since Griswold v. Connecticut made birth control legal in 1965. That’s if, and only if, the pro-choice movement confronts the challenge head on and goes boldly toward a new moral rhetoric and legal agenda rooted in human rights.

Breast Cancer Detection Depends on Doctor: A study published in last week’s Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that doctors reading mammograms miss an average of two in every 10 cases of breast cancer. From the Chicago Tribune:

The researchers found that sensitivity — the ability to detect cancer when it is present — ranged from 27 percent to 100 percent, with a median of 79 percent. The false-positive rate — women who got a tentative diagnosis of cancer when they did not have it — ranged from zero to 16 percent, with a median of 4.3 percent. (A definitive diagnosis of cancer depends on a biopsy.)

The radiologists who were most accurate — that is, had the highest sensitivity without too many false alarms — tended to be those based at academic medical centers, followed by those who spent at least 20 percent of their time on breast imaging.

Plus: Gene Study Helps Explain Link to Breast Cancer

Respiratory Risk with Elective C-Sections: “Compared with newborns delivered vaginally or by emergency caesarean sections, those delivered by elective caesarean section around term have an increased risk of overall and serious respiratory morbidity. The relative risk increased with decreasing gestational age,” concludes a study (PDF) from Denmark. The study by researchers at Aarhus University Hospital was published last week at BMJ.com and is summarized in this press release.

Physical Activity, Not Body Fat, Matters Most: A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that seniors who are physically active on a regular basis live longer than unfit adults, regardless of their body fat, according to researchers at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health. The study was published in the Dec. 5 issue of JAMA.

Personal Health Records: The Chicago Tribune looks at reasons for putting together your own personal record system. And what better time than the holidays, when everyone’s gathered together, to discuss your family medical history?

FDA Panel Rejects Breast Cancer Drug: “A Food and Drug Administration panel dealt a sharp blow to biotech giant Genentech Inc. on Wednesday by refusing to recommend approval for the company’s high-profile drug Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer,” reports the L.A. Times. “The cancer drugs are controversial: They extend patients’ lives in some cases only by several months, and they can cost as much as $100,000 per patient per year. In recent years, federal regulators have been willing to approve drugs even if the benefits were only marginal. But that may be changing.”

Health Care Debate Needs to Include Women: “As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democratic leadership in the Legislature negotiate a health care proposal that they hope everyone can agree upon, it’s important to consider a California constituency that hasn’t received enough attention during this debate: women,” writes Carlina Hansen, executive director of the Women’s Community Clinic in San Francisco, in an op-ed published in the Sacramento Bee.

The op-ed was co-signed by other representatives of the Women’s Working Group on Universal Health Care, a California-based organization that focuses on educating and involving women and women’s organizations in state and local health reform efforts. Check them out.

The Doctor Will Email You Now: “Unlike the banking, restaurant and travel industries, the medical profession has been slow to embrace the Internet’s potential customer service benefits,” reports the Chicago Tribune. “But despite concerns about patient privacy, costs and time constraints, a growing number of physicians are encouraging patients to go online to do things such as check lab results and immunization records, request refills and appointments, and e-mail their physicians with non-urgent medical questions.”

What Says Love Like Diamonds in the Delivery Room? In another example of All The News That’s Fit for Wealthy Heterosexual White Women, the New York Times turns attention to “push presents,” given to the mother following childbirth. Art commemorating the baby’s birth — I get that. I also understand, as one commenter points out, the desire to celebrate the birth with something that can be passed down for generations. But the materialism depicted in this story is disturbing. What’s nine months of pregnancy and labor worth? How about at least six months of paid maternity leave — now that’s priceless.

Plus: New word association game — read the word “push,” visit Pushed Birth.

Environmental Toxin Can Collect in Breast Milk: “Scientists have discovered the mechanism by which a chemical known as perchlorate can collect in breast milk and cause cognitive and motor deficits in newborns,” reports HealthDay News. “Used since the 1940s to manufacture explosives and rocket fuel, the contaminant is still widely present in the water and food supply, experts say.”

The study by scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University appeared in the Dec. 3-7 advance online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Here’s more from the EPA on perchlorate.

A Special Delivery: “‘Juno’ is the only film in recent history in which the protagonist seriously considers termination,” writes Jennie Yarbroff in Newsweek. Of course if you’ve read any of the reviews (which are almost uniformly stellar) you know that consideration is as far as it goes.

EW’s Lisa Schwarzbaum writes in her review: “The old-school feminist in me wishes Juno spent more time, even a tart sentence or two, acknowledging that the options taken for granted by this one attractive, articulate teen are in fact hard-won, precious rights, and need to be guarded by a new-generation army of Junos and Bleekers, spreading the word by text message as well as by hamburger phone. Separate but equal truth: This movie is so delightful and good-hearted a portrait of the kind of new-generation army I’d like to hang with that I accept the admonition ‘Silencio, old woman.’”

Plus: NPR’s “All Things Considered” interviews crush-worthy Ellen Page, and critic Bob Mondello finds this season’s films are where the girls are.

Environmental and Occupational Causes of Cancer: Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Lowell & Boston University last month published an updated scientific review, Environmental and Occupational Causes of Cancer: New Evidence, 2005-2007. According to the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, the report concludes that “mounting evidence linking unintentional exposures to toxins in our workplaces and general environment contribute to the nearly one and a half million new cases of cancer in the U.S. in just 2007 alone.”

The report synthesizes the recent peer-reviewed scientific literature and finds compelling new evidence linking cancer with specific exposures, namely:

* Breast cancer from exposure to the pesticide DDT before puberty;
* Leukemia from exposure to 1,3-butadiene;
* Lung cancer from exposure to air pollution;
* Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from exposure to pesticides and solvents;
* Prostate cancer from exposure to pesticides and metal working fluids;
* Brain cancer from exposure to non-ionizing radiation; and
* A range of cancers from exposure to pesticides based on early findings from the Agricultural Health Study

Here’s the executive summary and the full 45-page report (PDF).

Happy post-Thanksgiving!

Because Nothing Says Happy Holidays Like Concrete Shoes: Here’s a story from Lockport, N.Y. (via Feministing) that won’t bring much holiday cheer … From the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal:

Richfield Street-based American Concrete had a new billboard erected Monday on West Avenue. Over the image of a wrapped gift, the solicitous catchline, “Wife need new shoes?” is accompanied by the American Concrete logo and a greeting, “Happy Holidays.”

YWCA Executive Director Kathleen Granchelli and a representative of Big Brothers Big Sisters have spoken to the mayor about the billboard, but company owner Kevin McCabe defended the billboard, claiming that because his wife is OK with it, and his sister-in-law conceived of the ad, well, it must be funny.

Granchelli would like McCabe to think about the message it imparts to others, but he’s not budging.

“I think the mainstream understands it,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that some people are reading much more into it than they should.”

News Without Context: News reports have probed every angle in the Stacy Peterson disappearance and how her husband became the prime suspect. But when Anne Glauber tried to persuade media producers to interview a domestic violence advocate, there were no takers. Read Glauber’s story at Women’s eNews.

Affordable Family Planning: Noting the drastic increase in the cost of prescription contraceptives at college health centers, The New York Times advocates for legislation that would make university health centers and safety-net clinics eligible for the discount again. Rachel wrote about the legislation earlier this month.

Unilever Ditches Self Esteem as a Marketing Concept: Because there’s always good ol’ misogyny to promote instead. Lucinda Marshall plays the Unilever games so you don’t have to.

“Study: Feminists Are Better Mates”: You knew this already, but it’s still nice to see that headline in the Chicago Tribune. Judy Peres summarizes the study by Laurie Rudman of Rutgers University and graduate student Julie Phelan:

The results, appearing in the online edition of the peer-reviewed journal Sex Roles, show that for both women and men there was a benefit to having a feminist partner. Feminist women were also more likely than others to be in a romantic relationship.

“If you’re a woman paired with a male feminist,” said Rudman, “you have a healthier relationship across the board” — better in terms of relationship quality, equality, stability and sexual satisfaction.

“And men paired with female feminists have greater sexual satisfaction and greater relationship stability,” she said. “So, [there were] higher scores on two of the four dimensions, with no difference on the other two.”

Princess Power: Disney’s $4 billion Princess empire is expanding its line of products to appeal to middle-class women. “There’s actually an entire line of Princess wedding dresses (in case you’re more of a Cinderella) with matching jewelry and tiaras. Sleepwear and housewares are next,” reports Newsweek. “Disney is also updating some classic narratives to make the protagonists more empowered, which may appeal to women who have kissed a few frogs.”

From the Files of Offbeat News: For your sophisticated environmentally conscious amusement, there’s now a site that promotes CheatNeutral (thanks, Kiki!).

Is There Sexism in Lifesaving?: “Want a surefire prescription for dreading old age? Delve into every study that explores the gender gap in medical care,” begins Carol Lloyd, who cites several studies, including one published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that found “women over the age of 50 are one-third less likely to be admitted to ICUs, and then once in ICUs are far less likely to received lifesaving medical interventions like mechanical ventilation and pulmonary artery catheterization than their male counterparts.”

Future Nobel Prize Winner?: Jennifer Block, author of “Pushed Birth,” notes that Ricki Lake’s documentary, “The Business of Being Born,” is such a hit in Australia, it’s being likened to Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Legalization Opens Doors for Women in Mexico City: “Abortion remains illegal in the rest of Mexico, as it is in nearly all of Latin America,” writes Hector Tobar in the L.A. Times. “But in Mexico City, legalization is bringing a profound, if quiet, change to the way thousands of women lead their lives. In a country where unwanted pregnancies often strip women of their independence and ambitions, the extraordinary number of legal abortions taking place every day is beginning to diminish the procedure’s considerable cultural stigma.”

Plus: The New York Times profiles abortion doctor Susan Wicklund. “In her forthcoming book ‘This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor” (Public Affairs), Dr. Wicklund describes her work, the circumstances that lead her patients to choose abortion, and the barriers — lack of money, lack of providers, violence in the home or protesters at clinics — that stand in their way,” writes Cornelia Dean. “But she said her main goal with the book was to encourage more open discussion of abortion and its prevalence.”

Plus 2: Roman Catholic bishops this week approved voting guidelines for Catholics that are somewhat less rigid on abortion. Neela Banerjee writes in the Times:

“Abortion is among a few evils greater than others, the document asserts. But it also concedes that Catholics face difficult decisions when voting and in some cases might be able to vote for those who support abortion rights or stem cell research. ‘There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate’s unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons,’ the document says.”

More Money = Less Housework: “In married working couples, the more money a woman earns, the less housework she will do, regardless of how much money her spouse makes, says Sanjiv Gupta, a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst,” according to this release based on a study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family. “Gupta goes further and says, based on his newest research, that for every $7,500 in annual earnings a married woman working full time makes, she can expect to do one hour less of routine housework each week.”

Paging Dr. Cliche: Disability Studies blog critiques a couple of recent episodes of “ER,” but as Penny L. Richards writes, the NBC series used to do much better by the disability community. “Characters with physical, mental and sensory disabilities have been presented as rounded human beings with full civil rights, at least as well as any other 44-minute network TV drama has done (admittedly, that’s a low standard to achieve).”

Geneticist Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch Dies at 100: I only learned about Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch this week when I came across her obit. After fleeing Nazi Germany, she first worked as a researcher at Columbia University and later became chair of the department of genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. And that’s not the half of it. Meet an underappreciated “truly great woman of science.”

Plus: There are approximately 40,000 Americans who are 100 years old or older, according to the New England Centenarian Study — and 85 percent of these centenarians are women. More from the L.A. Times.

Linking Breast Cancer and Environmental Exposures: The Breast Cancer and Environment Research Centers (BCERC), a project jointly funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute to study the impact of prenatal-to-adult environmental exposures that may predispose a woman to breast cancer, held its fourth annual symposium on Cincinnati this week. Here’s a peek at the program.

Frank Biro, director of the adolescent medicine division at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center who is heading up a federally funded study looking at the link between chemicals called endocrine disruptors and breast cancer, told the Cincinnati Enquirer: “Most breast cancer is sporadic; it’s not inherited. Looking at the hereditary issues only accounts for 25 to 30 percent of breast cancers … Something else is going on, and that something else is probably going to be environmental in some way, or maybe an interaction between environmental factors and genetics.”

Plus: Lucinda Marshall looks at media coverage of breast cancer in the wake of the Global Summit on Breast Cancer.

Yet Another Study Proves Congress Wrong: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy released a report (PDF) this week that found abstinence-only programs do not reduce the rates of teen pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease. As Amie Newman writes, “How many studies, reports and polls do we need until we can finally shove abstinence-only programs in a box and hide them away in that scary hall closet that houses everything under the sun?”

Here’s a summary of key findings (PDF) compiled by the Guttmacher Institute. The ACLU, in a statement, said, the study “provides strong evidence that it is time for the federal government to support comprehensive sex education programs.”

Clinic Buffer Zone Increased: “The Massachusetts legislature gave final approval Thursday to a bill that requires protesters to stand at least 35 feet from clinics that offer abortions,” reports The New York Times. “The bill, which Gov. Deval L. Patrick is expected to sign next week, will be the nation’s strictest state law establishing fixed zones that protesters cannot enter around those reproductive health clinics that offer abortions.”

Authorities said the current law, which was enacted in 2000, was difficult to enforce — it prohibits protesters from going within 6 feet of a person in an 18-foot zone outside a clinic’s doors. The Times also notes that the country’s largest fixed buffer zone, 36 feet, is in effect in — wait for it — Melbourne, Fla.

Plus: The Center for Reproductive Rights answers the question “What if Roe fell?” with a look at the laws in each state that would go into effect.

Mental Health Q&A: Ever wonder why mental health benefits are less generous than insurance benefits for other conditions? The Washington Post has a Q&A column on equal coverage and other issues related to mental health coverage.

The Weight Debate: According to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, as reported in the Washington Post, “Being overweight boosts the risk of dying from diabetes and kidney disease but not cancer or heart disease, and carrying some extra pounds actually appears to protect against a host of other causes of death.”

Plus: Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that inflammation, not obesity, causes insulin resistance.

Did You Hear the One About …: Jokes about blondes and women drivers are not just harmless fun and games, according to a research project led by a Western Carolina University psychology professor. The article, “More Than Just a Joke: The Prejudice-Releasing Function of Sexist Humor,” is scheduled for publication in the February issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

“Our research demonstrates that exposure to sexist humor can create conditions that allow men — especially those who have antagonistic attitudes toward women — to express those attitudes in their behavior,” said Thomas E. Ford, a faculty member in the psychology department at WCU. “The acceptance of sexist humor leads men to believe that sexist behavior falls within the bounds of social acceptability.”

Revisiting the Prairie: The Washington Post runs an occasional series in which book critic Jonathan Yardley reconsiders notable and/or neglected books from the past. This time around: the “Little House” series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. “What surprises me a bit in thinking back to my own reaction to these books as a boy is that it seems to have made no difference at all that girls, not boys, were at the center of these stories,” writes Yardley.

Meet the new class of objectified 6-year-olds, stars of VH1’s “Little Beauties: Ultimate Kiddie Queen Showdown,” a documentary billed as a “light-hearted look into the wonderful world of children’s beauty pageants through the eyes of four, precocious six-year old girls.”

If that isn’t enough to turn your stomach, check out VH1’s list of what viewers will be privy to, including spray tanning sessions and fake teeth fittings. The show has also annoyingly given the girls descriptors, like “the flirt” or “the diva.”

A 6-year-old flirt. Nice.

As Samhita writes, “Please, just stop pornifying, beautifying, and making over our 6 year old girls!!!”

Preventing Salesmanship from Trumping Facts: “Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said Sunday that prescription drug companies should wait two years to begin advertising their new products to consumers,” reports the AP.

“I think two years makes sense. I think it gives enough time for a drug not just to have been tested in clinical trials but to be out among the public, to see what kind of adverse reactions there have been,” he told reporters afterward.

Edwards’ plan also includes increased penalties for companies that violate truth-in-advertising laws and would require companies to disclose more information about a drug’s side effects and effectiveness compared to placebos and less expensive alternative drugs.

How Much Does it Cost to Have a Baby?: According to the latest numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which falls under the Department of Health and Human Services, the cost of having a baby, from the first prenatal visit to delivery, averaged roughly $7,600 for an uncomplicated birth. (This calculation did not include the Bugaboo Cameleon stroller.)

All joking aside, as this article at AlterNet points out, “Despite the relative health of women in the United States, many women are not getting the uncomplicated births they might expect.”

Manda Aufochs Gillespie and Mariya Strauss take a close look at “Listening to Mothers,” the landmark report by Childbirth Connection that looks at women’s attitudes, beliefs, preferences and knowledge from the time before the pregnancy through the postpartum period.

The majority of women ended up attached to IVs, catheters and fetal monitors. They had their membranes artificially ruptured and were given epidurals. Most of these women had little understanding of the side effects of these interventions, including cesarean and medical inductions. The report also shows that though women understood that they had the right to refuse medical interventions, few did, and many received interventions, such as episiotomies, without their consent.

Just as troubling is what is not being done. A “very tiny minority” of women received all of the care practices that promote natural birth.

Griswold v. Connecticut Attorney Dies: “Catherine Roraback, a lawyer who pressed the Connecticut case that eventually led the United States Supreme Court to rule that laws banning the use of contraceptives were unconstitutional, a precursor to its Roe v. Wade decision on abortions, died on Wednesday in Salisbury, Conn. She was 87,” reports The New York Times.

Also see this remembrance of Roraback by columnist Bill Curry, a former counselor to President Clinton.

What’s Your Comfort Level?: Right-wing favorite Sen. Sam Brownback, who dropped out of the presidential race this month due to low polling and poor fundraising, declared that he is “much more comfortable” with Rudy Giuliani’s position on abortion after the two met face-to-face last week. Which makes many of us much less comfortable.

“Justices are key,” said Brownback. “He’s stated publicly many times about his support for strict constructionists like, I believe he said Roberts. John Roberts is a personal friend.”

Cosmetics and Consequences: Heather Gehlert of AlterNet interviews Stacy Malkin, author of “Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry,” about the toxic chemicals in everyday beauty products.

When Sex and National Politics Collide … Well, you know it can’t be good for women or women’s health. Gloria Feldt writes about the appointment of Susan Orr — the birth control opponent in charge of administering Title X, the family planning program for low-income women.

With Facts on Our Side: Following the release of the study conducted by the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute that found the number of abortions is relatively unaffected by whether abortion legal, and that access to contraceptives is the best way to reduce abortion rates, Katha Pollitt interviewed antichoice leaders about the findings. The responses, while not completely surprising, are noteworthy for their stubborn refusal to work with facts instead of theology.

Plus: Ann Friedman interviews Pollitt for The Guardian about responses to Pollitt’s new book of personal essays, “Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories.”

Girls Just Want to Have Fun: Sorry, couldn’t resist. The Feminist Press of the City University of New York sure knows how to throw a party … The 37th Anniversary Gala, honoring Cyndi Lauper and Eve Ensler, will take place Nov. 5 at Tavern on the Green. The event features a number of outstanding award recipients.

San Francisco State University’s National Sexuality Resource Center publishes the magazine American Sexuality and the journal Sexuality Research & Social Policy. It also publishes a blog, Voices of American Sexuality, which is both informative and amusing.

Here’s a round-up of best moments in cartoon sexual literacy history. And, courtesy of Voices, we bring you a full mix of Halloween options for women. Check out the video below, which prompted this response from Ann at Feministing: “However, actual non-parody sexy racial stereotype and sexy anorexic costumes? Not so hilarious.”

Nor are these “pre-teen girl costumes,” which aren’t that different from what you’ll see in the video. How ’bout the pre-teen “cop,” “firefighter,” or “French maid“? And, three years later, they’re still selling pimp outfits. You know when the dog gets his own pimp costume that fad has so passed. Bring on the mustard!

So Not Pretty in Pink: Cheers for U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA), for taking on women’s magazines for running Camel No. 9 cigarettes ads — the pink version of Joe Camel aimed at female smokers.

“In June, 40 of my congressional colleagues joined me in writing to the publishers of 11 leading women’s magazines: Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, InStyle, Interview Magazine, Lucky, Marie Claire, Soap Opera Digest, Us Weekly, Vogue and W. We asked them to stop accepting misleading advertisements for deadly cigarettes, particularly for Camel No. 9,” Capps writes in the Washington Post. “Not one of the magazines bothered to formally respond. We wrote again on Aug. 1. Seven of the 11 magazines responded, but none has committed to dropping the ads.”

National Coming Out Day: Oct. 11 was the day, and Pam Spaulding has a great post about it, with video.

Plus: The New York Times last week looked at the prejudices elder gays and lesbians face, particularly those living at long-term care facilities where little thought may have been given to sensitivity training. Also see the accompanying audio and photos of Fred and Emile, and there’s a good list of related reports and demographic information.

Pink That: Lucinda Marshall at Feminist Peace Network put together a list of some of “the most crass, opportunistic list of supposedly cure-supporting crap I’ve ever seen.” And there’s more where those came from.

Being Anita Hill: “Back then, she was either a charlatan or a heroine, depending which side you took in the epic, gut-wrenching showdown that was the Clarence Thomas confirmation battle,” writes the AP’s Jocelyn Noveck. “Sixteen years later, Anita Hill can be found on a tranquil New England college campus, sifting through thousands of documents to try to answer this question: Have things gotten any better in our nation’s workplaces?”

An Emphasis on Homework: Interested in perfecting your housekeeping skills and learning how to defer to your husband in all matters? Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, offers an academic homemaking program — open only to women — that includes “lectures on laundering stubborn stains and a lab in baking chocolate-chip cookies,” reports the L.A. Times.

Linking Stress to Disease: A commentary in the Oct. 10 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association explores whether psychological stress increases the risk of disease. “The evidence from studies of depression and heart disease is most convincing. The HIV/AIDS data are a little weaker. The evidence for stress playing a role in cancer isn’t all that good, even though there is supporting evidence from studies of animals,” said lead author Sheldon Cohen.

“Perfecting” Ann Coulter: Gloria Feldt, writing at Huffington Post, shares the inspiration for her new list: “Full disclosure: I am mentioned 10 times — more than even Jane Fonda or Betty Friedan — by the anti-feminist Kate O’Beirne in her book, Women Who Make the World Worse: and How Their Radical Feminist Assault Is Ruining Our Schools, Families, Military, and Sports. From my perspective, this means I must be doing something right. With those credentials as well as being an aficionada of Keith Olberman’s nightly ‘Worst Person in the World’ shtick, I recently decided to start my own list of the Stupidest Women in America (SWIAA ™).”

Vaginal Cosmetic Surgery: Self magazine takes a close look at vaginal surgeries. One 21-year-old dipped into her student loan money to pay for a labiaplasty that cost $5,000 — and left her “deformed” and in unbearable pain. The reconstructive surgery cost an additional $8,700.

Are Annual Check-Ups a Thing of the Past? According to medical organizations like the the American College of Physicians and other professional groups, it’s no longer recommended. “That’s because there is scant scientific evidence showing that yearly checkups help prevent disease, death or disability for adults with no symptoms. Many tests and procedures performed during the visits have questionable value, experts say,” reports the Chicago Tribune.

According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which does not endorse yearly physicals, “interventions that help patients change health-impairing habits or that spotlight emerging illnesses for which reliable and effective treatments exist” do make a real difference. Some examples, according to the Trib, are “Pap smears, mammograms, cholesterol tests, blood-pressure checks, and counseling to stop smoking, lose weight, get more exercise and eat a healthier diet.”

UK Promotes Water Births: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, a UK health watchdog group, issued guidelines stating that all expectant mothers should be offered water births. From The Guardian:

“There is a perception that water is just nice,” said Dr Julia Sanders, a consultant midwife and member of the group which drew up the guidance. “But it is the most effective form of pain relief barring an epidural in labour. I would like to see more women using water and fewer women using the types of pain relief that are less effective.”

Nice also said clinical intervention should not be offered or advised when labour was progressing normally and the woman and baby were well. Once a woman was in established labour, she should receive supportive one-to-one care.

The guidance is expected to mean longer labours for some but could also mean fewer medical interventions, which can result in more painful and complicated labours.

Black Women and Maternal Health: Molly M. Ginty, writing at Women’s eNews, covers the findings of five reports released by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies on black maternal health and racial inequities:

The center’s 19-member Courage to Love: Infant Mortality Commission — funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and partnering with the UCLA School of Public Affairs and the University of Michigan’s NIH Roadmap Disparities Center — says the health problems of black women and black infants stem not just from inadequate medical care but from stress, racism, poverty and other social pressures.

Released during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference from Sept. 26 to 29, the reports also coincide with a meeting organized by the Joint Center and the Washington-based Black Women’s Agenda for 250 representatives of black women’s organizations in Washington, D.C. Attendees will discuss the reports and preview “Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?” an upcoming PBS television series that explores race and health.

In the five reports — one on breastfeeding, one on nutrition, two on infant mortality and one summarizing the others — commission members address the possible reasons for black women’s negative birth outcomes.

Continue reading Ginty’s story here.

For Starters, Try Talking to Women: Laura L. Mays Hoopes, a writer and molecular biology professor at Pomona College, offers 10 suggestions aimed at men who want to help retain women working in the sciences. The Scientist magazine published the suggestions online last week, ahead of publication in the magazine’s January issue, to spark a discussion of gender bias in science. Suggestions and comments are encouraged.

Using a Breast Pump from the Start: Chicago Tribune health columnist Julie Deardorff writes about skipping breastfeeding directly and going straight to using a breast pump. Predictably, debate follows. Earlier entries on breastfeeding, including a history of La Leche League International, are here.

Plus: “Facebook is getting an online scolding after the social networking site deleted pictures of nursing babies it considered “obscene content” and closed the account of at least one Canadian mom,” reports the Toronto Star. (via Aetiology, which has lots more good links and analysis.)

Condom Accusations Spark Anger: The head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique, Maputo Archbishop Francisco Chimoio, angered AIDS activists last week after telling the BBC he believes some European-made condoms and some anti-retroviral drugs have been deliberately infected with HIV “in order to finish quickly the African people.”

According to the BBC, it is estimated that 16.2 percent of Mozambique’s 19 million inhabitants are HIV positive. The Catholic Church’s official doctrines oppose condoms.

Plus: Broadsheet did a wrap-up Friday of other condom-related news …

Rural Mothers Have Higher Employment Rate: A new study by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire shows that rural mothers with children under age 6 have higher employment rates than their urban counterparts, but have higher poverty rates, lower wages, and lower family income.

The Happiness Gap: Is there a growing “happiness gap” between men and women? Researchers seem to think so, reports The New York Times.

What’s Missing on TV: “Your chances of seeing a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender character on the broadcast networks in prime time this new TV season are about the same as your chances of seeing a talking fish or caveman,” writes Washington Post TV critic Lisa de Moraes.

The latest “Where We Are on TV” report, created by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, found that there are only seven regular LGBT television characters this season, out of 650 regular lead or supporting characters, featured in just five scripted programs.

“On the new prime-time schedules, LGBT characters represent just 1.1 percent of those 650 characters,” adds de Moreas. “In real life, based on U.S. Census projections, LGBT marketing companies estimate 15.3 million adults identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, which would be about 6.8 percent of the population.”

New York Just Says No: Kudos to New York for joining at least 10 other reality-based states that have just said no to federal grants for abstinence-only sex education. The decision was announced Thursday by the state health commissioner, Dr. Richard F. Daines, reports The New York Times.

In a statement posted on the Health Department’s Web site, Dr. Daines said, “The Bush administration’s abstinence-only program is an example of a failed national health care policy directive.” He added that the policy was “based on ideology rather than on sound scientific-based evidence that must be the cornerstone of good public health care policy.”

The state had also spent $2.6 million annually to fund the same programs over the last decade. That money will now be spent on other existing programs for sex education, Dr. Daines said in an interview.

Beware of Fat People: Referring to claim published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine that fat is similar to a contagious virus “spread from person to person like a fashion or a germ,” especially among friends — Lakshmi Chaudry writes in The Nation:

“The argument just didn’t sound right to me when I first heard it — and certainly didn’t co-relate to any reality I could detect in my varied body-shape/weight circle of friends. So I was delighted to read this blistering take-down in TCS Daily penned by Jonathan Robison, who exposes the research for what it is: junk science that can’t tell the difference between cause and correlation.”

Egypt’s Movement to Stop Genital Mutilation: After two girls (ages 12 and 13) died in Egypt this summer following surgeries to remove the clitoris (female circumcision to some, genital mutilation to critics), a nationwide campaign is underway to stop the practice. The New York Times reports that is has become “one of the most powerful social movements in Egypt in decades, uniting an unlikely alliance of government forces, official religious leaders and street-level activists.”

But it’s an uphill battle. A recent government survey found that “the practice of female circumcision is virtually universal among women of reproductive age in Egypt.” Michael Slackman writes:

The force behind this unlikely collaboration between government, nongovernment organizations, religious leaders and the news media is a no-nonsense 84-year-old anthropologist named Marie Assaad, who has been fighting against genital cutting since the 1950s.

“I never thought I would live to see this day,” she said, reading about the subject in a widely circulated daily newspaper.

Plus: In an op-ed published in the Modesto Bee, Unicef Executive Director Anne M. Veneman praises the work of Tostan, a Senegal-based organization that has helped to reduce the rate of genital mutilation by working “with communities in local languages to help provide women with a voice in the decision-making.”

Coffee is Good/Not Good for Me: I would have thought that after last Sunday’s lengthy New York Times Magazine cover story on the trouble with epidemiological studies, which Rachel discussed closely here, there’d be no more to say on the matter this week. But that was before I saw the L.A. Times health feature by Andreas von Bubnoff on the same issue. The main story, Scientists Do the Numbers, was paired with related stories on health studies that have come up with contradictory findings; a look at whether there’s a rush to publish medical studies; and tips to help readers assess research.

Making Mammograms Accessible to All: “Despite widespread education that early detection saves lives, women with physical and mental disabilities undergo fewer clinical breast exams and fewer mammograms than nondisabled women, nationally and in Oregon and southwest Washington. One national study found an 11 percent gap,” reports The Oregonian.

Dot Nary, a doctoral trainee at the Research and Training Center on Independent Living at the University of Kansas who has written for radiation professionals about having mammograms as a wheelchair user, tells the Oregonian that it’s critical for technologists to consider how to better care for people of different abilities. Medical care is so standardized — “those of us who don’t have standard bodies have trouble.”

That’s Wack!: “Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution,” the groundbreaking exhibit that opened earlier this year at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is now at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Barbara Pollack of the Washington Post writes:

It is thrilling to see Louise Bourgeois’s “Unconscious Landscape,” a pile of breast-like forms cast in bronze. Or Elaine Sturtevant’s film “Duchamp Nu Descendant un Escalier,” her take on Duchamp’s famous painting, “Nude Descending a Staircase.” Take time to watch all of Yoko Ono’s early videos, especially “Rape,” a 1969 film in which a camera crew tracks and harasses a young German woman. And don’t miss Yvonne Rainer’s “Film About a Woman Who …,” a 1974 work that was a landmark in the field of feminist film criticism.

In fact, this show has lots of works that are often reproduced in art history textbooks but are too rarely seen in museums. [...]

By bringing together all of these artworks for the first time, “Wack!” does much more than make history. It gives another generation a chance to see art that was not made for a marketplace or even with the hope of having an audience, but with a determination and belief that art can change the way we live. That kind of optimism seems awfully old-fashioned, given the current cynicism in the art market. But who knows? Maybe this time around, feminist art will exert its free-wheeling influence once again.

Film With Same-Sex Parents Splits School District: Children in a state-approved educational video called “That’s Family!” shown talking about interracial families, divorce and adoption — all good. But when a boy introduces his two dads, during the film shown to third graders, and another child says, “It’s really cool have to two gay dads, because they brought us into a home, and they adopted us, and they love us,” well, as Richard G. Jones writes in The New York Times:

That was enough to entangle this wealthy suburb of 45,000, about 15 miles east of Philadelphia, in a heated debate among parents and educators. As the issue simmered, the district decided to shelve the film, provoking the threat of a lawsuit by gay rights activists who said the district’s refusal to show the video was a violation of state antidiscrimination laws.

What Happened to America’s Breasts?: America Ferrera, who stars on “Ugly Betty,” got photoshopped big time as cover girl for Glamour magazine’s October issue — billed as the “1st annual figure flattery issue!” Natch.

Check out Apollo’s blog at AfterEllen.com for the story and good analys