“In an overwhelmingly overweight nation that worships thinness, many describe prejudice against the obese as one of the last socially acceptable biases,” writes Lisa Anderson at the Chicago Tribune. “Advocates for the plus-sized, particularly activists in the ‘fat acceptance’ movement, want obesity to become a category legally protected against discrimination, like religion, race, age and sex. But not everyone agrees.”

“I think it would help mostly because it would send a message that fat people are equal citizens. It’s not in the litigation rates, but the rights consciousness that comes after legislation,” said Anna Kirkland, an assistant professor of women’s studies and political science at the University of Michigan who is author of the new book, “Fat Rights: Dilemmas of Difference and Personhood,” which examines the question of whether weight should be a protected category.

The story goes on to discuss a law to ban discrimination against weight and height pending in Massachusetts. Here’s the text of House bill 1844 (PDF), sponsored by Rep. Byron Rushing.

Rushing has offered similar bills six times in the last 12 years. He told the Trib that last month’s public hearing on the bill showed “there is a growing number of people who think this should happen and an even larger number of people who think we should at least be talking about it.”

Similar anti-discrimination legislation is already in place in Michigan and the District of Columbia, and cities such as San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Madison.

“It’s not really about litigation, but about taking a stand,” said Marilyn Wann, a fat-rights activist who testified at the Boston hearing and helped get San Francisco’s law passed in 2000. “I do think when a government says it’s not OK to dismiss someone as a person because of weight, that’s helpful.”

Plus: Read Fat People: Please Stop Existing at Big Fat Blog.

There are a number of interesting stories in The New York Times, so let’s do a mini-double dose …

Pain as an Art Form: Well’s Tara Parker-Pope does a nice job describing how art is used to communicate physical pain, from some of Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits (now on exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art) to a new online gallery called the Pain Exhibit.

The gallery is the brainchild of Mark Collen, 47, a former insurance salesman who struggled to explain his chronic back pain to a new doctor.

“It was only when I started doing art about pain, and physicians saw the art, that they understood what I was going through,” Collen said. “Words are limiting, but art elicits an emotional response.”

Taking it a step further, Collen started soliciting art from pain patients around the world. He teamed up with James Gregory, a 21-year-old college student who suffers from chronic pain following a car accident, and together they created the Pain Exhibit.

Parker-Pope writes:

Finding ways to communicate pain is essential to patients who are suffering, many of whom don’t receive adequate treatment from doctors. In January, Virtual Mentor, the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, reported that certain groups are less likely to receive adequate pain care. Hispanics are half as likely as whites to receive pain medications in emergency rooms for the same injuries; older women of color have the highest likelihood of being undertreated for cancer pain; and being uneducated is a risk factor for poor pain care in AIDS patients, the journal reported.

Some of the images from the Pain Exhibit, like “Broken People” by Robert S. Beal of Tulsa, Okla., depict the physical side of pain. Others, such as “Against the Barrier to Life,” convey the emotional challenges of chronic pain. “I feel like I am constantly fighting against a tidal wave of pain in order to achieve some quality of life,” wrote the work’s creator, Judith Ann Seabrook of Happy Valley in South Australia. “I am in danger of losing the fight and giving up.”

The art is connecting with medical professionals. The journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain features an image from the exhibit on the cover of its November issue, which focuses on women and pain.

Quieting the Demons and Giving Art a Voice: Like sculpture and painting, writing is also a form of expression and release. This review looks at “Madness: A Bipolar Life,” a new memoir by Marya Hornbacher, whom writer Abigail Zuger, MD, describes as “a virtuoso writer: humorous, articulate and self-aware. She is also, as she has now documented in two books, incurably mentally ill.”

Zuger continues:

For scientists trying to parse the mystery of brain and mind, she is one more case of the possible link between mental illness and artistic creativity. With all our scans and neurotransmitters, we are not much closer to figuring out that relationship than was Lord Byron, who announced that poets are “all crazy” and left it at that. But effective drugs make the question more urgent now: would Virginia Woolf, medicated, have survived to write her final masterpiece, or would she have spent her extra years happily shopping?

Ms. Hornbacher brings to the discussion more than the usual pairing of disturbed brain and talented mind. Her talent has created a third self, an appealing, rueful narrator who can look back on three decades of manic-depressive illness, much of it untreated, and spin a story that is almost impossible to put down.

Zuger also considers “Poets on Prozac: Mental Illness, Treatment and the Creative Process,” edited by Richard M. Berlin, M.D. Essays were solicited from published poets with psychiatric illness.

“Most of the 16 contributors are decades older than Ms. Hornbacher, but while they may lack her vivid prose style, they do supply a long-term perspective on the terrain,” writes Zuger.

Genes Explain Race Disparity in Response to a Heart Drug: This is a fascinating story. Researchers at Washington University and the University of Maryland found that patients who are non-responsive to a beta-blockers used in the treatment of heart failure may be making what amounts to their version of the drug, all the time, due to a gene variant.

What’s also surprising is that as many as 40 percent of blacks have this altered gene, compared to 2 percent of whites. The website of the journal Nature Medicine published a paper explaining the study.

“Something that occurs with a 40 percent frequency is not something that was a blip on the radar screen,” said Dr. Gerald W. Dorn, a cardiologist at Washington University and principal investigator for the study. “It must have given a survival advantage.” — Though what that advantage is is still the big unknown.

Gina Kolata writes:

The discovery raises questions about whom to treat with beta blockers and how to decide, researchers say. But, they add, its implications go beyond heart failure.

For example, the gene variant may help explain why some healthy people cannot exercise vigorously — they may be making chemicals that act like beta blockers, making their hearts beat less forcefully. And variations in other genes might explain why some people with different conditions, like depression, do not respond to drugs used to treat it. It is possible that those people are already making their own versions of antidepressant drugs, and that adding more may not help.

But researchers say that people who make their own beta blockers are not protected from developing heart failure. That is because beta blockers are helpful only after the disease is established. And beta blockers can slow the disease’s progress but not cure it.

Through Sickness, Health and Sex Change: Finally, here’s a story from the Sunday paper about a married couple in New Jersey who are concerned about the legal status of their relationship, since the male partner underwent a sex change in 2005. The couple, who have three children, are still very much committed to each other. Tina Kelley writes:

Massachusetts is the only state to have legalized same-sex marriage, and the Brunners are two women married to each other in New Jersey. As this state (along with Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire) confronts challenges over whether its civil unions fulfill the mandate of providing same-sex couples equal rights and benefits, the Brunners offer themselves as Exhibit A on how the nation’s dizzying patchwork of marriage laws, which include the domestic partnerships of California and other states, may be out of step with people’s lives.

And here’s another mind-blowing breakdown of the complexities state by state:

The Brunners were already married when Donald became Denise. Transsexuals who marry after surgery pose a different set of questions, and there have been a number of custody, probate and other cases with decisions all over the legal map.

Urging the United States Supreme Court to tackle the issue in 2000, lawyers for Christie Lee Littleton, a Texas male-to-female transsexual suing her husband’s doctors for wrongful death, noted the confused landscape: “Taking this situation to its logical conclusion, Mrs. Littleton, while in San Antonio, Texas, is a male and has a void marriage; as she travels to Houston, Texas, and enters federal property, she is female and a widow; upon traveling to Kentucky she is female and a widow; but, upon entering Ohio, she is once again male and prohibited from marriage; entering Connecticut, she is again female and may marry; if her travel takes her north to Vermont, she is male and may marry a female; if instead she travels south to New Jersey, she may marry a male.”

The Supreme Court declined to take the case.

Ethics Worth More Than Financial Payments: “With little fanfare, a small number of prominent academic scientists have made a decision that was until recently all but unheard of. They decided to stop accepting payments from food, drug and medical device companies,” reports The New York Times.

No longer will they be paid for speaking at meetings or for sitting on advisory boards. They may still work with companies. It is important, they say, for knowledgeable scientists to help companies draw up and interpret studies. But the work will be pro bono.

The scientists say their decisions were private and made with mixed emotions. In at least one case, the choice resulted in significant financial sacrifice. While the investigators say they do not want to appear superior to their colleagues, they also express relief. At last, they say, when they offer a heartfelt and scientifically reasoned opinion, no one will silently put an asterisk next to their name.

Blogging Against Disablism Day: Coming May 1. Last year, more than 170 people took part. Diary of a Goldfish has the details: “You can write on any subject, specific or general, personal, social or political. In the previous two BADDs, folks have written about all manner of subjects, from discrimination in education and employment, through health care, parenting, family life and relationships, as well as the interaction of disablism with racism and sexism.”

Plus: Tips on language.

“My Beautiful Mommy”: “Oh I just can’t think of enough bad things to say about this book but for starters…” begins Lucinda Marshall’s critique of a new children’s book written by a plastic surgeon to help kids age 4-7 get with the whole “mommy makeover” (tummy tuck and breast augmentation). It’s emblematic of reactions read ’round the web (though EW surprisingly feels the need to ask, “a practical solution for a well-defined demo, or pure evil?” Hmmm. Let me think.)

The book got a lot of attention this week after this Newsweek story came out. Making Light has good info on how a self-published vanity-press book made major league headlines … including a mention on Wait, Wait …. Don’t Tell Me” this morning.

Plastic Surgery on TV: When Botox, face lifts and reconstructive surgery gets in the way of acting, is it appropriate for a critic to call it out? Mary McNamara at the L.A. Times writes:

People should be free to look as they choose, and this town is tough on women — don’t talk to me about Judi Dench and Helen Mirren, they’re British. Would an American woman ever get away with anything approaching Nicolas Cage’s hair or James Spader’s increasing portliness? Of course not.

But television is a visual art, and if people are going to significantly alter the way they look in ways not directly connected with the roles they are playing, it can affect not only their performance but the whole tone of the show.

So you tell me, what is a critic supposed to say when part of the problem with a show is that the leading lady’s face seems incapable of movement or her eyes appear to be moving toward the sides of her head or her lips just look weird?

Plus: Maureen Ryan on women keeping it real: “In future, I’ll not only attempt to acknowledge when a plastic face impedes the enjoyment of a show, but I’ll also make it my business to congratulate the women who look like they’ve lived, for hanging on to what’s made them distinctive individuals.”

Remember the Controversy Over Contraceptives in Portland, Maine?: “For all the firestorm surrounding the decision to make prescription contraceptives available at King Middle School, only one girl has used the service in the six months since the program began, officials say,” reports the AP.

As of Thursday, the only student to obtain a prescription for contraceptives was a 14-year-old girl, the city reported in response to a Freedom of Access request from The Associated Press.

“If it helps one student who otherwise might be in a position of being at risk, then it’s worth it,” said Lisa Belanger, who oversees Portland’s student health centers.

Falling Breast Cancer Rates Prevalent Only Among White Women: “New research shows a sharp drop in U.S. breast cancer cases in recent years was limited to white women, possibly because they abandoned hormone replacement therapy in greater numbers than minority groups,” reports Reuters.

White women had been more likely to use hormone therapy, and were also the most likely to abandon the drugs after U.S. regulators warned about the cancer link in 2003, according to Dr. Dezheng Huo of the University of Chicago and the study’s lead investigator.

“The sharp reductions seen in Caucasians aged 50 to 69 years were not seen among other ethnic groups,” Hou told the American Association for Cancer Research.

The researchers said the decline has been mainly among women older than 50 with estrogen-receptor positive cancer.

Why We’re Fatter: This Slate article isn’t new — in fact, it was published in 2006 — but it was just brought to my attention and it’s definitely an interesting read. Writer Sydney Spiesel reviews five of the 10 explanations for obesity identified in a study by David Allison and Scott Keith of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

“In all likelihood, the rise in obesity results from a combination of several of these factors, each making its own contribution and perhaps interacting with other causes in some yet-more-complicated way,” writes Spiesel.

History As Appetizing As Tater Tots: I admit I fall hard for history texts that bring in the social and cultural implications, which is why I’m putting this on my summer reading list: “School Lunch Politics: The Surprising History of America’s Favorite Welfare Program” (Princeton University Press, 2008) by Susan Levine, a University of Illinois at Chicago professor of history.

“The National School Lunch Program has outlasted almost every other 20th century federal welfare initiative and holds a uniquely prominent place in popular imagination,” Levine said in this UIC release. “It suggests the central role food policy plays in shaping American health, welfare and equality.”

Levine, by the way, is also the author of “Degrees of Equality: The American Association of University Women and the Challenge of Twentieth Century Feminism,” and “Labor’s True Woman: Carpet Weavers, Industrialization and Labor Reform in the Gilded Age.”

Strategic Spending on Organic Foods: With the price of organic foods rising, here’s some good advice for shoppers who want to prioritize spending on those organic fruits and vegetables that have a high pesticide residue when grown conventionally. Check out the The Environmental Working Group’s list of 43 fruits and vegetables tested for pesticide residue.

Photographer Rosanne Olsen has just published “This Is Who I Am: Our Beauty in All Shapes and Sizes,” a book of nude photographs of dozens of women age 19 to 95.

Each woman’s photograph — and there does seem to be a good mix — is paired with her words describing how she feels about her body.

You can preview excerpts here (PDF). And here’s a review from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

I poked through the book a bit and wanted to share a favorite entry. These are the words of Constance (left), who is 80:

In a restroom on the university campus, a handwritten sign on the mirror reminds the user that “Everyone Is Beautiful,” as if trying to counteract the negative feedback most of us feel on viewing our own image.

Though I tend to avoid mirrors, I like catching a glimpse of my shadow in action when I’m walking or riding my bike. Most of the time I’m pleased that my body works pretty well, bore healthy children, and is relatively slow to break down as it ages. I try to give it what it needs: water, food, exercise, sleep. Since I retired, I can take a nap whenever I want, and I’ve had fewer long-lasting colds. I’d say menopause is God’s gift to women. I rejoice in freedom from the responsibility of reproduction.

It’s clear to me that I would have had more professional opportunities as an astronomer if I were a man. I like to imagine a system where everyone is reincarnated, switching gender at each reincarnation but retaining some memory of what it’s like to be the opposite sex. When I tried to deal with an egotistical colleague or a pompous administrator– almost invariably male in my day — I found it entertaining and soothing to visualize his next incarnation, maybe in the ninth month of his fifth pregnancy.

Happy Monday.

Dumb Quote of the Week: “Eighteen is certainly an age where we’re putting men and women in uniform on a battlefield … I think they can decide if they want larger breasts.” — Dr. Alan Gold, a Great Neck, N.Y., plastic surgeon, as quoted in this Newsday story on breast implants.

The story notes that “according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the number of women 18 and younger who have had breast enlargements has risen nearly 500 percent over the last decade, a sharper climb than the 300 percent increase in breast augmentations among all age groups,” but it doesn’t cover the health risks except to note the recent death of Stephanie Kuleba, 18, of South Florida, who died of what may have been a rare genetic reaction to general anesthesia given during breast-augmentation surgery.

It does, however, include this important point:

Traci Levy, an assistant professor who teaches courses in feminism and gender studies at Adelphi University, said the growing perception that it’s a common procedure, along with ads for plastic surgery, may contribute to its popularity.

“To say that you need to have a very expensive surgical procedure with real health risks in order to be considered beautiful, I think, is a problematic image,” she said.

Plus: Kacey, who got breast implants when she was 19 and tells her story at ImplantsOut.com, blogged recently at Beauty and the Breast about the illnesses she experienced (and is still experiencing) that she believes are linked to her implants.

Kacey was a recent guest on Fox’s “The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet,” and she wrote that another guest — an 18-year-old who wants breast implants — commented off-stage, “They’re just breast implants. It’s just like getting your hair cut!”

“I just got my hair cut – no scalpels, drains, anesthesia, surgeons or nurses necessary,” writes Kacey. “I will never wonder if my hair cut will cause joint pain. Can anyone say the same about breast implants?”

Aging Among the Haves and Have-Nots: “Seniors are living longer, healthier and more financially secure than past generations, according to a federal report released by several government agencies last month. But large disparities separate the quality of life for seniors of different genders, ethnicities, education levels and incomes,” reports the Ventura County Star, which headlines the story with this statistic: 71,500,000 Americans will be 65 and older in 2030, compared with 37 million people in 2006.

Plus: Read more on The Older Americans 2008 study, released by the National Institute on Aging.

Behind a Legal Shield: Here’s an extremely frustrating legal story concerning the Ortho Evra birth control patch, as reported by The New York Times:

For years, Johnson & Johnson obscured evidence that its popular Ortho Evra birth control patch delivered much more estrogen than standard birth control pills, potentially increasing the risk of blood clots and strokes, according to internal company documents.

But because the Food and Drug Administration approved the patch, the company is arguing in court that it cannot be sued by women who claim that they were injured by the product — even though its old label inaccurately described the amount of estrogen it released.

This legal argument is called pre-emption. After decades of being dismissed by courts, the tactic now appears to be on the verge of success, lawyers for plaintiffs and drug companies say.

Naturally, the Bush administration backs this doctrine. Read the whole story. And here’s a powerful op-ed on FDA oversight.

Abortion Has Left the Classroom: RH Reality Check has an excellent package of stories on the shortage of abortion doctors, all written by members of Medical Students for Choice.

“As recently as six or seven years ago, abortion was included in my medical school’s curriculum, but no longer,” writes Louisa Pyle, adding:

Medical school is, in many ways, a language school. Someone told me once that a medical student learns over 20,000 new words in their first two years of school, and in addition to the new vocabulary, I soon became capable of saying things over dinner that one should never say. “Rectum” no longer induces giggles and “vagina” is boring, not sexy or empowering. And yet, the word “abortion” is still said with a pause, a nod, a little quieter than the rest of the sentence. I’m happy when we talk about it at all: for me, the problem is the deafening silence. That a procedure more common than an appendectomy would never be named: In the halls of science and healthcare, that to me is an abomination.

Nicole Wolverston writes about the work of Medical Students for Choice. Jalan Washington, who is also a member of Advocates for Youth, writes about her frustration since starting medical school “with the lack of widespread action to address many of the educational, social, and economic determinants of health.”

“Hearing bleak statistics about Black and Latino health is a commonplace, routinely accepted, and unquestioned part of the American medical landscape. Very seldom do our discussions then proceed to the ways in which health care providers and the medical infrastructure directly contribute to these trends,” she writes.

Mothers Movement Online: The most recent issue of Mothers Movement Online is the pregnancy and childbirth issue. Included among the engaging and informative essays is an interview with OBOS executive director Judy Norsigian.

MMO Editor Judith Stadtman Tucker (read her editor’s notes) is a contributor to the new OBOS book on pregnancy and birth, specifically the section on advocating for the workplace rights of pregnant and parenting women.

In Shift to Digital, More Repeat Mammogram: As doctors learn to interpret digital mammograms, they are more likely to request second tests, reports The New York Times. Denise Grady writes:

At many centers, these nerve-racking calls are on the rise, at least temporarily — the price of progress as more and more radiologists switch from traditional X-ray film to digital mammograms, in which the X-ray images are displayed on a computer monitor.

Problems can arise during the transition period, while doctors learn to interpret digital mammograms and compare them to patients’ previous X-ray films. Comparing past and present to look for changes is an essential part of reading mammograms. But the digital and film versions can sometimes be hard to reconcile, and radiologists who are retraining their eyes and minds may be more likely to play it safe by requesting additional X-rays — and sometimes ultrasound exams and even biopsies — in women who turn out not to have breast cancer.

Over at Well, Tara Parker Pope put up pictures showing the difference between a normal digital mammogram and a normal mammogram from traditional X-ray film.

Plus: Here’s a brief but important post from the L.A. Times health blog on how MRIs may affect breast cancer treatment decisions.

Estrogen Linked to Benign Breast Lumps: “Add another risk to hormone therapy after menopause: Benign breast lumps,” reports the AP. A new study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute re-examines data from the Women’s Health Initiative pertaining to women who took estrogen only (women who had hysterectomies) instead of the estrogen-progestin combination hormone therapy.

Those estrogen-only users doubled their chances of getting non-cancerous breast lumps. That’s a concern not only because of the extra biopsies and worry those lumps cause, but because a particular type — called benign proliferative breast disease — is suspected of being a first step toward developing cancer 10 years or so later.

Razor Blades and Inner Goddesses – Get the Connection?: I missed this story about the latest in razor blade technology when it first came out, but it’s worth noting if only for the silly take on how shaving razors are marketed to women. The piece looks at the new advertising campaign around the Gillette Venus Embrace, which turns users into deities. (Any readers feeling transformed? Do tell.)

“Now we’ve given women the permission to reveal her own goddess,” said Gro Frivoll, who has worked on the Venus account at BBDO for eight years. “Every woman can be the goddess of something, because this allows you to be your most feminine self.”

Ack. Read on and the message is less, um, smooth:

When Gillette pitches razors to men, it tends to emphasize technological innovations. But on the women’s side, “we focus more on the emotional end benefits,” Ms. Frivoll said. ‘Men want to know, What am I paying more for? If a man were paying $25 for lipstick, it would have to have more than the Chanel name on it.”

Today’s just a mini-dose … I’ll be at WAM! this weekend and hope to see many of you there!

More Women Pursue Claims Of Pregnancy Discrimination: “Pregnancy-bias complaints recorded by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission surged 14% last year to 5,587, up 40% from a decade ago and the biggest annual increase in 13 years,” reports the Wall Street Journal.

The Carrot Some Vegans Deplore: Kara Jesella writes in The New York Times:

Two things that you can find a lot of in Portland, Ore., are vegans and strip clubs. Johnny Diablo decided to open a business to combine both. At his Casa Diablo Gentlemen’s Club, soy protein replaces beef in the tacos and chimichangas; the dancers wear pleather, not leather. Many are vegans or vegetarians themselves.

But Portland is also home to a lot of young feminists, and some are not happy with Mr. Diablo’s venture. Since he opened the strip club last month, their complaints have been “all over the Internet,” he said. “One of them came in here once. I could tell she had an attitude right when she came in. She was all hostile.”

The story begins like something straight out of The Onion, but it turns into a rather, er, meaty discussion of feminist politics and food … Read more at Feministing.com.

Perceptions: Feminists More Open-Minded on Weight: “A new study finds that women who describe themselves as feminists are more forgiving than other women when assessing the attractiveness of women who are either very underweight or very heavy,” reports The New York Times.

You’ll find the study in the journal Body Image — also see Rachel’s smart analysis. Here are some previous studies on feminism and body image.

The Mystery Suspect in the U.S. “Obesity Epidemic”: Writing at Women’s Media Center, Paula J. Caplan, Ph.D., an author and lecturer at Harvard, discusses the effect of psychotropic drugs on weight gain. She begins:

Here’s one surefire way to make anyone feel helpless, hopeless, even crazy: Teach them that others will value them mostly for being thin and being nurturing, and put them in situations where they are too agitated or sad to be cheerful caretakers for family and friends. When they ask for help, give them a pill that may calm them down or pep them up but will have a good chance of increasing their weight. This has been the fate of millions of women, who then are more likely than men to blame themselves for their part what is being called the U.S. obesity epidemic.

E-Mail Discussed Unapproved Use of Drug: “John C. Lechleiter, an Eli Lilly official who is about to become the company’s top executive, wrote an e-mail message in 2003 that appears to have encouraged Lilly to promote its schizophrenia medicine Zyprexa for a use not approved by federal drug regulators,” reports today’s New York Times. Why is this an issue?

The e-mail message was discussed this week in an Anchorage courtroom in a lawsuit against Lilly by the State of Alaska. The suit seeks reimbursement for the medical costs of Medicaid patients who developed diabetes while taking Zyprexa.

The drug causes severe weight gain and cholesterol problems in many patients and has been linked to diabetes.

Zyprexa is federally approved only for use by adults diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. While doctors are free to prescribe it “off label” for any patients for any use, it would be a violation of federal law for Lilly to actively encourage off-label use of the drug.

Bed Rest: Writing at Feminist Law Professors, David S. Cohen describes his wife being prescribed bed rest for preeclampsia and the questions it raises about medical logic and stereotypes.

Online Records: The Washington Post looks at the pros and cons of trusting your health records to online technology. There are now more than 100 websites offering management of personal health records.

Foes of Sex Trade Stung by Eliot Spitzer’s Fall: Until he was linked to a prostitution ring, the about-to-be-former New York governor was a strong ally of human rights groups, “which credit him with what they call the toughest and most comprehensive anti-sex-trade law in the nation,” reports The New York Times. The Times talked with Taina Bien-Aimé, executive director of Equality Now:

Too often, Ms. Bien-Aimé maintained, the public imagines a huge divide between the kind of glamorous call girl depicted in a movie like “Pretty Woman,” and the lurid, violent world of trafficked women in a film like “Eastern Promises.” But they are all part of a commercial sex industry that buys women’s bodies, she said, citing studies that put the average age of entry into prostitution in the United States at 14.

“There’s no sliding scale in the exploitation of women,” she said. “Either you exploit a woman in the commercial sex trade or you don’t.”

Because Mr. Spitzer seemed to agree, she said, “he was our hero.”

Silence Will Not Protect You: “On this day, National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, AIDS now bears a black female face,” writes Diary of an Anxious Black Woman. “Unlike gay men in the ’80s, however, we are conspicuously silent (or rather “silenced”) in mainstream media and within the national conscience.” She continues:

Unlike gay men in the ’80s, who broke the silences surrounding their sexuality – promoting condom use through newsletters and even in gay porn (even though gay porn and personal relationships of late have dangerously resorted back to “bareback sex”) – black women, who now comprise 70% of new AIDS cases and, if aged between 19 and 44, will most likely die by this disease, have not rallied publicly through collective rage (I’m very angry to see such high statistics among my sisters, aren’t you?). We have not promoted, in TLC fashion (remember when they used to sport those condoms in their clothing?), condom use among women and girls through our erotic fiction, music, and videos (I know at least one porn star who gave out “goodies” at the Harlem Book Fair last summer but didn’t bother to distribute condoms) nor have we staged walkouts at various church services when they promote violent homophobia and “wives submit” type sermons. We have not stormed through the Stock Exchange to demand affordable drugs for black women here and overseas, nor have we staged sit-ins at various corrections facilities and hospitals and schools, which have all colluded in the silent devastation of our communities through the spread of HIV/AIDS.

We have not figured out, as the gay men of the ’80s did, that there is an insidious agenda to let us die.

Expert Hired to Guide Title IX Effort: “The University of Colorado appointed one of its staunchest critics Monday to advise the school on women’s safety issues, fulfilling the final requirement of a $2.85 million settlement with two former students,” reports the Denver Post. “Nancy Hogshead-Makar, an educator and 1984 Olympian, will independently oversee Title IX compliance, including matters regarding sexual harassment, sexual assault and gender discrimination.”

CU, you may remember, made headlines after a former student was raped during a high school recruitment party. The school overhauled its athletic program and several school officials were ousted. Best quote: “The best way to prevent a sex harassment or a sex assault claim is to prevent sexual harassment and sexual assault,” said Hogshead-Makar.

The Long-Term Cost of Childhood Abuse: Middle-aged women who suffered physical or sexual abuse as children spend up to one-third more than average in health care costs, according to a long-term study of more than 3,000 women (mean age: 47 years) that appears in the March issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

After accounting for women’s age and education, the health care costs for women who were sexually abused were 16 percent higher than non-abused women; physically abused women’s costs were 22 percent higher. For women who suffered both types of abuse, their costs rose 36 percent above average.

“What’s remarkable is that women with an average age in their late 40s still suffer consequences from abuse that occurred decades ago,” said Amy Bonomi, associate professor of human development and family science at Ohio State University, who led the study at Group Health in Seattle. “No other study has found that before.”

Pre-schoolers Discuss Body Image, Diversity: Because it’s never too soon.

Boston University will screen “Absolutely Safe,” a documentary examining breast implant safety and the role of beauty, on Friday, March 28.

A Q&A with the director, Carol Ciancutti-Leyva, will follow.

From the film’s synopsis:

At a time when more women than ever are getting breast implants, fewer voices than ever seem to be asking “Why?” And fewer still are asking “Are they safe?” ABSOLUTELY SAFE takes an open-minded, personal approach to the controversy over breast implant safety. Ultimately, ABSOLUTELY SAFE is the story of everyday women who find themselves and their breasts in the tangled and confusing intersection of health, money, science, and beauty.

OBOS Executive Director Judy Norsigian has high praise for the documentary, calling it “the perfect antidote to ads and TV shows that now routinely mislead women into thinking that these devices have been proven to be safe.” You can read reviews here.

And check out the rest of the website, which is among the best film websites I’ve seen in terms of presentation and issue information. The implant controversy is covered in-depth, and there are numerous resources and links for more background identified in each section.

The free film screening at BU starts at 6:30 p.m. and takes place in Sargent College Room 101, 635 Commonwealth Avenue. It’s sponsored by Every Person Counts.

“Absolutely Safe” has been shown on college campuses and in cities around the country. If you’re interested in organizing a screening, contact info AT absolutelysafe.com.

Tara Parker-Pope has the skinny on “Skinny Bitch,” the hit diet book that has surprised some readers with its strict vegan coda (the Times reported on that aspect last year) and its harsh words for readers.

Parker-Pope points to this Salon story, in which Julie Klausner raises questions about the book’s castigatory language: “This book is a PETA pamphlet in chick-lit clothing and an innovative fusion of animal rights activism with punitive dieting tactics that prey on women’s insecurities about their bodies.” Klausner continues:

The relentless bullying peppered throughout the authors’ advice accounts for much of the book’s humor, including quips like “you need to exercise, you lazy shit,” “coffee is for pussies” and “don’t be a fat pig anymore.” It was a formerly anorexic friend of mine who nailed it when she read excerpts from the book. “When you have an eating disorder,” she told me, “that’s the voice you hear in your head all the time.”

Thanks to “Skinny Bitch,” women who hate their bodies no longer need rely on their own self-loathing to stoke the flames of what seems like motivation but is actually self-flagellation — penance for the sin of being too fat. Now dieters can have the convenience of a former model (Barnouin) and a former modeling agent (Freedman) putting their transgressions in the black-and-white terms of right and wrong. “If you eat crap,” they chirp, “you are crap.”

Get ready for more in-your-face advice: The authors have signed an additional two-book deal, on top of their follow-up cookbook, “Skinny Bitch in the Kitch.”

In a NYT story earlier this year on the cookbook, Kimberly Latham, a fashion publicist in New York, acknowledges that she “would never have read ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma.’ I’m not even sure I know what an omnivore is. But I know what a skinny bitch is, and I know I want to be one.”

Debbie Rasmussen, the publisher of Bitch magazine and a vegan herself, provides a more rational analysis: “Obviously I’m in favor of assaults on the food industry … On the other hand, the constant equating of skinny and healthy is something I have a real problem with. And replacing junk food with vegan junk food is not my idea of how to change our unhealthy food culture.”

Plus: The Christian Science Monitor looks at the rise of self-help books, including “Skinny Bitch,” that criticize the reader.

“One of the first obstacles to fat acceptance is breaking down the question of whether being fat is a choice … No fat acceptance advocate is saying you should sit around and wildly overeat. What we’re saying is that exercise and a balanced diet do not make everyone thin.”
- Kate Harding, founder of the blog Shapely Prose, in an interview with The New York Times for a story about the fatosphere.

Read the story (very good) and check out postings from some of the blogs mentioned in the article.

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?

Online communities for those with eating disorders have been around almost as long as internet access, but have been a topic of discussion recently with coverage at Jezebel, Junkfood Science, and the news (due to the recent closing of some sites). It’s a difficult issue to cover, as I don’t want to link to the sites in question. From browsing a few of them, however, the messaging is disturbing – users (seemingly mostly young girls) share fasting tips, brag about how little they’re eating, and document their constant goal of a lower weight.

Last year, Feministing noted a study that suggested these websites were harmful, but what can be done? Some web hosts have tried to shut down these sites as they find them; Microsoft recently removed four such sites in Spain following complaints that they were endangering girls’ lives. One recent essay describes the lengths “pro-ana” (pro-anorexia, or supporting anorexia-related behaviors) and “pro-mia” (pro-bulimia) website creators go to in order to avoid detection and deletion. Other “pro-ana” websites remain, and online giant YouTube seems to allow the posting of “thinspiration” videos that are intended to encourage people in their quest to shrink as much as possible.

It seems nearly impossible to shut down all of the sites of this nature, and I suspect that doing so would do little to address the root problems of the eating disordered individuals who frequent them. It’s also practically impossible to try to reach all of those users and help them find tools for recovery. What’s your take on this dilemma? Should web hosts shut down the sites? How does that square with free speech concerns? What’s a better solution to this problem? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

Some eating disorder resources:

• Our Bodies Ourselves eating disorders web links
  
• National Eating Disorders Association
  
• National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
  
• MedlinePlus: Eating Disorders – info from the National Library of Medicine
  
• Something Fishy – popular recovery-focused website

In other news:

• The National Cancer Institute is revising its breast cancer risk assessment tool because it may have been underestimating risk for black women.
  
• The LA Times looks at efforts to grant personhood to fertilized eggs.

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!).

A recent study in the Journal of Adolescent Health reports on beliefs about douching among primarily minority students in Texas alternative schools who were part of an HIV prevention trial. The students were surveyed about their beliefs and behavior, as well as their sexual and reproductive health histories. Those who reported douching more than once completed additional questions on this activity.

The authors report:

• 55% of females had reported ever douching; 30% did so monthly, and 20% did so weekly.
  
• Females who had ever douched were “more likely to have had vaginal intercourse, to be older, to be black, to have been tested for HIV, to have been pregnant, and to have female relatives who endorsed douching.”
  
• 22% of the girls thought douching would protect against sexually transmitted infections.
  
• 75% of males preferred that their partners douche, and 25% of girls thought their partners expected them to do so.
  
• Surprisingly, 18% of girls cited healthcare professionals as endorsing douching. Only 7% reported that healthcare providers advised against the practice.

In reality, douching may actually increase the risk of STIs, vaginal infections/odor, and problems during pregnancy, and is not generally recommended by health professionals.

This is of particular interest to me, because in a critique at my own blog about a product which was advertised in part for use after douching, several commenters responded along the lines of “women aren’t stupid, they know they shouldn’t be douching.” I wouldn’t suggest that women who douche are “stupid,” but they may not have been fully informed of the health risks and that douching is unnecessary and not recommended. Although this was a small study, the results suggest that healthcare providers may need to be more actively talking to and teaching their patients, including adolescents, about this issue. It seems clear that douching has not entirely become a thing of the past as some might think, and that individuals are slipping through the cracks on this educational point.

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.