Blog 5

One woman that inspires me is Frida Kahlo; she was a Mexican painter that made many bold political statements throughout her life as well as in her art. Frida was born in 1907, as she grew up during the Mexican Revolution she suffered many health complications, and in her teen years she survived a horrific bus crash that left her disabled for most of her adult life. 

She lived a life of chronic pain and sadness but would relieve this negativity through her paintings; the paintings she made not only served as a distraction for her but have also influenced many people throughout the world, even after her death in 1954. 

Despite the boundaries she lived through such as her disability, sexuality, ethnicity and gender; she managed to live an adventurous life without letting anything or anyone hold her back. Today she is remembered as a strong Mexican, artistic, feminist and communist icon throughout the world. 

One reason she inspires me is her art, growing up I always loved art and when I found out about Frida Kahlo I was ecstatic to find out about a successful Latina artist such as herself. I also admired how unapologetic she was in her life, as well as the fact that she did not let her disability become a barrier for her life. Her health was not as good as she would have wanted it to be but she would continue to strive through her struggles and travel the world as well as meet many influential people.

http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/biography.html

Blog 4

2^nd Blog topic - What can a woman do to reduce her risk of assault?

Assault is defined as an unlawful physical attack or threat of attack. 

(http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=316)

According to the Sexual Assault Resource Center, 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. Among all victims, about nine out of ten are female.  (http://www.sarcbv.org/get-info/stat)

With such a high prevalence of women being assaulted it would be knowledgeable to tell men to stop assaulting women. Men are often taught to disregard any respect for women, and that assault can be easily used to achieve power or control from any situation. Everyone should know the importance of consent; people who violate should be punished for the violent actions they have committed. Women are constantly targeted and persecuted by men, most of the time these men go on without any consequence or remorse for the assault they committed.

Victims of assault live the rest of their lives with fear and anxiety, victims are told to suppress their emotions and just deal with the fact that they suffered through such a traumatizing event. Victims are also told that they were “asking for it”, consequently blaming the victim for their own assault. In my own opinion I feel like women have already done everything possible to avoid assault, but not enough has been done to tell men that their violent acts towards women are unsolicited. Women everywhere have been assaulted in some way, despite what they were wearing or their mannerisms towards men. Women should be able to live comfortably knowing they are safe from any type of assault. 

Assault is prevalent in more women than men, reducing the risk for assault in women should start with men. Men should know from a young age that assault is a disgraceful act and that by assaulting a woman they are inherently damaging a human being in more ways than one. That being said there are few ways to prevent assault such as buying pepper spray or maybe enrolling in a self-defense class. But overall I believe the best way of reducing assault is by letting young boys and men know that women are not disposable objects, and that they have no right to violate women in any way.

Blog 3

Topic #5:

Wendy is an old friend of mine; we met on the playground of a small elementary school. We have never had a serious fight, she can become irritated easily but she never tried to intentionally hurt my feelings. When we entered high school, we would still see each other despite the fact that we went to different schools. One day she told me she was dieting and that she was cutting back calories. She went from not eating meat, to not eating as much solid foods, to only eating soups, and eventually not eating at all. She was very pretty and incredibly small, we would go to restaurants together even though I did most of the eating. It was strange to see her do this to herself but I did not question it because I didn’t really know what she was doing to herself, all I knew was that the more she lost weight the more compliments she would get.

She would starve herself, her parents were busy and she would rarely eat with them, which made it easy for her to skip meals. She would tell me that she would sometimes treat herself to a diet coke if she managed to not eat anything the whole day. Whenever she felt uneasy and she felt the absolute need to eat, she would eat only a hand full of trail mix or nuts. This went on for a couple of months until she was taken to the hospital on January of 2009, her doctor said she was anorexic. When I saw her in the hospital, she looked nothing like the colorful girl I met at the school playground. She was pale; she looked vulnerable and brittle, like an injured bird. It was incredibly upsetting seeing my friend in this condition; I could not imagine how she could have felt.

Fortunately after she landed in the hospital she went to rehab, where she would meet with different specialists. Since then she has improved, she is in a much healthier state, it was not easy for her in any way but she restrained this mental illness and has since then gained weight and confidence. Watching her struggle through anorexia made me realize the true pressure that is put on girls and women to fit into a mold in order to be considered beautiful. Not many girls are taught from a young age that the images of women in the media are altered to the point of unreachable standards of beauty. Girls are told to fear rejection and to seek acceptance from others in order to evaluate their own value. Girls should be told to love and accept themselves, not neglect their bodies to the point of illness or death in order to fit into someone else’s standards.

Blog 2

Today I tell my daughter the basics of sex, it is necessary for her to know all of this before it is too late and she hears it from some stranger instead of her own mother. She is 11 and she will attend middle school soon, she will listen to her peers talk about relationships and the mysteries of sex. I need her to know that she can ask me any questions or ask for advice without feeling uncomfortable. I will ask her to sit in the living room sofa, I will have printed out pictures of the uterus and vulva, and I will also have articles from Planned Parenthood regarding various birth control methods and STD prevention.

I expect her to giggle and make jokes to cover her insecurity of knowing too little on this subject. I’ll start by asking her what she thinks she knows about sex. I will listen and try to help her debunk some of the myths she has heard about sex. I won’t lie to her and tell her that sex is something only done by “mommies and daddies that love each other”. I will let her know that sex is something various people around the world involve themselves in and that it is something that requires absolute consent.  Sex without the presence of consent is rape. And she should let me or anyone else who she may feel safe with know if she has ever experience such trauma so they may take her to a nearby hospital, I will let her know that I will always be here to love and support her.

She should know that virginity is a concept made by men to oppress women by keeping them “pure”, while men do as they please without repercussions of society looking down on them for being more experienced in sex. She can’t lose her virginity simply because there is nothing she will lose, her hymen may stretch and expand with the size and friction but ultimately there is no cherry to pop. I will go ahead and tell her that her first sexual experience should not hurt or make her bleed, she should be lubricated enough for any entry into the vagina.  If the person who she is having sex with doesn’t respect that and induces pain while ignoring any of her requests she should immediately call off the situation and go far away from that person.

I will include that it is okay to have sex with anyone she wishes as long as she is protected and there is clear communication involved. I will tell her that sex is not necessarily scary and that it can be enjoyable as long as she protects herself from sexually transmitted diseases. There are different sexualities and she may soon figure out her own sexuality and what she is attracted to. On the other hand I will say that if she is not comfortable with ever having sex and she prefers to avoid sex completely, that is absolutely normal and this is called asexuality. I will then open the floor and allow her to freely ask me any questions.

Her first question is, what is lubrication? I respond with lubrication is a type of substance that can be naturally produced through the stimulation of the clitoris and/or general vaginal area. Water based lubricants can be purchased at various stores, they are the safest and she can use as much or as little as she needs, whatever makes her comfortable.

Her next question is, when is the right time to have sex? I answered, if she feels ready and they both feel mature enough to consent and agree or disagree on what sexual acts make each other comfortable or uncomfortable, then she may have sex. I don't expect her to tell me when exactly she will have sex or who with, but I would appreciate if she would let me supply her with condoms and allow her to visit with a doctor for regular checkups. There are age of consent laws and I expect her to respect them. They vary through each state, such as here in Texas where the age of consent is 17 years old.

She asked a couple more questions and before I let her go I told her to be critical of the things she sees in movies and hears from people, everyone has different experiences and she will probably not go through the same things as her friends. Media fabricates a lot of things and sex is not always as glamorous as it seems in films.  I will hug her and give her a cookie, she then goes and plays outside. Overall I’m glad I had this conversation with her.

Blog Entry 1

Sexual abuse and rape are both health issues I am most concerned about. They are health issues not many like to talk about; sometimes they are not considered proper health issues. An event such as rape can cause much damage to the health of the mind and body; it is also something that can happen to anyone at anytime. Throughout the years I have heard many cautionary stories about sexual abuse or rape, and the ways I could prevent such traumatic events. Many times I have heard jokes regarding sexual abuse and rape, as if it is never taken seriously. In many societies, rapist tend to walk free with little repercussions from their attacks while the victims are forced to bow their heads and be shamed by their communities.

I interviewed two women. Rosa is a 51-year-old woman from Mexico and she told me that the health issue she was most concerned about was diabetes. She said that diabetes was common in her family and that she risked having it because she is overweight. The next woman I interviewed was 18-year-old Latina, Miranda. The health issue she was most concerned about was high cholesterol; she claimed that her father struggled with high cholesterol and that at one point she too was at risk of attaining high cholesterol. Both women expressed their worries for common physical health issues that have been present in their family members. 

After I interviewed them both I asked them if they would consider sexual abuse and/or rape as health issues, in which they both responded no. Many people have different definitions of health, both these women only considered the particular diseases or disorders that could damage someone physically. They both agreed that sexual abuse and rape are both generally bad things, they forgot about the damage it could leave on the victims such as depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder and much more. Which made me realize the importance of educating people regarding topics such as these since it is not discussed as often as other health issues.