Old Folks Gettin’ It On (And Avoiding HIV)

RH Reality Check has a heart-stopping headline on a sensitive topic: How Are Your Orgasms, Mom?

…

Whew, have you recovered yet?

I’m just being a little silly because the idea of older adults – even our parents – having sex is an idea that most of us would probably rather avoid. Hey, I joke when I’m uncomfortable – you? It’s certainly not something many of us (in my estimation) have gotten comfortable thinking or talking about. That’s why the above-linked post is so awesome.

The post, by Ann Whidden of the National Sexuality Resource Center, begins:

My mom turns sixty-nine this fall, and she recently asked if I could turn my communications expertise to a more familial project: updating her personal profile on a popular dating site. As she gears up to meet men for Coke dates in the mall, I geared up for how to have “the talk” that I never got from her. How do I cover the basics, like condom use and STI prevention that I wished I’d heard from her as a teen-and how do I cover topics like vaginal dryness, communication, and pleasure (topics I would have liked, but maybe not from mom)? I wish to be as bold as masturbation guru Betty Dodson, who, the story goes, once asked her mother, “How are your orgasms?”

Kudos to Ann for thinking about breaking down the barriers to open communication that many of us have. Ann also cites what I think is a very important statistic, and one that nobody ever seems to know/believe/take me seriously about:
15% of new HIV/AIDS cases are in people over 50 years of age
No, there haven’t historically been a huge percentage of HIV+ people who were older. However, as the CDC notes, people over 50 are not only 15% of new cases, but also 24% of persons living with HIV/AIDS (increased from 17% in 2001), 19% of all AIDS diagnoses, 29% of persons living with AIDS, and 35% of all deaths of persons with AIDS.

Regarding the new infections in older adults – These are people who did not grow up with HIV. They did not grow up with HIV awareness in their schools. Now, of course I can’t speak for what older people know about HIV. I know there is a lot of concern about the fact that they did not grow up learning about it, and may not be as up on safer sex practices as some younger folk. So if, like Ann, you have an older adult in your life who could use some information, follow her example and think about what you can perhaps provide.

Bad Times for Pregnant Women

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like every day this week I’ve seen another story about questionable to outright appalling treatment of pregnant women. One was the case of a woman with allegedly false immigration documents, who learned that she was pregnant and HIV positive. The judge in that case decided to sentence her to prison through her due date (longer than the sentence might otherwise have been), under the rationale that she would receive medical/HIV treatment in prison. Something is really, really wrong when prison is a first, best option for medical care, especially for a pregnant woman. Apparently this decision wasn’t made on behalf of the woman and whatever pregnancy-related care she may need, though, but with an eye toward forcing her to take medications to reduce transmission to the fetus. RH Reality Check has more background and detailed analysis here, and an update from after bail was granted, following an outcry from groups such as the National Advocates for Pregnant Women and the ACLU.

There’s also a class action lawsuit brewing against the Cook County (IL) Sheriff’s Department from women who were cuffed while giving birth (who were incarcerated at the time). According to the linked piece, “The women’s lawyers say as many as 100 women held in Cook County facilities have been handcuffed or shackled while giving birth.” You all know I don’t approve of that. At all.

Finally, via Radical Doula and the Feminist Majority Foundation Choices Campus Blog, I found out about this piece on RaceWire alleging that a Mississippi immigrant’s newborn was taken away because the mother does not speak English, and only a Spanish interpreter was provided at the hospital (she doesn’t speak Spanish, but an indigenous Mexican language). A reporter for the (MS) Clarion-Ledger also notes that:

Court records obtained by The Clarion-Ledger indicate Cruz is charged with neglecting her child, in part, because “she has failed to learn the English language” and “was unable to call for assistance for transportation to the hospital” to give birth. Her inability to speak English “placed her unborn child in danger and will place the baby in danger in the future,” according to the document.

They add that the hospital document accused the mother of “exchanging living arrangements for sex” and planning to place the child up for adoption, although an advocacy organization involved in the case disputes the allegations. While little other information is available about this case, it’s terrifying to think that someone could potentially have their child taken away simply because of a language barrier and/or a hospital staff that ineptly selects an interpreter.

In all of these cases, the women involved were particularly vulnerable – through their immigration status, through their language, through their status as incarcerated women – vulnerabilities that were piled onto because of their status as pregnant women. I don’t have anything truly profound to say about these cases, but that I’m glad organizations like NAPW and others are out there and paying attention to the civil liberties of pregnant women.

Weekly News Round-Up

Some things to read from the past week:

Lynda Waddington at RH Reality Check on rural access to obstetric care.

An update from GLAAD on the Rob & Arnie radio situation. I haven’t heard it yet, but apparently they invited some appropriate guests onto the show, had a real discussion, and offered a better and self-critical apology for their previous hateful language.

Amplify is lobbying CVS to unlock the condoms!

Octagalore on why speaking out against misogyny should have absolutely nothing to do with one’s politics.

i can’t remember if I pointed to this or just quietly added it to the blogroll, so here’s First, Do No Harm: Real Stories of Fat Prejudice in Health Care. Med students, it would be good for you to read some of these stories.

Um, somehow I didn’t hear about this in Nashville, although in retrospect I find that there was some coverage, so that’s my fault. Cara at the Curvature explains that the police in this story, of women held against their will and sold for sex rape, went ahead and charged the captive women with marijuana possession. That just about makes me want to vomit.

bfp at flip flopping joy has details on how you can “Help bring single mamis to the Allied Media Conference.” Every time I read about the AMC, I feel like – “This is a conference done right. And doing good.” – and I want to go and be inspired and feel full. Go find out how you can help somebody else do just that.

Via bfp, I ended up over at guerilla mama medicine reading a post about doula certifications (including why the author believes they’re not needed), and that led to outlaw midwives, which uses phrases like “revolutionary communities of love.” There’s a manifesta, and I’m still processing it. There hasn’t been anything new in a while, it seems, but I’ll check back.

Somewhere in there I also stumbled over a link to the Young Women’s Empowerment Project, whose mission is “to offer safe, respectful, free-of-judgment spaces for girls and young women impacted by the sex trade and street economies to recognize their goals, dreams and desires. We are run by girls and women with life experience in the sex trade and street economies. We are a youth leadership organization grounded in harm reduction and social justice organizing by and for girls and young women (ages 12-23) impacted by the sex trade and street economies.”

Via my overflowing feedreader, I found a link to Ultra Violet, a site for Indian feminists. I haven’t spent much time there, but wanted to pass it along.

Occupational health concerns in the porn film industry, on HIV risk and exposure.

Jamie Murnane at After Ellen asks Why are Nipples so Offensive? It includes shots from a photographic project which features topless women with their nipples digitally removed. And thus it became the first time I ever typed Nipples Non Grata into a Google search toolbar.

Jennifer Block at pushed birth links to selected birth videos on YouTube. The photo accompanying the post is itself worth a click through. Block also notes that birth videos now tend to largely be shot at home births, as so many hospitals simply refusing to allow filming, which is a pet peeve of mine.

Heather at Scarleteen has a great post, How to (Un)pack for a Real Discussion About Abortion, with discussion of common language problems/tactics and myths/truths about abortion.

I can’t remember if I linked to this before, but I just saw it again. Daisy’s Ageism in Blogdonia, part 230856.

fillyjonk at Shapely Prose is talking about clothing sizes and the need for designers to make clothing that fits women of all shapes and sizes.

Dispatches from Libraryland:

• I’m bringin’ sexy reference back – I really want someone to fill out the lyrics to this comic and make a video.

• McSweeney’s: Dispatches from a Public Librarian: The Librarian: A Twitter Story.
• On a more serious note, the Medical Library Association and the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries issued a joint statement [PDF] on journal publishing ethics, in light of recent events with JAMA, Elsevier, and the like. While acknowledging both that the issue deserves more in-depth discussion and the headaches of issuing a compelling joint statement with anybody, I’m kind of underwhelmed. It essentially says, “Look over there at what some other people have done.” It includes no real consequences from either the organizations or the membership (who control lots and lots of publication-buying dollars) for bad behavior.

The Tennessee Files:

• Birth, just not of humans. Yay!

• In Libraryland/TN crossover, the Harry Potter’s World exhibit is coming to Germantown. And the new UTC library is threatened by state budget cuts (which is considerably less fun than Harry Potter; see post from earlier this week about all the health/service things being cut).

Weekly News Round-Up

The CDC released updated Guidelines for Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in HIV-Infected Adults and Adolescents.

A relatively new journal I wasn’t aware of until this week: International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics

This type of thing is fascinating to me – an analysis of chat room questions on herpes from the American Social Health Association’s chat – they figure out what people had questions about, and could potentially use that to make providers more aware of the types of concerns, questions, and misinformation patients are carrying around – Common Questions about Herpes: Analysis of Chat-Room Transcripts (PDF)

From RH Reality Check, “People Who Are Refused Reproductive Health Care Can’t Always ‘Just Go Someplace Else!‘” (and this is one of their new Reader Diaries)

The Artfull Bras Project – “Quilters of South Carolina have created one-of-a-kind bras for Breast Cancer Awareness. he exhibit consists of fifty original works of art which are unique, entertaining, humorous, and beautiful to make the public aware of breast cancer, to memorialize those lost to the disease, and to honor survivors.”

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (commonly, SAMHSA) released a guide to getting through tough economic times, intended to provide “practical advice on how to deal with the effects financial difficulties can have on your physical and mental health.”

In the New York Times: Afghan Women Protest New Law on Home Life

Melissa at Shakesville has some things to say about what Sarah Palin said about abortion. In the comments, there’s a link to “The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion: When the Anti-Choice Choose.”

A new edition of the Tell It WOC Speak blog carnival is up, and Renee also has a bunch of interesting stuff in her weekly link round-up.

Via the aforementioned round-up, this piece in the Pasadena Weekly, Babies & Bibles, about what happened during a visit to a “crisis pregnancy center.”

The Tennessee files:
-Tennessee Schools Censor Gay Websites
-A story on suicide prevention at Fort Campbell: “So far this year, a Fort Campbell soldier is nearly three times more likely to die by his own hands than at war. Eleven Fort Campbell soldiers have killed themselves since January while three have died in Afghanistan.”
-”The Tennessee Valley Authority has asked a federal court to dismiss all lawsuits against the utility for a major coal ash spill in Kingston.”

From libraryland:
-Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch blog on favorite pop references to libraries and librarians
-This past week was National Library Week
-ALA released their list of most frequently challenged books and authors of 2008
-Christine posted something at Our Bodies Our Blog about my Library Journal Movers & Shakers nod this year, as well as on ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom director Judith Krug’s passing. As I said in the comments, I’m honored that C mentioned it and the OBOS folks keep me around. I’m also tremendously psyched to see librarians of all sorts mentioned in a non-librarian-focused place.

Nashville, TN: VMS Gay-Straight Alliance Health Fair Tomorrow (Sat Apr 18), Other Upcoming Events

Vanderbilt Medical School Gay-Straight Alliance Health Fair @ OutCentral
When: Sat Apr 18 10am – Sat Apr 18 2pm

Where: OutCentral, 1709 Church Street (http://www.outcentral.org/map)

Description:
A free health fair is offered to the Nashville community, and will include glucose screening, BMI/nutrition screening, HIV testing by Nashville Cares, stress reduction therapies, prostate/breast cancer information booth, domestic violence information booth, American Cancer Society information booth, STI testing by Metro Health, and blood pressure testing.

There are a bunch more events coming up soon, too, including:
-Keynote Lecture: The Epidemiology of Sexual Identity and Behavior – Mon, Apr 20
-Sex, Lies, and Medical Care: The Basics on LGBT Medical Concerns and Health Disparities – Tues, Apr 21
-Examination of the Transgender/Transsexual Patient: An Interactive Workshop – Thurs Apr 23 (lecture portion only is open to the public)
-Family Matters Panel: Protecting LGBT Families and Civil Unions – Fri Apr 24

Weekly News Round-Up

Don’t forget to nominate your Women’s Health Heroes!

April 13 on Fresh Air – “Michelle Goldberg discusses the politics, ideology and history of reproductive rights around the world.”

Lauredhel at Hoyden About town is asking for disability activism book recommendations, and received a number of suggestions in the comments.

RH Reality Check is launching what seems to be a community blog-type feature.

Lauren O at blogofchampions has some questions about that anti-gay marriage ad.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has The Bandana Project, “part of a national initiative to end workplace sexual violence against farmworker women.”

A number of folks on why date rape is not funny and why they will not be seeing movie Observe & Report. I usually dislike campaigns against movies from people who haven’t actually seen them, but having read several descriptions of the scene, I’m on board to not see it. Read Tiger Beatdown, The Nation, Change Happens, abyss2hope, Majikthise, Natalia Antonova, and Feministing. And there’s a Facebook group.

A really thoughtful post at SeeLight, On “Hapa” And Cultural Appropriation. I have to say, I was pretty excited to learn the word “hapa” and feel that maybe there was something I could use to describe myself (I already knew “haole” from childhood as an insult, via my Korean g’ma who grew up in Hawai’i). But as the author writes of “hapa” – “I don’t want to use the word anymore; its power is gone and its savor has soured for me.” You can be sure I won’t be looking for advice on what to call myself from Rep. Betty Brown, though.

MADRE has a petition about “Build[ing] a United Nations that really works for all women.”

The CDC has a new “Act Against AIDS” campaign, with accompanying “Nine and a Half Minutes” website (every 9.5 minutes apparently being how often someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV).

C has a neat post, The Drama of Medicine: How Shows Like “ER” Influence and Are Influenced by Public Health.

Events in Tennessee this week make me want to remind you of the Red Cross’s Safe and Well website.

From the CDC – Teen Birth Rates Up Slightly in 2007 for Second Consecutive Year. Also, April is STD Awareness Month.

Lissa at Shakesville wants to know why people are even still using the phrase “out-of-wedlock birth.” Mom’s Tinfoil Hat has a related post on how the stats on “out-of-wedlock” birth, especially among non-white women, have been misrepresented, and why race is over-emphasized in the reported as compared to issues of access to preventive services.

SitOrSquat is a toilet finder from Charmin. With ratings. Features people can enter when they submit a toilet include changing table (would like to see this entered for lots of men’s rooms!), handicap access, tampon vending, and condom vending.

Renee at Womanist Musings has a bunch more links.

The Tennessee Files:

• The Tennessean has information on how to help the Murfreesboro, TN tornado victims.
• Aunt B of Tiny Cat Pants on SJR127 issues, which would amend our state Constitution to say that nothing in it protects or secures the right to an abortion, “including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother.” Read that again. It specifies that there is no right to an abortion, even when necessary to save a woman’s life. B notes that a Rep who is an RN talked about her experiences when abortion was illegal, and how such legislation will never actually stop the procedure, and that Rep. Vince Dean essentially responded thusly: “According to Dean, if you have an abortion and it kills you, that’s a knowable and acceptable outcome to him and the people that vote for him.”
• Nashville’s Earth Day events by Team Green at Lightning 100 on Saturday, April 18 will include a safe medication collection and disposal service “to collect outdated or excess over-the-counter and prescription medications and dispose of them in an environmentally safe and secure manner.” They note that “At least 13 common drugs including antidepressants and antibiotics were found in the Tennessee River System, according to a study by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Ramifications include antibiotic resistance in humans and damage to aquatic life.”
• Added: The Secretary of State offers to pick up the tab for one part of the procedure necessary for the anti-choice to push through SJR127, at a cost of $20,000

From Libraryland:

• “Book Staxx,” the video winner the UMD Library Student Video Contest.
• Medlib’s Round, April 2009 – A medical librarians’ blog carnival, this time focused on medical evidence

Blog Round-Up

I’m taking it easy on blogging through the holidays, and the spouse just got Lich King, so don’t expect serious every day posting to resume until the new year. However, here are a few things to occupy your eyeballs.
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Today’s post at OBOS summarizes three recent studies, on abortion and mental health, attitudes toward breast cancer, and trends in c-section among women who have previously given birth vaginally.
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Also at Our Bodies Our Blog (the OBOS blog), Christine has action alerts on birth centers and HIV/AIDS. I missed World AIDS Day, but Christine has the goods on that as well.
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Big thanks to everybody (including David Rothman and my grad school advisor, Ellen Detlefsen) who sent me links to the Global Library of Women’s Medicine , a freely available online reference book on women’s health. GLOWM includes sections on gynecology, obstetrics, maternal/fetal medicine, gynecologic oncology, reproductive endocrinology, infertility, and genetics, and sexual health, with a number of chapters on more specific topics in each of these sections. Although it is intended for “medical professionals,” there may be some useful info for women in here as well. I haven’t spent enough time on the site yet, and I don’t think I would use this as my sole information source, but it may turn out to be a good resources.
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Brownfemipower has moved to flip flopping joy.
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Renee at Womanist Musings has a cool post on women in India standing up against abuses and for respect.
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Feministe is rounding up ways to spend your holiday dollars with feminist groups. I don’t know nearly as much about them as I should, but I will encourage you to check out Thistle Farms, which supports Magdalene House, a residential community in Tennessee for women who are recovering from drug abuse, prostitution, sexual abuse, and the like. Leave other suggestions in the comments.
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Amanda Palmer (of the Dresden Dolls) got in a fight with her label (Roadrunner) about their perception that her belly was not suitable in the video shot for “Leeds United” (from her solo album – watch the video at the link above). Reportedly, they thought she looked “fat” and therefore “uncommercial.” Okay: 1) Amanda looks hot in that video; 2) Even so, policing whether she is skinny enough to be seen making music is bullshit – I don’t think there’s any fat belly to be seen, but I don’t think you should have to meet some dudes’ idea of “thin” to be acceptable in a music video, either; 3) F’ you, Roadrunner. You’re the bastards who keep subjecting us to Nickelback. [hat tip to Shakesville]

Book Readin’ Round-Up

A few books I’ve read recently that you might be interested in:

And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts – No really, I was just getting to this one. As someone who was little when AIDS was being discovered and as the other events of Shilts’s work were happening, this was a fascinating read for me. Also a good illustration of how the public health decisions we make right now can dramatically affect the future.

Abortion & Life by Jennifer Baumgardner – Includes photos and “I had an abortion” stories from a number of women, including Ani Difranco. I probably shouldn’t have read it immediately after a number of heavy, well-detailed works, but I think this definitely has a place on the abortion bookshelf. The stories illustrate a variety of situations and choices.

Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex by Judith Levine – This book is a few years old, but still worth a read with regards to sex education policies. Levine asks why abstinence is inherently a good thing, discusses how our American approach to sex and sex ed may actually be harmful to our children, and just challenges assumptions about these topics in general.

Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs by Melody Peterson – I’m currently reading this one. In the paraphrased words of a reviewer on GoodReads, I thought I was sufficiently cynical about the pharmaceutical industry before I started reading this, only to find out that I was wrong – I wasn’t nearly cynical enough.

If you’re interested in what I’m reading (how’s that for self-absorbed?) on an ongoing basis, you can check out my GoodReads profile.

CDC Revises HIV Infection Estimates Considerably Upward

And by “considerably upward” I mean, “40%” for new infections in 2006. See OBOS today for more.

Paying Attention to HIV/AIDS Disparities

Today at OBOS, I have a post on the new report from the Black AIDS Institute on disparities in HIV/AIDS infection and our approach to it in America.