This may come as a shock to some of you, but I have a difficult time talking about sex.
[I will pause a moment while my friends, colleagues, and former students pick themselves up off the floor and recover from the raucous laughter that I’m sure they just engaged in.]
Okay. Let me clarify: I have a difficult time talking with my son about sex.
The Baby in the Double Helix
Part 1 in a series on genetic counseling What makes for a healthy baby? Is it an absence of something? […]
Sunday Morning Medicine
The history of the wandering womb.
Presidential courtships throughout history.
What day of the week are you most likely to die in a hospital’s care?
Graphing every idea in history.
The history of the exclamation point!
Maps!
New documentary explores death and the Civil War.
Parents eat more fat.
Pubic hair exists for a reason, according to science.
Paul Ryan? Really???
This morning Mitt Romney named Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate. Now, I find Paul Ryan objectionable in a number of ways – he has cited Ayn Rand as the “one person” who inspired his political career, for God’s sake, and never mind that she was a pro-choice atheist while he is an anti-choice Catholic – but we at Nursing Clio are particularly interested in issues of gender, sexuality, and medicine, and so I would like to take this opportunity to explain why Ryan poses a particular threat to women, gays, lesbians, and, well, anyone who cares at all about women, gays, and/or lesbians.
Adventures in the Archives: “Trust Me, You Won’t Feel a Thing”
Welcome to our new regular feature, “Adventures in the Archives!”
In this reoccurring series, Nursing Clio bloggers will share interesting finds in the archives and ask our readers for feedback, ideas, and analysis. It’s just like you’re sitting in the dusty archives with us!
Earlier this summer I was enjoying a productive day in the archives of the Dittrick Medical History Center in Cleveland, Ohio. After lunch, I decided to take a break from the materials I was focusing on (the institutional records of Women’s General Hospital, 1878-1984) and spend a little time skimming through an interesting journal titled “Record of Operations, Woman’s Hospital, September 1, 1920.” The volume looked like an old-fashioned hotel registration book. But the lines of each page were not filled with sloppy signatures and addresses. Instead, someone with very neat handwriting had been tasked with keeping a detailed accounting of every surgical procedure performed by the hospital’s staff.
See Sally Menstruate
It may come as no surprise that a few of us here at Nursing Clio are big, crazy Mad Men […]
Sunday Morning Medicine
Awesome Abe Lincoln.
Kids’ chemistry sets used to be way cooler (and way more dangerous)!
Revolutionary War tune found in the pages of a school boy’s math book.
Is the Komen Foundation misleading women?
The 1948 Olympics and the Flying Housewife.
Medical Muckraking .
“I’m Not a Feminist, But . . . I’m Taking This Class.”
I am currently teaching an upper-division undergraduate course on the history of women in the modern United States. Because I’ve been teaching for several years now, and because my courses have almost always included some kind of study of women and gender, I was not surprised when, during the very first class, one of my students raised her hand and began her response to one of my questions with that ubiquitous disclaimer: “I’m not a feminist, but . . .”
Domestic Violence Sells?
The media’s sexual objectification of women has come under increasing scrutiny, as well it should. But what about advertisements promoting consumer goods through domestic violence? Roughly every 9 seconds in the United States, a woman is assaulted or beaten. And we ask how can this be changed? Many professionals and women’s rights advocates have written on the subject to address the multifaceted problem of intimate partner violence (IPV), and the issue is complex with social, legal, political, and cultural, and factors. There is no quick fix. But, here’s an easy one to start with: maybe, just maybe, companies shouldn’t capitalize on ads advocating violence against women. The media is a powerful means of disseminating cultural values and ideas. Advertisements using domestic violence have long been used, which fuels social messages that essentially condone violence against women. It’s time to break the cycle.
Sunday Morning Medicine
A short history of unusual sex practices.
The long, strange journey of Eva Peron’s body.
Visual depictions of Sherlock Holmes throughout history.
Live pigeon shooting and other now defunct Olympic events.
A female condom fashion show.
A history of optical toys.