July 2013 – Nursing Clio

Added on July 30, 2013 Personal Essay

Sex in the Nursing Home

By Elizabeth Reis

Last week Bloomberg News published a two-part story about sex in nursing homes, which has sparked an interesting conversation among ethicists: Should the elderly living in a residential facility, particularly those suffering from dementia, be forbidden to have sex with other residents? The possibility of banning sex is controversial, as it is at odds with the fact that residents are not inmates under confinement, without basic rights and freedoms. As Americans are living longer lives, often spending their final years in nursing homes, we need to address their well-being and quality of life.

Added on July 29, 2013 Personal Essay

Zombie Feminism

By Andrea Lowgren

The news media love to ask the question: is feminism dead? A quick google search finds literally millions of hits for the phrase. Yet despite the supposed death of feminism, gender equality has become strangely mainstream even while misogyny continues. Today’s sexism is sneaky AND overt; while violence against women continues and people ask female presidential candidates for cookie recipes, one is also hard-pressed to find someone respectable who will go on record arguing that women should not be given equal pay or have the right to run for office. Honestly, feminism has an image problem. Though many people agree with its tenets, relatively few embrace the label and the identity. The conservative Washington Times recently reported that “among women, 38 percent consider themselves feminists.”

Added on July 28, 2013 Sunday Morning Medicine

Sunday Morning Medicine

By Jacqueline Antonovich

-How midwives became critical in war zones.
-California’s dark eugenic past.
-Black New York and the Draft Riots.
-The many faces of “King George.”
-Medicine, museums, and unicorns.

Added on July 26, 2013 Personal Essay

Dear Kate Middleton

By Cheryl Lemus

Dear Kate Middleton,

Congratulations on the birth of your beautiful and healthy baby boy, George Alexander Louis! It really is a joy to wake up after you give birth and realize that you are a mother. However, it also a bit disconcerting to walk to the bathroom afterward (or waddle, like I did), and look at the mirror, and say “Holy crap I look like hell!” Yeah birth is awesome, and it sucks all at the same time because your body goes through this change afterward that no one ever tells you about, not even your mother or friends who have gone through the same experience.

Added on July 25, 2013 Historical essay

Suicide Is Not Beautiful

In 1963, Sylvia Plath stuck her head in an oven, turned on the gas, and committed suicide as her children […]

Added on July 23, 2013 News

Let’s Talk About Gene Therapy

By Elizabeth Reis

It is exciting to read about promising new gene therapies that might make living with various disabilities easier or even render them extinct. Researchers at University of Massachusetts Medical School are working on a way to “turn off” the extra chromosome found in people with Down syndrome. If the gene therapy works as they hope, turning off the chromosome would mitigate some of the effects of Down’s. So far this possibility has only been glimmered in a laboratory dish, but ultimately the goal would be to turn off the extra chromosome prenatally, so that the brain would form without developmental and intellectual encumbrances.

Added on July 21, 2013 Sunday Morning Medicine

Sunday Morning Medicine

By Jacqueline Antonovich

-Kosher lube is a thing now!
-Excellent salad advice from 1699.
-Disability activism through beer?
-The female fighter pilots of WWII.
-How depression went mainstream.
-How a wife should undress, circa 1930s.
-The delightful history of paper dolls.
-The summer of ’69 in New York City.

Added on July 19, 2013 Historical essay

Sterilization is Not the Solution

This is the second in a two-part series responding to a recent report by The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) […]

Added on July 18, 2013 Historical essay

Eugenics: It’s Good for You!

A recent report from the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) disclosed that physicians, under contract with the California Department of […]

Hands holding a paper with colorful hand-written slogan: stop sexual harassment

Added on July 16, 2013 Historical essay

Who has your Back? Harassment on our Streets

By Helen McBride

Last week the British newspaper, The Guardian, reported on a young woman named Jinan Younis, who started a feminist society in her high school in response to a personal experience of street harassment. By rightfully acknowledging how this harassment was part of a wider culture of sexism, she was determined to do something about it: “After returning from this school trip I started to notice how much the girls at my school suffer because of the pressures associated with our gender. Many of the girls have eating disorders, some have had peers heavily pressure them into sexual acts, others suffer in emotionally abusive relationships where they are constantly told they are worthless.” This quote is horrifying.

Nursing Clio

Sex in the Nursing Home

Zombie Feminism

Sunday Morning Medicine

Dear Kate Middleton

Suicide Is Not Beautiful

Let’s Talk About Gene Therapy

Sunday Morning Medicine

Sterilization is Not the Solution

Eugenics: It’s Good for You!

Who has your Back? Harassment on our Streets

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