colorful bras and pants hanging together

“My, What Healthy Breasts You Have!” (said no one, ever)

By Carolyn Herbst Lewis

This past May, I attended the annual meeting of the Western Association of Women Historians, which is one of my favorite history conferences (I’m pretty sure there is no other history organization that concludes its awards banquet with a sing-a-long). Usually I hate to miss any of the sessions. But this year, I snuck off with Cheryl Lemus and another historian (I’ll call her L) to do a little “mentoring” in the shops of Berkeley. This isn’t totally facetious, as we were on a mission: to find me a properly fitted sports bra. I had started running a few months earlier, and while I had great shoes and a snazzy outfit, certain other areas of my anatomy were feeling less well-equipped. Cheryl and L are seasoned runners, and they were appalled by my bounce. So, we headed to the only place where any self-respecting women’s historian would go for such things: Title IX Sports.

Adolescents, ACOG, and LARCs: Coercion or Choice?

By Heather Munro Prescott

via re: Cycling, where Laura Werschler expresses her disgust with “drug and device based birth control and its zealots.” According to Werschler, “birth control in the U.S. has become synonymous with drugs and devices. The pill, patch, or ring; Depo-Provera or hormonal implant; copper IUD or Mirena IUD; traditional hormonal birth control or long-acting reversible contraceptives. All impact the function of the menstrual cycle; some suppress it completely. As a pro-choice menstrual cycle advocate I take issue with the fact that keeping your cycle and contracepting effectively are now considered mutually exclusive.”

Sunday Morning Medicine

By Jacqueline Antonovich

-A new reality show will shame women who had abortions.
-Where are all the female geniuses?
-7 ways women are sexualized, stereotyped, or underrepresented in media.
-A history of disability.
-Can Viagra make better athletes?
-A small Colorado town’s big role in shaping the National Mall.

Sunday Morning Medicine

By Jacqueline Antonovich

-The weirdest claims made by “Designer Vagina” websites.
-Civil War underwear.
-Japanese-American internee letters found hidden in wall.
-The historian’s curse.
-New study shows disabled parents often lose custody of their children.
-Girls in juvenile detention face health care issues.
-Is neuroscience under attack?

Still That Kind of Girl: Teens, Sex, and Contraception

By Carolyn Herbst Lewis

My sophomore year of high school, the French teacher taught my English literature class. At some point in the semester we had to give a five minute persuasive speech on any topic of our choosing. Mine was “Why There Should Be Condom Dispensers in the School Bathrooms.” I do not remember the response of my classmates, but I will never forget what my teacher said, even before I had reached my seat: “Caroleeen, I had no idea you were that kind of girl.”In my mind, I flipped him off. In actuality, I just sat down.

Sunday Morning Medicine

By Jacqueline Antonovich

-What age you begin menstruation may have future health implications.
-The not-so-happy history behind your Black Friday shopping tradition.
-Teenage boys and body image.
-The most awesome kitchen computer from 1969.
-10 NYC street corners – then and now.
-Stalin’s daughter and the FBI.

Sunday Morning Medicine

By Jacqueline Antonovich

-Strangest modern-day menstruation myths.
-Is neuroscience helping vegetative patients communicate with their doctors?
-The history behing the father of the modern cigarette.
-Eugenics and Nikola Tesla.
-How not to run a secure archive.
-Recording of Lee Atwater’s infamous 1981 interview released for the first time.
-Is your illness named after a Nazi?

What Does Responsibility Have to Do with Reproduction?

By Adam Turner

Genetic counseling, as the previous two posts in this series suggest, has a lot to offer for navigating the tricky decisions things like prenatal testing and preimplantation genetic diagnosis raise. Well, in this post I’d like to make things a little more complicated. Enter the sheer messiness of history. I still believe genetic counseling is the best approach we have right now for helping prospective parents with hard choices, but it has a complicated — and not so distant — past that continues to shape counselors’ ways of interacting with clients.

Sunday Morning Medicine

By Jacqueline Antonovich

-Mick Jagger’s love letters up for sale.
-Does a court have the power to order an abortion?
-New risks for women who suffer from depression during pregnancy.
-A 64-year-long project to memorialize Crazy Horse.
-Abandoned suitcases of insame asylum patients.
-Just for laughs – US Presidents in mom jeans.

Sunday Morning Medicine