By Jacqueline Antonovich
-Vagina panties!
-Understanding the placenta.
-Ebay: the forgotten archive?
-The history of the “bikini body.”
-The return of “crack baby” hysteria.
-12 vintage pictures of farm stands.
On the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough?: Interpreting Mental Illness
By Mary Elene Wood
A highway patrol officer straddles a woman who lies on her back by the side of a highway. His arm lifts high into the air, then, with what looks like substantial force, he strikes her in the face with his clenched fist. He does this over and over again. Early in July, news programs around the country quickly spread the story of a California Highway Patrol officer caught on videotape violently beating Marlene Pinnock, a 51-year-old homeless, presumably mentally ill, woman, along the side of a freeway in Los Angeles. The California Highway Patrol claimed that the officer was only trying to stop the woman from walking out into traffic, yet journalists across the U.S. decried, in one writer’s words, “the lack of training given to law enforcement officers to handle such people, even though officers all too often are society’s frontline mental health care providers.”
If You’re Not My Kid, Please Don’t Call Me “Mom”
By Lara Freidenfelds
The dentist peered in my child’s mouth, then turned to me. “Hey, Mom, you did a good job, no cavities!” I brought my kids for a check-up recently, and our wonderful pediatric dentist warmly complemented me. But why on earth did he call me that? And why did it irk me?
Desertion, Martial Manhood, and Mental Illness: The Case of Sgt. Bergdahl
By Sarah Handley Cousins
Several months ago, when I submitted my first blog post for Nursing Clio, I included a short section about Civil War veterans who had lost their right to a pension because they had deserted the army during the war. But after discussing it with our editors, I decided to remove the section – after all, we thought, desertion isn’t really a current issue, right? I was more than a little surprised when, a few months later, the topic of military desertion became headline news.
Sunday Morning Medicine
By Jacqueline Antonovich
-The return of rickets.
-The evolution of death.
-50 essential feminist films.
-The Edwardian Eugenics Society.
-Victorian England’s Cannibal Club.
-50 years of motherhoood in photos.
Paranoia on the Border: Immigration and Public Health
Like others, I find the growing humanitarian crisis in Texas deeply troubling. The number of minors making this dangerous journey […]
Marvel’s Fleeting Feminism
by Tony Lewis
The recent announcement of a new creative team for the comic book series Wonder Woman has stirred up some controversy, stemming mainly from an interview in which the artist, David Finch, proved wary of the term “feminist.” His hesitance clearly alarmed people who value the character’s status as an icon of feminism, especially as it came on the heels of Stevie St. John’s article in the Summer 2014 issue of Bitch Magazine that explained how the series’ current creators have undermined the feminist aspects of Wonder Woman’s mythology. What has received less attention is the fact that DC Comics has handed its 75-year-old franchise to Finch’s wife, Meredith, a writer who has very little experience working in comics. But, as we shall see, this situation has a historical precedent.
Sunday Morning Medicine
By Jacqueline Antonovich
-The historical novel turns 200.
-How coffee fueled the Civil War.
-The invention of the heterosexual.
-The tragic and heroic women of WWI.
-World’s oldest erotic graffiti unearthed.
-Brides, booze, and mid-century pulp fiction.
Excommunicating Feminism in the Mormon Church
On June 8, 2014, Kate Kelly received a letter from her bishop telling her that she could be excommunicated from […]
A History of Neglect
By Adam Turner
Since as far back as the American Revolution, politicians and the public have welcomed soldiers home from war with promises of cutting edge medical knowledge, comprehensive rehabilitation, and ongoing care as compensation for their service. Just as often, though, these promises have gone unfulfilled in the face of their enormous expense. The history of the veteran’s health system thus has been one of best intentions and poor funding.
