Blog # 9

Body weight is a major area of concern for many Americans. Not many men and women know what to believe about body weight because we are receiving countless mixed messages from the media, medical industry, food industry and much more. One industry will promote weight loss products whereas another will push products onto consumers that will produce weight gain. The public receives so many messages about body weight, yet none coincides with one another.
The problem with the clothing industry is that most pieces of stylish clothing are designed to fit a smaller person. In a department store, sizes basically range from small to large. There is no extra-extra large and so on. A person would need to go to a specialty store in order to find larger sizes. Having these incidences in the present time, people are indirectly influenced about cutting down their weight even though there is not much necessity of it.
With eating disorders on the rise today, the media plays an important role in affecting self-esteem, leading a large amount of young adults to develop eating disorders. Many adolescents see the overbearing thin celebrities and try to reach media's level of thinness and ideal body weight. "Sixty-nine of the girls reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of the perfect body shape" (Field). Not only is being thin associated with other positive characteristics such as, lovable, popular, beautiful, and sexy, but being overweight is connected with negative characteristics like fat, ugly, unpopular, and lazy. Therefore media is the distinct social pressure of operating to influence people to be thin and causing eating disorders.
It was fashionable to be fat throughout most of history. Obesity was attractive because it was considered to be a sign of wealth. Those who could obtain enough food to keep themselves and their family well fed were people with money. In the past century, however, food has been abundant in most of the developed nations, and thinness has become fashionable. Eating disorders have increased significantly over the past thirty years.
The two most common eating disorders include anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is a disease in which women become very self-conscious about their weight and have an intense fear of becoming fat. They go to such extremes as starving themselves in order to keep thin, and some use additional methods such as vomiting, taking excessive amounts of laxatives, or exercising profusely. Bulimia nervosa on the other hand is an eating disorder in which the patient eats large amounts of food in a short period of time, also known as binge eating. Media is a very important aspect of life in our culture. Around 95% of people own a television set and watch for around three to four hours per day (Herr). Each type of media has its own purpose, to entertain, persuade, and change.

Blog # 8

Exploring the views of menopause from a different cultural perspective.

In the United States broadly speaking, it is conventional to perceive psychological and social factors of menopause. Many women are victims of health care system where their symptoms regarding pre-menopause are not taken into consideration. In fact according to an article posted in Discovery health it was stated that, “had to deal with the negative consequences of the “it’s all in your head, dearie.” syndrome.” Consequently, in countries like Australia, a psychological syndrome doesn’t seem to be much detested. It is part of an integrated, or "multidimensional," approach to Woman's health care. This does not mean that the biological aspects of the transition should be ignored; the biological characteristics and phenomenon cannot be voluntarily eradicated from a woman’s total psychological and social well-being. Menopause across Cultures the type and prevalence of symptoms women exhibit during pre-menopause and menopause are often related to cultural background. For instance, the hot flash is the most common symptom of Western city dwellers; however, hot flashes are so uncommon in Japan that there is no Japanese word for it. Various hypotheses have been speculated from researched as to why Japanese women do not have hot flashes. One hypothesis is the Japanese diet, which is replenished with vegetables and soy which provides some measure of prevention. Another hypothesis is that Japan's cultural respect for older people makes the menopausal transition more comfortable for women; the menopausal woman, then, is moving into a place of honor, rather than being pushed aside into a place of invisibility as frequently occurs in Western youth-oriented cultures. Research has found that when women hold roles that they consider important, they have fewer symptoms of menopause. This latter hypothesis might look good at first glance, but it is not the case, as claimed widely over the Internet, that Japanese women have no symptoms of menopause. Their symptoms are merely different. Woman's fears and concerns about menopause also vary by culture. Muslim Arab women fear a loss of their spouses' sexual interest when they can no longer have children. Near Eastern Jews worry about a loss of physical health; European women worry about their mental health. American women fear losing control of their emotions and becoming emotional wrecks. Regardless of culture and country of origin, all women the world over will experience menopause should they live to that point in their lives. It is interesting to consider the differences in menopausal symptoms, and to glean information from the research that might help any woman manage this transition in a life-affirming way.

References: Vanda, Dr. (2008 , September 10). Woman's health center.

Blog # 7

A must read article:  Mortality Related to Sexually Transmitted Diseases in US Women, 1973 through 1992.

Authors: Ebrahim, Shahul H.

   Peterman, Thomas H.

  `            Zaidi, Akbar A.

   Kamb, Mary L.

Sexually transmitted disease seems to remain uncontrolled although millions of cases occur annually in the United States. The advent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which is also a sexually transmitted disease, has not altered this situation. The major portion of federal funding for sexually transmitted diseases is allocated to a search for an AIDS vaccine or cure. State health department funding for sexually transmitted diseases, although only a small fraction of the $1.3 billion AIDS research budget of the National Institutes of Health, is largely consumed by AIDS. A single adequately funded sexually transmitted disease control program that applies well-established public health principles for the control of communicable diseases would make sense. However, a consensus to develop and support such a program does not seem to exist in the United States.

A case-control study was performed in the year 1997, in order to assess risk factors for repeated sexually transmitted diseases. The study consisted of 101 patients who had had sexually transmitted diseases 3 or more times during their lives and 182 people who had no history of sexually transmitted diseases at all. The subjects all attended the City Department for Skin and Venereal Diseases in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, from June 1997 to April 1998. And as a result according to multivariate logistic regression analysis, sexually transmitted diseases repeaters, in comparison with the controls (the ones who didn’t have std), were older, more frequently divorced and widowed and without a regular partner, had more sexual partners and more sexual intercourse, and had more frequent sexual contact with people on the same day as meeting them. They also consumed alcohol, used sedatives and were prosecuted for criminal offences more frequently than the controls. The results of this study support the hypothesis that sexually transmitted diseases repeaters are different from their controls in terms of their behavioral and social characteristics.

Source: American Journal of Public Health;Jun97, Vol. 87 Issue 6, p938-944, 7p, 2 charts, 2 graphs

Should Pre-natal testing be a must?

In your opinion, why should prenatal testing be routine for all pregnant women? Please be very specific and provide examples.

First of all, an overview of what prenatal diagnosis is: In layman’s term,” Prenatal diagnosis” is a way of checking how the fetus is doing and if it has any problems. Years ago it was impossible to determine if your unborn baby would have any physical, mental or genetic condition. At that time parents could do nothing more then just wait for the end of pregnancy to see how their baby would be and what gender it would be. Technology has gone forward since that time and now there is a vast possibility for parents to know before hand any conditions that the child might have. However having this “weapon” in their hands does it mean that the parents should use it?
These methods test for diseases or other conditions such as gender. The main reason of its usage is because of birth defects and genetic diseases that might be very hard or impossible to cure and might even leave the newborn in a very difficult position for the rest of its life. On the other hand with regards to the respecting the ethics of technology and medicine, procedures like this should take place. The rate of increase of disease, with time has enhanced technology to build up means in order to protect the upcoming generation from being infected. If technology takes its stand for “preservation”, then, there would not be any chances of me stepping back from that decision.

I have heard and read a lot about Eugenics which is a social philosophy which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through various interventions. The goals have been to create healthier, more intelligent people, lessen human suffering and save society's resources. With relating to theories (which always sound optimistic and more improvising), majority of highly educated observers criticized that it was immoral and was based on or was a pseudoscience. Similar to eugenics, I believe that technology which was simple used to only detect the disease of the fetus has now taken an intervention to depleting the life in the womb, just for simple causes. Presently, prenatal diagnosis has been used as a justification for coercive state-sponsored discrimination and severe human rights violations, such as forced sterilization (e.g. of those perceived to have mental or social defects) and even genocide.

"A Matter of Dignity: Changing the World of the Disabled" is a wonderful book written by Andrew Potok. I would highly recommend you to read it.

She states, "I dislike prenatal diagnosis because disability is only one characteristic of a person's life, infant or not (169)." Although I agree with her, I still believe that this characteristic is time consuming, costly and emotionally draining and because of which many couples simply cannot take on the burden. I believe prenatal testing and diagnosis should continue to be used in order to help parents make an informed decision about their future.

In what ways could someone's culture, beliefs and practices influence contraceptive decision making? Provide thorough examples based on some of your readings and your own personal experiences. What were the beliefs about birth control/contraception within your own home and family?

The use of contraception was never as widely proclaimed and exhibited as it is now. The use of contraception has become a main-stream, that it is now "normal" for even teens to use these contraceptives. Schools promote the use of this once taboo practice of artificial birth control, and partake in the distribution of condoms amongst students. This is a clear example of how modern society and its practices can change the way people act morally and physically. It is indeed true, that culture, practice and traditions are subject to change. The practice of contraceptives 20-30 years ago was barely there and along with time we can see that use of it has practically influenced the society. Even though the practice has changed, there are still some chances seen with regard to the prohibition of the use of contraception.

Primarily, there are many Catholics who use contraceptives instead of family planning. This is not accepted by the Catholic Church, and is considered to be wrong. Catholics believe that sexual intercourse is a gift that was given to this earth by God, only to reproduce. This belief is clearly over looked by many people today, not only Catholics. Sex is used a tool for pleasure and to fulfill sexual desire by definition from a sex therapist. This indeed is a belief in modern places but in places with a conservative background, contraception is still prohibited. An individual's position on contraception can be influenced by many factors including cultural background, religious beliefs, and political positions. Each person makes their own decision, and is often passionate on their position feeling that their position is the only right one.

Cultural stances on contraceptive method of birth control issue vary greatly among the many peoples of the world. Many cultures out of which, the Navajo Indians are open minded about the methods used in contraception on the other hand there are many native Africans who belief that contraception is only a way to for a generation to weaken the culture and kill the future offspring. Besides religion, the factor that prohibits the use of contraception is unawareness. Educating and providing necessary supplies of contraceptive materials to remote un-educated, unaware localities could facilitate in the increase in the use of contraception and the reduction in the increasing population.