The silent death; does it need a less invasive test?

Saturday 2nd May, 2009 in Health, Media Personality, sex by andieberry | No comments

The silent death is cervical cancer. I knew a little about cervical cancer, skipped appointments for the screening because its embarrassing and uncomfortable and occasionally when I did turn up got the ‘abnormal’ diagnosis. I had the abnormal diagnosis three times ,dutifully turned up at the hospital, had an electrode strapped to my thigh in order to power the electric cheese wire that sliced off the abnormal white spots in my cervix. Was I scared?  No- in fact I got quite blase about it- after all I’m young , healthy and I’ve had kids (some doctors I saw when I was younger, claimed that most ‘womens’ problems disappear after having kids!). Then came Jade Goody.

Has Jade Goody done for cervical cancer what Kylie Minogue did for breast cancer? The signs look good-  an average figure for more women going for smear tests is 40%,  so the short life of Goody was not in vain. What is never discussed in the media is one of the real reasons behind why women don’t go for smear tests. Women have that discussion- its embarrasing , sometimes it hurts, you worry about what the doctor or nurse thinks about your pubic hair, does your vagina look ‘normal’? Does it have a funny smell?

Ultimately its the invasision of privacy-  knickers off , lie on the bed and open your legs to ,sometimes, a complete stranger, and then have a cold instrument inserted in order to take a sample of cells. Ok prevention is better than a cure and early detection is crucial, but in these days of stem cell research , the mode of injecting medicine through the pores rather than injection and keyhole hysterectomies is there any possibility of a non invasive way of detecting cervical cancer?

Gift wrapped sex?

Sunday 26th April, 2009 in Media, Popular Culture, gender, sex by andieberry | No comments

Reading this article today, I sometimes find it hard to believe I live in the 21st century. Yet again, it’s an example of the commodification of sex, in the boundaries of a sexual relationship. This time as a ‘gift’,  rather than a bargaining chip orrevenge tactic .

“Hmm, what can I get my partner for their birthday?  Oh!  I know-  sex everyday for the next year !” When sex is gift wrapped, it is implied that it is paid for, made attractive and, ultimately,  only for the enjoyment of the recipient. Any comparisons between prostitution and the gift of sex is obvious. We all know that sex is important, but it is in fact,  a physical and emotional exchange between consenting adults and not something on a ‘to do’  list.

We all lead busy lives- there’s work , mundane day to day stuff to do and so on.  Should sex be seen as a item on a list to tick off ? I say no. On hearing experinces of couples trying to concieve they often say having sex to order, made sex just an act, a means to an end. Men and women often say they’d like more sex,  but is it because that is what the media portrays to us ?  If we aren’t having great sex and lots of it we are obvious inadequate and unattractive.  Is this why this woman decided to give her husband the gift of sex?

Nerd news

Sunday 26th April, 2009 in Nerd News by andieberry | No comments

A bit of well deserved Microsoft bashing, to begin with a snippet about the end of technical support from Microsoft for Windows XP. What gets my goat about Microsoft, is that because of big software companies like Microsoft and its counterpart Apple, there  is a digital divide being  created by these companies-  not only because of the prices of software, but the way that Microsoft is basically forcing consumers into buying upgrades they may not want or need.

So if  people power prevails  in the sense that consumers refuse to be told what to buy in order to get technical support, is this story about the demise of Microsoft from a near future perspective a real possibility?

French power company takes on the pesky folk at Greenpeace, proving that ‘ hacktivism’ can be used for evil as well as good.In these times of protest and technology are the hackers for hire really without the basic ethics? Or are the security forces fighting firewall with firewall?

We’ve heard of the soccer moms and the supermoms,  now meet the eco-moms! Make your own washing powder and unplug that washing machine when not in use Ladies! I applaud the sentiments behind this movement but is it just another fashionable fad for the all american mom?

Apologies

Friday 17th April, 2009 in Uncategorized by Suzi | No comments

I have to apologise that the blog has been quiet in the past few weeks. There are a number of reasons- two of the team have been on holiday, and I have been having some health problems which have caused me some fairly significant levels of pain and exhaustion. Hopefully things are now back under control, and the blog will be running more smoothly again.

Life changing photos

Friday 17th April, 2009 in Civil Liberties, Media, Politics, Protests by andieberry | No comments

I recently saw this photo- it’s from a friend of a friend of a friend, from a face book account. This photo made me mad, made me think, made me analyse what else the photo does represent to me. Ok, its not a picture of the moon landing, the first image of earth from the moon or the mushroom cloud of Hiroshima, but I feel it’s just as important.

At first we can clearly see that it is taken at a protest . You, dear reader, may have even been there. You may even be one of the individuals in the photo. Even if you are not, in another time and place, it could be you. Your fellow protesters all around you clashing and being penned in by the police, you look forward and a police officer grabs you by the throat in order to restrain you! What have you done ? Exercised your civil and human right to protest? Or, have you identified yourself as a threat to national security, because you have chosen to exercise that precise right?

The image  speaks volumes to me about civil liberties, feminism and class struggle. It conveys to me that there are individuals that will come together in order to stand up for a cause. It also tells me that no matter how big the group is, how just the cause is, the authorities (or oppressors) will always be there to grab the idealists by the neck in order to suppress them. That said it doesn’t make me want to give up protesting , blogging , and airing my views. It makes me feel mad that protests have to be approved by the authorities, and that the same authorities, then use illegal and unjustifiable actions in the form of “kettling” and violence in order to restrain the very protest they approved.

According to Noam Chomsky, “power is illegitimate unless proof of legitimacy can be found”. In the case of the photo, the police are an institution of the state. That fact gives this institution the right to  police citizens of the state legitimately, but how far should the police be able to go in enforcing the laws of the land?  When did violence and the containment of citizens exercising their legitimate rights,   become acceptable actions the state could take against its own citizens? Pictures like this make clear that the authorities should always be questioned and observed, just as much as the authorities question and observe us.

This is my life changing photo , whats yours?

Squee and Apologies

Wednesday 1st April, 2009 in Blog News by Suzi | No comments

Things may be a leeeetle quiet here, as I’m guest blogging over at The F Word for the rest of the month. I will still be blogging here along with Andie and Matt. As we are all on our Easter Holidays however, things may get a little quiet!!

Coming soon………. my response to a recent channel 4 programme (once I’ve stopped being cross!)

“Call it what it is” Petition

Monday 30th March, 2009 in Education, Media, Politics, Popular Culture by Suzi | No comments

Sue Moss, the Domestic Violence Coordinator from Bucks County Council has started a petition to ask that media companies report incidences of murder by partners as Domestic Violence, instead of ‘normal’ murder. I think this is a fantastic idea, in recognizing the levels of violence against women, and the numbers of women who are murdered by their partner in DV situations.

If you are interested in  signing the petition please go here and do so.

Autonomy, mental illness, and the stories of others.

Thursday 26th March, 2009 in Health by Suzi | No comments

Here is a story you all must go and read immediately. Like, right now, immediately. Go on, I’m going nowhere, I’ll wait.

I could have written about two thirds of that myself. Except for the bit about not ‘complying’ with treatment because I always take my meds when I’m on them, and I always go see my Doctor exactly when he says I should.  It’s interesting for me, to see someone else’s view of living in a depressed/depressive state. Other people will (and frequently do) tell me that my world isn’t ‘real’. It is. To me- because that is how I live.

We all have our own subjective reality. In my reality running is a torturous experience, no longer something joyful- two spinal conditions and some hefty asthma have removed the fun I once had from running. For my dear friend D, running is an amazing experience, a chance to ignore the world and participate in something almost spiritual. Both our experiences are real, both are valid.

A reality of living with mental illness is that people will question your reality. This questioning is an attack on ones autonomy- if I am not experiencing the real world, how can I make real decisions? There is an assumption that if you have a mental illness you cannot function in the world, that somehow you are not ’safe’. For some people, this is true. Some individuals living with mental illnesses are unable to cope with the demands that ‘normal’ live places upon them. I’d argue that as many ‘normal’ people are just as unable to cope. For every individual who manges their condition, knows their triggers, has a system to deal with unepected episodes, there are ten ‘normal’ people saying hurtful things, and denigrating that persons ability to function. They all have an anecdote ‘oh well this crazy woman who had depression….’, they all have ‘advice’  ‘oh well I hear yoga works’, they all have sudden instant medical knowledge ‘ oh well depression doesn’t exist, it’ s all in your head’.

What these people are doing is undermining the right of a person to live and manage their illness in their way. They are refusing to acknowledge the validity of another persons reality, the validity of another individuals choices.  They are deciding once again, that we must all conform to an invisible, and, ever shifting standard of ‘normal’.

This post isn’t particularly ‘feminist’. Mental illness affects anyone regardless of age, sex, gender, race, creed, social standing- mental illness is fairly non discriminatory. It’s more of a note, to myself and others, to remember not to remove the autonomy of others, and to remember that we are all different, we all struggle in our own ways, and we all deserve to have our realities recognized and validated, regardless of the state of our mental health.

More MWR Goodness

Thursday 19th March, 2009 in Million Women Rise, News, Politics, Protests, Technology by Suzi | No comments

We are lucky enough to be able to host some amazing photos of Million Women Rise, taken by the very talented Rowan Fulton (who is also very lovely). Do enjoy the photos, and do also please consider writing to the major newspapers, who once again completely failed to highlight Million Women Rise. Whilst this does mean we get to host some excellent photos, I would much rather be seeing them in the paper, highlighting our cause!

All photos are Copyright of Rowan Fulton, Photographer

Freddie Starr ate my hamster and other bullshit.

Saturday 14th March, 2009 in Media Personality, Parenting, Technology, Uncategorized, feminism, gender, sex by andieberry | No comments

Browsing the net tonight I found two articles that caught my eye , over on Feministing ,about a lesbian being chased off and effectively banned from x-box live and the other over on the F-word about female I.T workers quitting their jobs because of the industry’s sexism.

To be honest , at first, I thought the headline `Lesbian banned from X-box live!` was a headline straight out of  The Sun in the `Freddie Starr ate my hamster` mould. It was absolutely ridiculous and laughed until I checked  out the whole article. I started to think about the last x-box game I completed (Fable II ), its a role playing game with fighting,magic and relies on interpersonal responses with the game virtual characters in order to fully assess renown.

Did it matter if I was a male or female character? A main unlock achievement in the game is to get married and was it a problem if I chose a member of the same sex? No .So sexuality equality is creeping into some games these days ,so why does it matter if you express your sexuality or just simply experiment? Its the old chestnut `just think about the children!` panic , in other terms ‘I don’t want to explain why some people have different sexualities , it makes me uncomfortable’.

That comment pointed to me over to the furor over a disabled woman presenting kids TV. A women with one able arm is presenting toddler t.v . So what?  most of the rational thinking population may think,but no, during a Radio 2 talk show a listener rang in and complained that this woman would give his kids nightmares. Well Mr phone man ,my kids are 3 and 4 and they didn’t bat an eyelid or comment on it!

Back to the game…upon completing the game I was shown the credits.  How many female programmers were credited? Two ,that’s right two. Out of thirty five! WTF! Why is that I thought to myself? Maybe I’m being naive here but I thought we lived in 2009 , and that technology and jobs within the tech industry were  about merit and not about gender. I’m wrong according to the excellent article over on The F-word. Sexism is rife in the I.T industry , apparently us ‘girls’ should stick to low paying call center jobs and making the tea at gaming studios.

I have now made a conscious decision to learn programming , I’m kind of into finding out what my p.c can do and regular readers know that I’m an advocate of open source software, and I like messing around with Linux operating system.

I used to work in pubs , I know that most men are socialized in a sexist manner but I thought that on-line we as women could be what we wanted to be , be it androgynous, lesbian, bisexual or a spider plankton from Mars. Who cares as long as you find  liberty and kinship which under pins the whole ethic of the World Wide Web or even the supposed male dominated Hacker world :-

“Hackers should be judged by their hacking , not bogus criteria such as degrees,age,race or position”.(Levy,S.Hackers(1994)Penguin.New York.

« Older entries § Newer entries »