Read Our Bodies, Ourselves Online
Authors: Boston Women's Health Book Collective
vitamin K,
530
Vitex agnus-castus
(chasteberry),
24
Vogue
,
64
voluntary motherhood,
205
volunteers,
579
Volunteers of America,
568
emergency contraception and,
253
von Willebrand disease (VWD),
26
,
611
,
613
â14
infections and,
186
orgasm and,
168
vulvitis,
634
â35
vulvodynia,
33
,
187
â88,
635
â36
W4W BUZZ,
51
Wade, Lisa,
51
waking (basal body) temperature,
27
,
29
Walt Disney Corporation,
64
,
120
,
121
water immersion,
413
WE ACT for Environmental Justice,
754
websites:
for birth control,
217
body image and,
65
doctor interactive,
567
for health information,
559
health insurance and,
654
infertility,
481
for new mothers,
454
rating hospitals and providers,
367
for research on perimenopause and menopause,
543
for sexuality and sexual pleasure,
167
for STIs,
275
for transsexuals,
80
on women's health,
664
weight:
body image and,
64
â70,
116
,
117
â18
discrimination based on,
67
â68,
70
,
92
,
94
fertility and,
479
gynecological exam and,
42
â43
of males,
116
weight-bearing exercise,
523
,
528
Weitz, Rose,
71
well-being,
70
,
447
â50,
578
,
780
â88
Wellbutrin,
188
West Harlem Environmental Action,
754
“What to Do If Someone You Care About Has Been Raped,”
707
White House Council on Women and Girls,
581
access to health care of,
680
disparities in health of,
761
â64,
767
in perimenopause and menopause,
509
violence against,
699
Wicca,
151
wide excision (partial mastectomy),
602
Williams, Tonya,
814
Williams, Vanessa,
50
Williamson, Heidi,
814
Wilson, Jamia,
819
Wilson, Robert,
536
n
Wilson's disease,
240
Wisconsin Stillbirth Service Program,
470
witch hazel pads,
433
withdrawal (pulling out; coitus interruptus),
246
â47,
255
woman and family-centered medical home (WFCMH),
658
Womansage,
577
Women, Action & the Media (WAM!),
818
Women and Gender Equity Knowledge Network,
777
Women and the Crisis in Sex Hormones
(Seaman),
536
Women and Their Bodies,
12
â13
Women for Empowerment Development and Gender Reform (WEDGR),
526
â27,
797
â98,
797
women of color,
60
,
66
,
281
,
542
,
555
,
813
â15
access to health care of,
680
cervical cancer in,
617
disparities in health of,
761
â63
environmental toxins and,
746
pregnancy of,
764
violence against,
693
â96
see also specific groups
Women's Funding Network,
822
Women's Health and the Environment,
753
Women's Health Initiative (WHI),
80
,
87
,
515
,
518
,
522
,
523
HT study of,
531
,
535
â40,
542
,
545
,
595
,
596
,
668
Women's Health Initiative in Bulgaria (WHIBG),
492
â93
Women's Health Matters,
664
Women's Health Promotion Center,
718
Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER),
568
Women's Intervention Nutrition Study (WINS),
596
Women's Media Center (WMC),
775
,
811
â12,
818
,
819
Women's Refugee Commission,
790
Women's Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC),
824
,
824
Women's Sexualities
(Ellison),
565
Women's Voices for the Earth,
753
Women Watch,
780
Woolf, Virginia,
119
Worcester (Mass.) Healty Start Initiative,
452
work,
see
jobs and work
workers rights, organizing for,
751
action strategies in,
748
creating change in,
749
â51
in foreign countries,
746
precautions for pregnant women in,
748
â49
World Conference on Women (1995),
781
World Health Organization (WHO),
321
,
506
n
,
528
,
531
,
646
,
692
,
789
,
795
,
823
World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH),
81
Wyeth-Ayerst,
537
Xeloda,
228
Yayasan Kesehatan Perempuan (YKP; Women's Health Foundation),
822
â23
Year After Childbirth, The
(Kitzinger),
452
yeast infections,
186
,
278
,
294
,
624
,
635
,
637
â39,
642
antibiotics and,
623
diagnosis of,
638
HIV and,
304
lubricants and,
178
oral,
304
self-help for,
638
â39
Yes Means Yes
(book),
145
,
163
â64,
703
,
709
“yes means yes” slogan,
163
yoga,
305
,
497
,
523
,
528
â29,
556
,
609
,
647
Yoplait,
821
Young, Courtney,
50
Younger Women's Task Force,
819
“Young FeministsâPoison Earth, Poison Woman” (Ojanen-Goldsmith),
727
Young Women of Color HIV/AIDS Coalition,
146
,
270
YWCA,
64
Zambia,
797
Zandt, Deanna,
812
Zeilinger, Julie,
810
Zestra,
184
Zilbergeld, Bernie,
155
Zimbabwe,
799
Zoladex,
484
Zuna Institute,
93
*
This chapter describes female sexual anatomy, but some of us who identify as women do not have this anatomy. Some of us have parts of both male and female anatomy, and some with female anatomy identify as men or as neither sex. For more information, see “Disorders of Sexual Development,” p.14, and
Chapter 4
, “Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation.”
â
The formal medical term is given in parentheses if it is different from the english or more familiar term.
*
See “Disorders of Sexual Development,” pp.14â15, for more on people born with sex chromosomes, external genitals, and/or internal reproductive organs that are not exclusively male or female.
â
The idea of a galaxy of gender was expressed in Gordene O. MacKenzie's “50 Billion Galaxies of Gender: Transgendering the Millennium,” in Kate More and Stephen Whittle's
Reclaiming Genders: Transsexual Grammars at the Fin de Siècle
(New York: Continuum, 2000).
*
For more on this topic, see myhusbandbetty.com/2009/09/17/jeez -louise-this-whole-cisgender-thing; pamshouseblend.com/diary/12837/cisgender-and-cissexual-terminology-the-getalonggoalong -moment.
*
Whereas previous editions of
Our Bodies, Ourselves
devoted a separate chapter to women who have intimate romantic/sexual relationships with women, this edition addresses our relationships with women and with men in a single chapter, “Relationships.” As in earlier editions, the experiences and concerns of lesbian and bi-sexual women appear throughout the book.
*
Some women use the word “cisgender” to define themselves, meaning their gender identity is in harmony with their biological sex. For more information, see
Chapter 4
, “Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation.”
*
Unless otherwise noted, the effectiveness numbers used in this chapter are taken from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's U.S. Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use, 2010.
*
Blood is either Rh-positive or Rh-negative. If you are Rh-negative and the fetus is Rh-positive, you may form antibodies against the Rh factor in the fetal blood cells. In a subsequent pregnancy, these antibodies can react against an Rh-positive fetus, causing serious harm. To prevent you from forming these antibodies, your provider will give you an injection of a blood derivative (one brand name is RhoGAM) within seventy-two hours after the abortion.
*
Though the date of your last menstrual period (LMP) can provide an estimate of how pregnant you are, LMP dating can be inaccurate, particularly for women with irregular menstrual cycles. A clinician will make the final assessment about how advanced the pregnancy is through a pelvic exam or ultrasound.
*
Most clinics now use mifepristone plus misoprostol because it is more effective than methotrexate. Methotrexate is available in some clinics because it is less expensive than mifepristone.
*
To read one woman's story of having a later abortion because of fetal impairments, see “My Late-Term Abortion” at the Our Bodies Ourselves website, ourbodiesourselves.org.
*
If your pregnancy was not planned, or if you are deeply ambivalent about whether you want to raise a child, see
Chapter 12
, “Unexpected Pregnancy.”