More on CIPO

For a long time I have not felt belonging to either the Pro Choice or Pro Life groups and recently came across ProGrace which sets politics aside to focus on aiding the woman and meeting her needs directly both during and after her pregnancy regardless as to how she decides to proceed. This got my attention and I have since taken their training course, listened to their podcast and started some of their recommended reading to further my understanding.

In full disclosure I am a white christian male in the southeastern USA who has experienced two unplanned pregnancies myself and after learning of how terribly the church has handled their support of women, especially around unplanned pregnancy, I am looking to work with my wife to educate those within our sphere of influence to address this.

However, as mentioned above, I am a male and so naturally my experience around the issue simply does not compare to the depth of emotion and trauma that a woman would experience and so I am hoping to learn from those here who are or have experienced an unplanned pregnancy to better understand what support is needed to bring women through the traumas associated, overcome the fear and shame around the issue, and just generally help in any way I can.

I know this is a sensitive topic and so I would not ask for sharing directly in the comments here. Rather I am hoping to chat directly whether via Signal, email, etc. or even a quick call for those comfortable with that (can use Jitsi, Signal or another private voice chat to avoid needing to share any personal details). I would like to simply listen to your experience; I will not debate, judge, etc. as my goal is entirely to learn.

Thank you for taking the time to read and consider.

I wrote a poem over the last few days to work out my feelings about Mother's Day and my mother. I have nowhere else to share it, so I'm plopping it here, below. I think writing this was helpful for me, maybe? Not sure how I feel about the final work, but the process was actually pretty cool for working through my feelings, clipping them down. Does anyone else write for therapy, poems or anything else?

Perhaps this will resonate with some of you who have settled into similar relationships with your mothers to the one I have with mine. Anyway, here goes (dropping as an image because formatting is impossible):

Take care of yourselves today. It's tricky, being a woman with a complicated mother relationship. It's okay to feel however we do. I hope despite everything that's ever happened, that right now you have true, deep love in your life. With someone else, for others, for yourself...just some true, deep, unshakable love. You are worthy of that, just the way you are. <3

A young women’s rights activist in Saudi Arabia was secretly sentenced to 11 years in prison by an anti-terrorism court after being arrested for “her choice of clothing and support for women’s rights”.

Saudi officials confirmed in a statement to the United Nations high commissioner for human rights that Manahel al-Otaibi was sentenced on 9 January for what the Saudi government called “terrorist offences”.

Al-Otaibi, who was sentenced in a secret hearing before the counter-terrorism court, was found guilty of charges related to a Saudi anti-terror law that criminalises the use of websites to “broadcasts or publishes news, statements, false or malicious rumors, or the like for committing a terrorist crime”.

Among other charges, Otaibi was accused by Saudi authorities of using a hashtag – translated to #societyisready – to call for an end to male guardianship rules.

Her case follows a slew of similar cases in which Saudi women, in particular, have been subjected to draconian sentences for using social media accounts to express themselves. They include women such as Salma al-Shehab, sentenced to 27 years, Fatima al-Shawarbi, sentenced to 30 years, Sukaynah al-Aithan, sentenced to 40 years, and Nourah al-Qahtani, sentenced to 45 years.

Menopause thus far has been a breeze. This is not common, but it's probably because I'm on mood medication. It is really nice not to have PMS or tender breasts or leaking or surprise middle of the night flooding or any of it. I feel lucky.

I've seen a few communities where this question has led to some interesting discussion and figured this community might have some thoughts on it.

With [email protected] being closed due to being unmoderated, there is something of a vacuum for active safe places for women. What do you guys think the future should look like, and how do we get there?

Well, we’ve had cars for a long time….but finally we’ll be testing them for safety for women, too.

In a sea of bad news, today this got me excited.

Conversation ongoing over there, inviting anyone who wants to participate to please consider sharing their thoughts if they are willing to. If you wanna post in the original thread from your instance copy and paste the link into your instances search panel

As I said in the thread, if you aren't comfortable posting feel free to DM me here or on matrix and I can post anonymously for you.

When you go to the doctor, you expect they’ll listen to your concerns and help fix whatever problem you may be experiencing. But many women, especially those suffering with chronic pain conditions, find the opposite is true. This can make it difficult for women to get the treatment they need.

For instance, researchers who interviewed endometriosis sufferers on their experiences with healthcare practitioners found many struggled to get the support they needed. As one participant put it, “you need to try so hard that they believe you, because they don’t. You experience that immediately, that they don’t believe you.”

In the UK, a survey by the Wellbeing of Women charity (which invests in research on women’s health) found that over half of female respondents felt their pain had been dismissed or ignored by a healthcare professional at some point. Women in other parts of the world – including North America, Australia and Europe – report similar experiences.

There’s a clear gender gap when it comes to identifying and treating women’s pain compared to men’s. For instance, women are less likely than men to have positive treatment outcomes for chronic conditions such as angina and musculoskeletal pain.

Physicians are four times more likely to recommend a knee replacement for a man than a woman with the same knee injury. The poorer quality care women received compared to men after suffering a heart attack was to blame for 8,243 preventable deaths between 2003-2013 in England and Wales.

The dismissal of women’s pain also leads to long delays in diagnoses and treatment for conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis.

The gender pain gap affects not only adults, but children and young people – with research showing young women are more likely to have their pain dismissed by physicians than young men.

The gender pain gap is even worse for black women, who are more likely than white women to have their pain dismissed and receive poorer pain treatment.

There also remains little research on pain treatment for gender diverse, transgender, non-binary and intersex patients which may mean these groups are even worse off when accessing treatment.

Gender pain gap Pervasive gender stereotypes are a key reason women’s pain is underestimated. These widely held stereotypes – held even by healthcare professionals – construct men as “stoic” and women as “emotionally expressive” when in pain.

Men are thought to be less likely to seek care for pain – so when they do, they are to be believed. In actuality, this is false, with research showing men are equally likely to go to the doctor when experiencing pain as women are.

Women are also believed to have a greater capacity to cope with pain because of the pain that accompanies menstruation and childbirth. These stereotypes mean women’s pain is viewed as “natural” and “normal” – and may not be taken as seriously by a practitioner.

One study, which had healthcare professionals watch videos of female and male patients experiencing chronic shoulder pain, found practitioners were more likely to underestimate women’s pain. They also reported the women, but not the men, would benefit from psychotherapy.

Other studies have shown healthcare practitioners are sometimes more likely to prescribe sedatives than pain medication to female patients experiencing pain.

Historically, women have been underrepresented in medical research and clinical trials. In the UK, only from 2024 will it be compulsory for new GPs to have training in women’s health.

This may somewhat explain the lack of knowledge practitioners have had in regards to women’s pain and their health concerns. And, women may be given medications and treatments that have only been trialled with men – despite female patients being more likely to experience side effects from new medications.

The gender pain gap cannot be addressed until disparities in medical research and funding are. Conditions which have a disproportional affect on women (such as migraines and endometriosis) receive “much less” funding relative to their severity and prevalence, while conditions which predominantly affect men (such as HIV) receive more funding – despite their lower prevalence.

Getting the right care Pain is never something you should accept and put up with. If you need to speak with a practitioner about your pain, there are many things you can do to ensure your voice is heard.

For example, telling your practitioner how pain affects your ability to function in your day-to-day can be more effective than trying to rate pain on a scale. Using an app or diary to track pain and related symptoms, and bringing it with you in the consultation room, can also be helpful.

If you’re comfortable, raise the issue of bias in pain care. Ask how your practitioner is ensuring you’re not part of the larger statistic of women feeling dismissed. Ask them to explain their diagnostic decision-making and how they’ve ruled out certain conditions. You can also ask them to note in your file why they haven’t made a referral for specialist care. This may be helpful if you return with the same symptoms later.

Bring a family member or friend to advocate for you if you don’t feel comfortable doing it alone. In the UK, you can also ask for a patient advocate, who will speak up for you and help you get the right care.

Addressing inadequate funding for conditions that affect women, improving training for practitioners and increased awareness of the gender pain gap, will all help ensure women in pain are no longer dismissed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/3855472

as the title says, a community to ask and discuss all things related to female fashion.

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The International Chess Federation (FIDE) says it is temporarily banning transgender women from competing in its women's events.

The FIDE said individual cases would require "further analysis" and that a decision could take up to two years.

The move has been criticised by some players and enthusiasts.

Many sports governing bodies have been working on policies towards transgender athletes, but chess does not involve comparable levels of physical activity.