healthcare
Pelvic Exams: A Modern Guide
Physical therapist Caitlyn Tivy talks pelvic exams in the current era: what they are, why you might need one, and how to make them a comfortable and positive experience, including modifications that can be made with them that you might want or need.
How to Make New Relationships, Add New People to Pods and Have Sex More Safely During the Pandemic
It really sucks that during something that can make us feel lonelier than ever, the most dangerous thing is being close to other people. It is still safest to limit our up-close-and-personal contact, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still safely seek out and experience intimacy with new people, nor that there aren’t things you can do to make it safer if you do decide to get physically close to someone. Here are some basics to get you started.
Oh Sh*t: Identifying When You Need Help in Pregnancy and Labor
If you’re pregnant for the first time, or if things seem a little different with this pregnancy than with previous pregnancies, it might feel scary not knowing what’s happening as you experience big changes. Learning to pay attention to how you and your body are feeling and changing – whether or not you know why – is really important to ensure a safe pregnancy.
Radical Acts of Compassion: An interview with Denise Rodriguez of the Texas Equal Access Fund
TEAF’s Communications Director Denise Rodriguez explains the current state of the organization and abortion in Texas, and talks about how marginalized people do and will endure the worst of the brunt from both the recent changes due to the Dobbs decision as well as other restrictions and access issues that were already in place.
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte
A Planned Parenthood branch serving large chunks of middle and northern California as well as all of northern Nevada.
What’s Up Down There? Understanding and Caring for Your Pelvic Floor
When I tell someone that I help people with problems related to the abdomen, pelvis, and pelvic floor, I often get a curious look.
What is the pelvic floor, after all? How do we care for it and the tissue around it? Here’s a thorough walkthrough of the anatomy of your pelvic floor and perineum and how you can keep tabs on this area of the body.
Dreaming a More Equitable Tomorrow: An interview with author Zena Sharman
The Care We Dream Of: Liberatory and Transformative Approaches to LGBTQ+ Health, edited by Zena Sharman, was created in collaboration with fifteen contributors from across North America, and "merges practical ideas with liberatory imaginings about what queer and trans health care could be, grounded in historical examples, present-day experiments, and dreams of the future. At its heart, The Care We Dream Of is a spell of transformation, one that’s both a loving invitation and an urgent demand to leave no one behind as we dream a more liberated future into being." In conversation with Garbiel Leão, Sharman talks about all this and more.
So You Want to Know About Menopause
If we have the idea that puberty or pregnancy are the only big body changes we'll experience in life, and we come to perimenopause or menopause not understanding that they, too, are another big phase with some big change, it can be a real shock. However and whenever you might get to menopause or the menopausal transition, knowing about it in advance will always make the experience better. Whether you want to find out about it way in advance, you're in or approaching some form of it now -- like POI or with hysterectomy -- or you want to know more to support someone in it in your life, here's a place to start.
Birth Doulas: Reclaiming the Birth Experience
Some folks decide that during birth they want a partner to be present; others want a different family member – be they blood relative or chosen family – or someone else entirely to accompany them. Birth doulas can be a great option if you are looking for some additional support, especially around the emotional aspects of labor and childbirth.
What's An Abortion, Anyway? An Interview with Children's Book Author Carly Manes
Abortion can be hard for many adults to understand and process, let alone for kids. As with so many potentially major life events, they are often left in the dark without any comment or explanation as if nothing happened, or receive a rigid lecture from an authority figure imposing only their singular point of view. The book "What’s an Abortion, Anyway?" proposes a new, more fluid and non-judgmental way to explain this event to the small ones.