TresSugar

Doctors Tell Women to Ditch Annual Pap Test

TresSugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:00:42 -0800

There may be no need to feel guilty about putting off your annual trip to the gynecologist anymore! New guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists assert that healthy women should not get cervical cancer screening pap tests every year. Instead they encourage women to get the screening every two to three years. The medical group also recommends against getting a pap test until after the age of 21, even if an adolescent is sexually active.

The new recommendations against annual cervical cancer screenings are not intended to save you embarrassment or discomfort - they're meant to prevent unnecessary and possibly harmful treatments. For example, treatment of precancerous HPV symptoms that would otherwise go away on their own puts women at a higher risk of giving birth to a premature or underweight baby. Still, cervical cancer rates have dropped 50 percent since the 1970s mostly thanks to the pap test, so I hope the doctors aren't trying to fix something that isn't broken. But the authors of the guidelines explain that the same results can be accomplished with less-regular screenings.

I'll admit the idea that less screening can be better for your sexual health seems counterintuitive. Will you stick to your annual pap test or do you welcome a chance to get one less frequently?

If Women Have to Pay For Abortion, What Does It Cost?

TresSugar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:00:52 -0800

The initial reaction to the Stupak amendment - which forbids coverage for abortion from a public insurance plan and prevents private insurers from covering abortions for anyone getting a tax credit - was not anger for many women, but "What? Health insurance covers abortions?!"

Looking into the issue, the Wall Street Journal found that eliminating abortion coverage would have almost no effect because so few women use insurance for the procedure. Women often pay out of pocket because they don't realize insurance covers abortion, or because they choose to keep it private from employer-provided plans or other subscribers, like parents and husbands.

So since many women are paying for their abortions now - and, unfortunately, more may be soon - what do they cost? Take this quiz to find out.

Take the quiz

Plastic Surgery For "Designer Vaginas" Is on the Rise

TresSugar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0800

It's hard to believe that although women have enough to worry about, some of them worry about having perfect-looking genitals. "Designer vagina" surgery such as labioplasty is still on the rise. A procedure like labioplasty, which starts at $5,000, involves trimming back what might be perceived as a protruding labia. Yikes.

Some critics say that many women go into these surgeries without fully understanding the risks. Will there be complications in childbirth? Will these surgeries affect sexual pleasure? These critics also question whether anyone in the medical community should even perform surgeries to "trim, sculpt and perfect" genitals. Perhaps, they reason, women should get psychological counseling instead of genital cosmetic surgery. (The desire to "perfect" your genitals could be a sign you have body dysmorphic disorder.)

If looking at a picture of a thin, perfect model makes some women seek "perfection" by dieting or exercising, where exactly are women getting their ideas of what a perfect vagina looks like? Porn? Help me out here.

HIV Is the Top Killer of Women Worldwide

TresSugar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0800

According to the World Health Organization, HIV is the number one killer of women age 15-49. Heart disease kills older women, especially in rich countries, but of the 30.8 million HIV-positive adults in 2007, 15.5 million were women.

A staggering 26.1 percent of the population in Swaziland are infected with HIV - and half of women age 25-29 there are HIV positive.

Women are especially vulnerable to HIV, WHO says, because of biology and gender inequality. WHO Director General Dr. Margaret Chan said, "It's time to pay girls and women back, to make sure that they get the care and support they need to enjoy a fundamental human right at every moment of their lives, that is their right to health."

Meditation, Anyone?

Tres Community — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0800

This post was written by member Honey Knows and comes from The Couch group in our TrèsSugar Community.

I've never done a lot of meditating, but I think it might be time to start. In these turbulent times, I know so many people who are looking for an anchor (or maybe a life preserver?) with nowhere to turn. Perhaps meditation can provide the peace that external influences seem bent on robbing us of these days. Do you meditate? If you do, what type of meditation? How has it helped you?

The website LearningMeditation.com seems basic (and free!); however, please feel free to add any resources you find helpful.

There's lots of great stuff going on in our community - join it, check it out, share your posts or advice in the great groups and maybe we'll feature it here on TrèsSugar!

US Lifts HIV/AIDS Travel Ban

TresSugar — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:00:00 -0700

For the last 22 years, foreign citizens living with HIV or AIDS have been forbidden to legally enter the US. As of Monday, that ban will be a thing of the past. On Friday, President Obama announced the decision to overturn the policy he called "rooted in fear rather than fact." He said:

"We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease - yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat. We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic - yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country. If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it."

Before this decision, the US joined a less-than-impressive list of countries that banned HIV-positive outsiders. The list still includes: Armenia, Colombia, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sudan, and Yemen. Considering there are already Americans living with HIV/AIDS, it served little purpose to "quarantine" the country. I'm happy to see that our HIV/AIDS prevention strategies will no longer include an ineffective and discriminatory ban.

Do Tell: What Was Your Mother's Relationship to Food?

TresSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0700

Did you "thin-herit" food issues from your mother?

According to a poll conducted by teen magazine Sugar, girls ages 12 - 18 said that their mother's eating and/or dieting habits and views on food were the biggest influence on their own relationship to food. It was found that if a mom diets, she's twice as likely to have a daughter with an eating disorder.

What was your mother's relationship to food? Do you think it has affected you positively or negatively?

Front Page: HPV Vaccine Reminds Girls of Sexual Risks

TresSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:00:43 -0700

A new study shows that the HPV vaccine reminds girls of risks associated with sex, such as contracting STDs, instead of giving them a license to be promiscuous as some people feared. - Salon
Wal-Mart is now selling affordable coffins. - BBC News
A Dutch court has told 14-year-old Laura Dekker that she is too inexperienced to sail around the world by herself, and she will be placed under the guardianship of child protection authorities until next year. - New York Times
A sixth person has been arrested for the gang rape of the 15-year-old California girl outside her homecoming dance. - CNN
Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley sat down for another beer this week, this time without President Obama. - Huffington Post

IOC to Come Up With Better Guidelines For Ambiguous Sex

TresSugar — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:00:00 -0700

The treatment of 18-year-old champion runner Caster Semenya by the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) left me scratching my head. How could officials publicly call into question Caster's sex, knowing the profoundly personal nature of the matter? Their actions were so degrading that Caster was rumored to be in hiding after the tests reportedly revealed that she was intersex. Well here's one way to understand how officials could take such an irresponsible approach: international bodies that govern competitive sports lack appropriate guidelines for dealing with ambiguous sex cases.

Hoping to address this problem, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will gather medical experts at an international conference charged with creating guidelines for such cases. It might be a difficult task, but at least they can look at Caster's case as an example of what not to do.

This meeting will be held during the World Conference on Hormonal and Genetic Basis of Sexual Differentiation Disorders, and IOC officials say that there should be a focus on the privacy of competitors whose sex has been called into question. Let's hope so.

Front Page: Americans Anxious About H1N1 Vaccine Shortage

TresSugar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:00:35 -0700

The shortage of H1N1 vaccines has many people worried, but Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is asking Americans to be patient. - ABC News
The US job outlook has brightened, as the National Association for Business Economics says more companies plan on hiring in the next six months. - CNN
Fourteen Americans were killed in two helicopter crashes in Afghanistan. - AP
ESPN has fired baseball analyst Steve Phillips a week after details came out about his messy affair with a 22-year-old production assistant. - New York Times
Low-budget underdog Paranormal Activity came in number one at the box office this weekend. - BuzzSugar