Should Aunt Irma Stop Visiting?

I thought of bringing a story published by New York Times to your attention. First, here are some (quite a few) excerpts from the article:

For many women, a birth control pill that eliminates monthly menstruation might seem a welcome milestone.

But others view their periods as fundamental symbols of fertility and health, researchers have found. Rather than loathing their periods, women evidently carry on complex love-hate relationships with them.

The Food and Drug Administration agency is expected to approve the first contraceptive pill that is designed to eliminate periods as long as a woman takes it.

The drug’s maker, Wyeth, said yesterday that it was expecting F.D.A. approval in May, but has declined to discuss its marketing plans.

The company’s research shows that nearly two-thirds of women it surveyed expressed an interest in giving up their periods. That dovetails with the findings of similar research conducted by Linda C. Andrist, a professor at MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston.

“We don’t want to confront our bodily functions anymore,” Ms. Andrist said. “We’re too busy.” Doctors say they know of no medical reason women taking birth control pills need to have a period. The monthly bleeding that women on pills experience is not a real period, in fact.

Ms. Chesler, who teaches documentary making at the University of California, San Diego, said she became concerned about efforts to eliminate menstruation when she first heard about the idea several years ago.

“Women are not sick,” she said. “They don’t need to control their periods for 30 or 40 years.”

Eliminating menstruation is not a completely new concept. Women who take any kind of oral contraceptive do not have real periods.

Menstrual suppression may be particularly appealing to women who suffer severe pain, heavy bleeding or emotional problems during their periods. A study by Canadian researchers found that women afflicted by heavy menstrual bleeding give up $1,692 a year in lost wages.

Views about menstruation have long been mixed. Some cultures have banished menstruating women to huts or required special baths after periods. Others believed that menstruating women had special powers.

Wyeth's therapeutic director for women’s health, Dr. Ginger D. Constantine, cited company-financed research indicating that women often feel less effective at work and school during their periods. They limit sexual activity and exercise, wear dark clothes and stay home more, resulting in absenteeism, she said.

I must say I have no idea what I would choose, given the option. To be honest, before having it, I went crazy waiting for my period. Other girls around me were already talking about this issue and I felt left out and such a child. I would now said I was way too ignorant of the matter. I got it, I was happy, for about two months. Then I faced the real problems of it: impossible timing, extra care needed, all the ill-feeling sometimes associated with it. I do not have an actual PMS. But I do feel fat and ugly while it lasts.

Now I have to think of complete freedom. If using normal pills leaves me with a fake period, why keep it? Is that what makes me feel like a woman? Far from it... I think I would be more inclined to say yes to such an option, after monitoring the issue for a while (a year or so would be enough to see if any health issues arise).

What would you do in this case?

Barbie Magazine, stairway to eating disorders

People ask themselves why anorexia is becoming a problem in Romania. Well, I guess it has a lot to do with patterns we import from other countries. The most frequently seen are the dozens of women's magazines, containing clothes, makeup and diets and photos of very thin women. But it starts way sooner!

Those of you living in Bucharest have surely seen the Barbie magazine ads. I tried looking up a site of this magazine but failed. Anyway, the ad that always makes me mad is the one displayed at the entrace of the Brancoveanu metro station. It shows a 10 (12 maximum) year old girl, with a complicated hairdo, makeup and a really tight dress. She is trying a sexy look (yes, I am serious) and it simply looks scary to me.

The slogan is "Barbie, your best friend". Is that the friend mothers want for their daughters? A skinny looking doll whose proportions are physically impossible? And who allowed that girl to be photographed like that? Does she not have a mother? Is she not too young to be trapped in the shallowness of how important looks are?

Teenagers are the most common victims of eating disorders. Maybe more of us should thing twice before making models out of our young girls and before buying them such magazines.

My Revolution

This is my first post here, and although the title of it sounds pretentious or lame, that only the whole story will reveal.
I want to talk about how it is like to come out of your shell sometimes, even though, weirdly enough, you are far from being shy. It needs some courage and a bit of spark, at the right moment. I had this spark today, therefore, I made my revolution, thank you to my sweetest friend Alina, who taught me that "you are the one in charge when it comes to what you feel". But hey, what am I talking about here, you might all wonder by now, if you haven't rolled your eyes already. :)

I am asking you, how do you feel when you are nice and the nicer you get, the uglier people behave around you, just like a downward spiral with a bad end. Oh well, I have this "friend" or better said, acquaintance, and she always felt the need to attack me somehow, when it comes to my skills, to my appearance, to anything else under the sun. You know.... with those silly remarks you can hardly have an intelligent answer for, go figure.
Today, I told her what I feel about something she wanted to be praised for, I told her the truth, that it was crappy, in short, I felt I am fed up to be nice and show her only the good side when there was hardly any of it, I was harsh and critique. She took it badly and her arguments were so poor that it made me wonder, why do I wanna be "friends" with someone I feel no connection with, instead I am trying to make a connection by giving but not receiving. I had this smirk on my face, of coming out as my true self and tell people the truth as they deserve it, just like I tell it to myself, so too many times.

She is not important for me, I am not important for her, I am sure we have already replaced each other by now, she, with a moaning about my behavior, me, with this wonderful blog I can pour my silly thoughts into. And, I smile to this screen, I feel that after few years of trying to be nice I can almost be mean with those who deserve it, I feel the days in which I go in a corner to feel bad as I didn't have the right answer to an attack, are slowly going away....
It is like you face bullying more or less, I was too blind to see it, until ....today. Some of you might ask, was that woman deserving your bluntness? Oh, yeah, my answer would be, as I made my revolution today, and I started with the right person.

ps:
Thank you Alina and each one of you I know very little yet, for giving me a peice of your blog, to share my world with you. :)