BIG day in Politics

Hello,

This will be brief today because I have a lot of homework to do and a little bit of time to do it. I'm trying to keep up on blog posts, but you know how it gets during the semester. Luckily this is my last one. When I don't have time to write blog posts I do reblog important posts on the tumblr.

Today! You should feel victorious and galvanized. Big things are happening for women and equality today and I want you to be a part of it.

I have three things for you to do today in the moments that you read this:

1. Sign the petition for birth control. (copied from an email from Planned Parenthood)

We recently secured a major victory for women's health when the Obama administration issued a rule requiring all employers to provide coverage for birth control with no co-pays. Now, women are in danger of losing these protections as birth control opponents pressure President Obama to reverse his decision.

It's up to us to show President Obama just how many people are willing to stand up and protect access to birth control for all women. If 25,000 of us sign this petition, the White House will respond. It takes just two minutes to log in (you will need to create a whitehouse.gov account if you don't already have one) and add your name — click here.

We need President Obama to stand strong — and the best way to make sure that happens is to make so much noise that we can't be ignored. The White House will respond to any petition that gets 25,000 signatures. Birth control opponents have their own petition up and are nearing the 25,000 threshold. I know we can reach that number too — but I want to do more. I want to prove just how strong the movement to protect women's health is. I want to show that we will not stop fighting to defend access to care, no matter what.

We need every person who believes that birth control is essential health care to sign the petition. Everyone who believes that women and their doctors, not their employers, should be making personal medical decisions. Everyone who wants President Obama to stand strong by his commitment to women's health. Are you in? Click here to add your name.

2. Read and SPREAD the word on Prop 8!! It has been declared unconstitutional!!

3. Feel galvanized and do something great for your community or country.

Have a great Tuesday,
Raewyn

Women's Healthcare

The latest vlog on Women's healthcare and birth control!

SAVE THE VAGINAS!

October is breast cancer awareness month and everywhere people are declaring SAVE THE TATAS and I <3 Boobies! How fantastic! Breast cancer awareness has become so mainstreamed that we pronounce our love of boobies daily (especially boys...those dirty dirty men).

I applaud everyone for this. HUZZAH HUZZAH! Ladies, mammograms and self-breast exams are SO important. The founders of the I <3 Boobies movement did something amazing and took this taboo subject and made it conversation safe - better yet they made it IMPORTANT for conversations.

And now, I feel like, in addition, we should move to the next taboo, yet cancer inflicted subject. That's right ladies, your cervix.

Now we can mainstream this with "I <3 Vajayjay" bracelets but that's probably going to stay a little too taboo. Can you imagine Meg Whitman or Sarah Palin with one of those bracelets on? But maybe we can come up with an approach that's less "vulgar" by their standards. Because, they have cervixes, too. This is not a problem that we should just sweep under the rugs because it means we (gasp) have to talk about sexual safety and health.

HPV is NOT funny. Nor is cervical cancer. 

So how, you may ask, can we save ourselves from it?

Yes, it is very important to get the HPV vaccine - I got mine in 2007. But HPV is not the only thing that causes cervical cancer and, like all vaccines, it is not 100% effective.

LADIES WE NEED TO PROTECT OURSELVES AGAINST STDs! (i prefer d over i, it just sounds better. an STi is a car to me...)

We all need to work on this; myself included. Condoms. Get them. They're cheap but if you don;t want to buy them make the boys buy them. Go to Planned Parenthood and get some. Ask a friend. Ask me. There is nothing more important than protecting ourselves.

Let me tell you about a little scare I had two years ago, without any fault of my own.

From 20-21 I was sure I had cervical cancer. Never mind the fact that I had gotten the HPV vaccine over 2 years before and took precautions to protect myself. My gyno scared me.  

Let me background with the fact that your immune system does not fully develop until you are 21. On women, this affects cervical health.

So in summer 2009 I went to the gyno for my annual check up. And was devastated to find out a few weeks later that my cells were abnormal and pre-cancerous. From that point on I was told I would have to return to the doctors every 3 months for a painful procedure called a colposcopy. Gyno's do this to catch cervical cancer early so you can fight it by removing the cancerous cells. This enables women to be pregnant and carry a fetus full term.
As fate would have it, shortly after my 21st I found out my abnormal cells disappeared with my updated immune system. And that I was fine. I did not have HPV. I did not have cervical cancer. The thing is, I'm not alone. I know several other women like me who went through this scary process. 

So because of this I promote health and safety for my cervix. I go to Planned Parenthood often.

I LOVE MY VAJAYJAY!! 

Do you love yours?