In which the resident lesbian gets all radical, thanks to Glamour

This hasn't been blogged about enough. I know most of you already know about the basics of these issues, but the facts as reported here* are outstanding.

The new lies about women's health
By Brian Alexander
Political groups tell them, the government buys them—and worst of all, your doctor may pass them on to you. Alarmed? You should be.

For the past 15 years, Ruth Shaber, M.D., has been an ob-gyn in San Francisco for Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation's largest health maintenance organizations. She sees all types of women—union members, executives, waitresses. Most of them, Dr. Shaber says, have questions for her, including how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases, how to preserve their fertility, how to prevent breast and cervical cancer and whether the latest Internet health scare they've heard is really true.

...And subject headings within the article include:

• YOU MAY NOT HAVE ACCESS TO EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION
• YOU COULD BE DENIED RAPE TREATMENT
• YOU WON'T GET ACCURATE HEALTH INFORMATION
• YOUR TAX DOLLARS FUND MISLEADING SEXUAL-HEALTH PROGRAMS
• YOUR DOCTOR MAY BE FORCED TO LIE TO YOU
• HEALTH RESEARCH MAY BE STALLED
• SCIENTISTS FIGHT BACK

* Best to give credit where credit is due, but please know that I don't endorse the image or the ads on the page.

April showers

Happy birthday, Mom.

You’d be 56 today. Since you died, you got yourself two more descendents. Brock is so big and looks just like Hope. Sanna is tiny, but she looks just like you. Of course, she looks like me, too.

Remember how much Hannah looked like me when she was tiny? Sanna looks even more like me. Hannah is still mistaken for my child from time to time, and well, the whole thing is a little creepy (or as Hannah says, “Creeky”).

What, exactly, did you do to ensure that all of your female descendents would look just like you?

(I know; I don’t have a baby picture of myself online. Isn’t that odd?)

You’d love Sanna. She’s sweet and smart. She has the best smile, and she’s way snuggly. After Sanna was born, Brooke’s mom emailed Brooke and said, “Now you know how much I love you.” Now that I know how deep love can be—and I’ll admit that I knew nothing of it before—I understand so much more about how you felt to tell me your diagnosis. I understand your tears every time I had to go back home when you were sick. It hurts to leave her every day so I can go to work, and I can’t imagine how much you ached to see me leave.

Hope overheard Hannah telling a playmate about you. “That’s Grandma Suz,” she said, pointing at your picture. “She’s in Heaven, and it’s fun there.”

I hope so.