By s.e. smith on 3 March, 2010
Even the President of the United States, it appears, is not free of an obligation to be healthy. Society is even conveniently provided with the means of policing him, in the form of ample news stories about his latest physical. The Guardian had three stories up about it at the same time! A British paper, [...]
Posted in blaming, social attitudes | Tagged food police, health police, mediaspolsion, President Obama, privacy
By abby jean on 24 February, 2010
Recently, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin kicked off a national campaign to tackle mental health in the African-American community. Benjamin explained why a focus on African-Americans is needed: “Mental health problems are particularly widespread in the African-American community. In 2004, nearly 12 percent of African Americans ages 18-25 reported serious psychological distress in the [...]
Posted in blaming, class issues, intersectionality, justice, mental health, race
By lauredhel on 19 February, 2010
[WARNING: descriptions of obstetric rape and PTSD] At Jezebel, Jessica writes: Is Having A Baby A Traumatic Event? A new survey says that 9% of postpartum women suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. You know, the same disorder that Iraq vets and plane crash survivors get. Something does not compute here,[...] Have we become so [...]
Posted in blaming, mental health, shaming, social attitudes | Tagged birth, birth trauma, birthrape, hysteria, hysterical, jessica, jezebel, misogyny, obstetric trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, precious, PTSD, sexism
By abby jean on 6 February, 2010
California is in the midst of a major budget crisis. The past year has seen immense and drastic cuts to social service budgets throughout the state, including elimination of all state funding ($16 million) to domestic violence shelters (which was later partially restored by legislative action) and near-total decimation of funds for AIDS testing and [...]
Posted in accessibility, blaming, class issues, intersectionality, politics, shaming, social attitudes | Tagged government benefits
By abby jean on 28 January, 2010
According to the United State government, disability is “the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment(s) which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.” [...]
Posted in accessibility, blaming, language, Uncategorized | Tagged employment, work
By abby jean on 26 January, 2010
A periodic feature in which we highlight some of the more ableist posts and comments in the blogosphere – the things that made us throw up our hands and ask “FOR CEREAL???” I’m late on this one, but that doesn’t make me any less upset. Cute Overload is one of the best and most regular [...]
Posted in blaming, For Cereal?, language, media and pop culture, mental health, race, social attitudes
By s.e. smith on 22 January, 2010
The Good Cripple archetype has been fascinating me lately, in part because I worked on several Bitch posts which involved this archetype and the ways in which it harms people with disabilities. The Good Cripple, of course, is the person with disabilities who never rocks the boat, never raises a fuss, never causes problems, doesn’t [...]
Posted in accessibility, blaming, normality, politics, social attitudes | Tagged bad cripple, good cripple
By s.e. smith on 18 January, 2010
Every now and then, I take a gander at the New York Times “Health” section, usually with the goal of riling myself up so that I can rant about something here at FWD. There are a lot of things to get riled up about. Today, for me, it’s the conflation of size and health, and [...]
Posted in blaming, class issues, shaming, social attitudes | Tagged cooking, eating, food
By abby jean on 15 January, 2010
I read an interesting post recently, from a self-described “functioning alcoholic” discussing the possibility of treating alcoholism with pharmaceutical drugs. While there’s no successful pharmaceutical treatment at this time, there are a few things in development and it’s seeming increasingly probable that the drug companies will focus research and development efforts on coming up with [...]
Posted in blaming, disability activism, medical practice, mental health, social attitudes | Tagged alcoholism
By s.e. smith on 13 January, 2010
(A slightly different version of this post appeared at this ain’t livin’ under the title “Yes, Actually, I Can Make An Informed Choice“.) There’s an interesting trend I’ve been noticing more of late at feminist websites: The idea that certain women don’t know what’s good for them. These women need to be told in no [...]
Posted in bad advice, blaming, bodies, feminism
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