Hormonal Differences

If you are anything like me and read the medical headlines every day you have probably noticed in the past few weeks a spate of articles about how hormones can affect a person’s social behavior.  The first such article was a timely piece, considering the state of the economy, that argues that the length of [...]

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Sperm

Sperm may seem an odd choice of subject for a “young woman’s guide to gynecology and obstetrics.”  But it is this last word, obstetrics, that makes sperm a good choice for an entry subject.  Arguably, without sperm, obstetrics would not exist.   This may not always be the case, but for the time being, each human [...]

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History of the IUD

Speaking of Dr. Ernst Gräfenberg, let’s talk about intrauterine devices (IUDs) since Dr. G is recognized as the first developer of the modern IUD.  IUDs, in a crude sense, have existed for an untold number of years.  Women and men have inserted various implements into human and animal uteri to prevent pregnancy for many years.  [...]

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Crabs: What Are They?

In school growing up there were numerous crab jokes made by my classmates.  If we wanted to give the ultimate insult we would say, “S/he’s got crabs.”  Of course, we didn’t really know what crabs were.  We knew vaguely they were something one acquired in the genital region generally from a sexual encounter and are [...]

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Is Milk Really That Good for You?

After recently spending four days in Cleveland at a bioethics conference I came away with several new, and renewed, perspectives on women’s health issues.  The first that comes to mind is something that my roommate, another bioethics graduate student, and I discussed.  That is early menarche in females.
Now, a little personal background:  I was one [...]

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