- The National Academies of Science recently confirmed that styrene is a carcinogenic chemical. Why do we care? Styrene is among the chemicals listed as a fragrance in Procter & Gamble products – but P&G doesn’t identify which products. So is styrene in Tampax tampons or Always pads? We don’t know, because femcare companies are not required to list ingredients on the packages.
- What if celebrities are wrong? That’s not as trivial a question as it may sound: Consider the Angelina Jolie Effect, in which the media presented an overwhelmingly positive slant toward Jolie’s mastectomy, while overlooking the relative rarity of her situation.
- Here’s a really cool survey of female cartoonists talking about drawing their bodies.
- The venerable Black Women’s Health Imperative is hosting a webinar next week about gynecologic cancers: Myths, Misunderstandings and the Truth about Gynecologic Cancers, Screenings and the Affordable Care Act will be held September 17, at 12:00 pm EDT/9:00 am PDT. Advance registration is required.
- Have you ever searched a database of stock photos for menstruation-related images? Rachel has. She found a lot more than tampon pictures.
- Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-California) dropped a line to Larry Merlo, CEO of CVS Health (a chain of drugstores in the U.S.), to inquire about the little matter of their implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s Women’s Health Amendment. It seems some stores were illegally charging co-pays for generic birth control pills, which are supposed to be covered at no cost. Representative Speier has a few questions for Mr. Merlo [pdf].
- The popular lesbian site Autostraddle published an article this week about alternatives to disposable menstrual products and the menstrual cup. There’s some interesting discussion happening in the comments about whether or not the sponge is an animal and therefore philosophically acceptable for vegan use.
- Is there a link between depression and menopause? A new study in Maturitas identifies biological as well as psychosocial factors that are likely to be contributing in an individual.
- Is it really going to happen this time? Bustle says we can put birth control for men on our calendars.
- September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. The rate of the disease has dropped, but it is still the fifth-leading malignant cause of death among U.S. women.
- Do you crave sandwiches when you’re menstruating? Maybe you need a Bloodfeast like the Ragwood.
- This week at Lady Clever, Holly Grigg-Spall interviewed Alisa Vitti, author of best-selling book Woman Code.
- Findings of a study published this month in the Journal of Women’s Health suggest that early life emotional and physical abuse increase the risk of PMS in the middle-to-late reproductive years.
- So has everybody checked out Tampon Run, the new video game created by teenagers? The premise is simple: Collect tampons, shoot them at your enemies, and don’t run out of them before your moon cycle is over. Read more about the game and the two young women who created it. (By the way, that article has been ‘liked’ on Facebook more than 21,000 times.)
