Topic: women

Women: What Your Age Says About Your Health Risks, Via The WHO Report

Women: What Your Age Says About Your Health Risks, Via The WHO Report

The World Health Organization released a massive ‘Global Burden of Disease‘ report yesterday, charting the world’s leading causes of death and the most common health problems, as well as people’s biggest disease and disability risk factors in 50 individual countries. Here’s more information on the overall findings. We’re going to focus now on what the report says about the health of 20- to 45-year-old women in North America. More »

Ladies Night! Election Ushers In Record Number Of Female Senators

Ladies Night! Election Ushers In Record Number Of Female Senators

One of the most exciting parts of seeing the election results pour in last night was how many awesome and inspiring women were elected into Congress — especially when it happened at the expense of GOP misogynists like Rep. Todd Akin. All told, 10 female senators were elected or re-elected into office last night, bringing us to a record high of 19 women Senators in U.S. Congress. New Hampshire also made history by electing the first all-female state delegation. More »

12-Year Study Reveals Secret To Shapely Legs: Don’t Be A Real Woman

12-Year Study Reveals Secret To Shapely Legs: Don't Be A Real Woman

Ladies, I interrupt all this health and hurricane and election coverage to bring up something I know you’re all secretly thinking about: How to get shapelier legs. If you’re thinking, “Whoa. How did she read my mind?” — stop right there: I did not read your mind. In fact, I just made an educated guess, based on the knowledge that half of all women hate their legs. If you’re thinking, “Whoa, that seems a bit hyperbolic to me” — well, me too. But a new study conducted by plastic surgeons say it is so. More »

Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Learn These 8 Ways To Spot Abuse

Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Learn These 8 Ways To Spot Abuse

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month–an epidemic that one in four women will experience in her lifetime and as many as 1.3 million women experience this year. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), this abuse is defined as ”the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior perpetrated by an intimate partner against another.” It happens to ages, economic statuses, religions and races, and both women and men are often good at covering it up. That’s why it’s important to know the warning signs to help a friend or relative who may be dealing with this at home. More »

What Katie Roiphe (And Her Critics) Ignore: The Neuroscience Of Sexual Submission

What Katie Roiphe (And Her Critics) Ignore: The Neuroscience Of Sexual Submission

The wild success of the badly-written BDSM sexcapade Fifty Shades of Grey proves that what women really want is to be smacked around a bit more in bed—at least, so say certain members of the chattering class. This has (of course) prompted professional contrarian Katie Roiphe to shriek in glee over how mad all the feminists must be about this. Which has (of course) prompted all the feminists to roar in anger over how wrong Roiphe gets it, and how much they just adore rape play. It’s all fairly typical—of Roiphe, of bloggers, of how women’s sexuality gets covered, of our insipid online media cycle—and also fairly interesting, if you’re into this sort of thing. Which I am. Which is why I’d like to introduce something into the conversation that’s been largely ignored this time around: Science. Neuroscience, to be more specific—and how the brains of both men and women are wired for both sexual dominance and sexual submission. More »

Victoria Beckham Believes That Her Body Represents “The General Public”–She Is Wrong

Victoria Beckham Believes That Her Body Represents "The General Public"--She Is Wrong

Victoria Beckham used to be a Spice Girl. She is married to one of the most recognizable footballers on the planet. Between the two of them, they have four children and are estimated to be worth more than $166 million. In May, she will grace the cover of Harper’s Bazaar for the second time. She wears a U.S. size 4, reportedly. And yet, in the Harper’s interview, she admits to tries on many of the new clothes for her forthcoming fashion line because, she says, “I stand for the general public here.” Really, Becks? Really? More »

Women Pay $1 Billion A Year More For Health Insurance, Thanks To “Gender Rating”

Women Pay $1 Billion A Year More For Health Insurance, Thanks To "Gender Rating"

Women pay more for health insurance than men, because of a practice called “gender rating” that lets insurers charge women more for coverage. A new report from the National Women’s Law Center found even women in good health often get charged more than male counterparts. Collectively, discriminatory health insurance practices cost American women $1 billion more per year than men. More »

Maybe This Year’s Oscars Featured Diverse Women, But We Still Need More

Maybe This Year's Oscars Featured Diverse Women, But We Still Need More

In the past year, many have begun to wonder where diversity fits into the Academy Awards. Last year’s Oscars were critiqued for their lack of diversity, and in the week leading up to this year’s Oscars, the Los Angeles Times released statistics confirming that the Academy is overwhelmingly old, white and male—to be precise, of the 5,765 voting members, 94% are caucasian, 77% are male, and 86% are 50 or older. Despite efforts to be more inclusive, many are still skeptical about the diversity, on the whole, of this year’s show. And unfortunately, I’d have to agree: From what I could tell, women’s job in the Academy—and film—is still mostly to be young, thin, white and showing off designer dresses on the red carpet. More »

It’s American Heart Month; Do You Know These 4 Warning Signs For Women?

It's American Heart Month; Do You Know These 4 Warning Signs For Women?

Did you know that February is American Heart Month? Organizations like Go Red for Women, the American Heart Association, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute and the CDC are teaming up to remind us that heart disease is still the number one cause of death in the United States–and yes, that includes women. In fact, more women die of heart disease than all forms of cancer combined. That’s why you need to know these four warning signs. More »