124 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
124 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
"Bloomington Women's Health Collective: Your Full Cervix Station"
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"What does my cervix look like? Why do I get yeast infections all the
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time? Why do I get bad headaches while taking Depo Provera (a contraceptive
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injection)? What herbs or alternative methods can I use for menstrual cramps?
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What is menstrual extraction? Can I transmit genital warts to my girlfriend
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through oral sex?"
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The desire to know answers to questions like these and much more about
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women's health prompted the formation of the Bloomington Women's Health
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Collective (bwhc). The bwhc , a women-only collective, is about 2 years old;
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it was started by Sarah Bortt and a few other active women. Sarah began by
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writing for information from various women's health organizations, and by
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compiling a system of topical files on a variety of women's health issues. She
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also collected books and bibliographies for a women's health library. A file
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of illness/condition forms and doctor evaluation forms was started, which can
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be used when researching a topic and/or looking for a local doctor.
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Some of the main goals have always been to educate women, to demystify
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health and medical care, and to advocate alternative forms of health care
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(herbal, homeopathic, acupressure, etc.) Sarah strongly advocates a health
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collective that is for women-ONLY, because she believes that "we need a women's
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space where we can begin to really learn about our health, where we can share
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knowledge with each other and feel comfortable." In fact, with this
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collective, we do have a women's space where we can comfortably and confidently
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share our ideas and experiences. Also, the collective provides us with a
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support system of women who can be called upon in times of crisis.
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Currently, we are dedicated to researching women's health issues, to
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providing self-help and health information to women of our community, and to
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building a women's health resource library open to the public. Because bwhc is
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not a single-issue group, nor a closed study circle, we focus on relevant
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personal issues, and also involve ourselves in public debates and activities
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relevant to women and girls of our community. We are interested in doing our
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own research and pamphlet production because we do not trust the policies,
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literature, and agenda of mainstream health care providers. We feel that they
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do not adequately inform us about controversial issues pertaining to women's
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health, nor do they provide information vital to women who want to take control
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of their own health.
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In the last year the collective has grown in membership to
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approximately 15 women, and has expanded its scope to include monthly topical
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meetings, pamphlet production, fundraisers, community-based actions,
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collection of information and books for our resource library, and miscellaneous
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activities such as flyering, herb walks, etc.
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For almost a year we had meetings twice monthly (the 1st and 3rd
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Sundays), but we have decided recently to have one general meeting on the 1st
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Monday of every month, and have informal committee/topical meetings throughout
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the month. This seems to be working out better so far. As far as group
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dynamics are concerned, much of the grunt work always seems to fall on one or
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two women. Also, all the bwhc files, books, and stuff are kept in a
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residence,which hinders people from freely using it. However, we have started
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a small resource file with our pamphlets, flyers, and resource list at
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Bloomingfoods, a local co-operative grocery store.
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We've had several excellent meetings where one or two women presented a
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topic and everyone shared experiences on such subjects as yeast infections,
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herbal abortifacients, breast cancer, self-cervical exams, STDs, and herbal
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tinctures & salves. For instance, we've had several self-exam meetings, and
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it seems to be very popular with the women. Self-exam does not have to be done
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in the context of a collective, but it is an extremely exciting, empowering,
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and new way to learn first-hand about one's body while sharing the experience
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with other women. We plan to have future topical meetings on midwifery, home
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birth, herbal birth control, women's nutrition, and sexual abuse; there is talk
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of having monthly self-exam meetings too!
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At present, we have made several pamphlets on various topics such as:
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How to do Self-Exams, Yeast Infections, Home Birth, How to Make Herbal
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Tinctures & Salves, Herbal & Alternative Methods for Treating STDs, and Women &
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Health: An Overview (which compares first and third world women's health
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issues, reprinted from Women in Development) Our next pamphlet will cover
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Herbal Abortifacients and Birth Control. We distribute pamphlets for free or
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for a small donation locally at various events. We have also mailed our
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pamphlets out-of-town and would love to send them to anyone interested!!! (see
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info below to order our pamphlets)
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At first, we tried to sell the pamphlets in order to cover the costs,
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but we thought this was a hindrance to getting our info out there and available
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Over time, we have done
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other fundraising activities such as selling stickers at local fairs, the 1994
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Lalapaloosa, and the Detroit gathering last summer. In addition to donations
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of money and copy credit, selling stickers has helped us produce pamphlets for
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free. We recently put out our herbal tinctures for sale at Bloomingfoods, and
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hope to also sell healing salves there. Future fundraising ideas include a
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bowl-a-rama (inspired by the @zone), t-shirts, and a benefit concert.
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This past October, we sponsored a forum on "Sex Respect", an
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abstinence-only sex (mis)education curriculum, which has been suggested for use
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in our local schools by Crisis Pregnancy Center advocates (pro-life, anti-woman
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clinic). We sponsored the forum in order to network with local teens, and to
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get involved in community issues pertaining to women's health. The forum
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included a panel discussion of various community activists and professionals,
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who criticized "Sex Respect" and all abstinence-based curricula, and offered
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alternatives to them. One success of this forum was the cooperation among
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various women's groups in our community such as Reclaim Our Reproductive Rights
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(RORR), Lesbian Avengers, Planned Parenthood of Southern IN, Middle Way House
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(Domestic Violence Shelter/Rape Crisis Center), and bwhc.
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To follow up on the issue of sex education in our local schools,
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activists from different groups plan to put together a sex education pamphlet
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and distribute it with condoms to local teens at Rhino's all-ages club,
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schools, and community centers. We have been inspired by the work of Coalition
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for Positive Sexuality (CPS) in Chicago and their Just Say Yes sex ed pamphlet.
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Also, we hope to get involved with teachers and students at Harmony, a local
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alternative private school (K-12), using the CPS Just Say Yes pamphlet as a
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participatory sex educational tool.
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One of the most important aspects of the collective is the information
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that we use to educate ourselves and other women. Our resource center contains
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150 files on topics such as birth, contraceptives, STDs, HIV/AIDS, sexual
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abuse, domestic violence, menstruation, menopause, forced sterilization,
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hysterectomy, genital mutilation, homeopathy, herbal medicine, etc. People
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are free to use the resource center whenever, and they can take files and xerox
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the information. Our 50 books, which include The Yeast Connection, How to Stay
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Out of the Gynecologist's Office, A Lesbian Guide to Women's Health, Beauty
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Secrets, Verbally Abusive Relationships, Malepractice, etc. can also be checked
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out. We also provide a call in/mail out info retrieval service for anyone who
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is searching for information on a particular subject.
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If you are interested in finding out more about the collective, feel
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free to call, write or e-mail us! To order our pamphlets, send two 29 cent (or
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32 cent) stamps per pamphlet or $3.50 for all six (or less if you REALLY can't
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afford it) We really want to do more networking with other women's health
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collectives and women's centers! Please pass on the word about us to all your
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friends!
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bloomington women's
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health collective
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ashley cruce p.o. box 3207
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sasha hirst bloomington, IN 47402
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(812) 339-4853 or
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330-1944
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acruce@ucs.indiana.edu
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