#1
As in, the body will be preparing to support a fertilized egg: all the hormones, an amniotic sac, forming a placenta...but the amniotic sac can turn out to be empty because the egg doesn't develop.
This is why abortion is healthcare. It is always the termination of a pregnancy in the body of a person. It doesn't always involve a potential future life, but it often is the only thing that can save an actual existing life.
Bored Panda wanted to get the author's thoughts on what could be done to help people who struggle with topics such as basic biology, as well as how someone might go about learning more about reproduction if they feel embarrassed to ask questions. Redditor u/fushaman was happy to share their perspective.
"Part of me wonders if perhaps we need more 'practical' classes in schools. When I was at school we had PSHE [personal, social, health, and economic education], but to be honest it was pretty rubbish. It was a 'doss' lesson—one where you do nothing," they shared.
"I think schools should incorporate more practical life lessons: how to do taxes, how to cook basic healthy meals, and likely health problems that will affect them. For women, it should be a safe place to discuss the things that people never tell us about. For example, labia shrinking, HG [hyperemesis gravidarum]—the severe vomiting that can happen during pregnancy—or that 1/5 women have a tilted uterus, which can cause worrying pain/discomfort when anything gets inserted."
#3
This s**t can grow all around your Pelvic and belly. I complained for years about excruciating pain and was always turned away. So, I had a whole cluster f**k of extensive scar tissue gluing my reproductive systems to my intestines, bladder and upper belly cover.
I suffered from digestive issues because food couldn't pass properly. My periods were extra horrible because my uterus would literally pull everything down everything it acted up.
I had surgery to have a hysterectomy concerning other issues and also had a lot of the scar tissue removed. I can finally eat normally again without fearing to throw up or have to s**t from the most mundane dishes.
According to u/fushaman, there should be similar lessons "for guys, too, and intersex people, and trans people."
"But I do think the physical health concerns need to be raised in an impartial way to make sure people are aware of the potential problems they'll face. Forewarned is forearmed, after all."
We were also curious about what inspired u/fushaman to start the online discussion in the first place. "I was inspired by a post by another user who was venting about the TikTok ban," they said.
"She'd been using it to get information on women's reproductive health, knowledge that she was struggling to find elsewhere, and she was disappointed that her access was being halted. I figured, why not have a place here where everyone could see it and add to it?"
#4
Women have longer colons and small intestines. In addition women have a slower stomach emptying. All in all that means our disgestion time is longer than men and we absorb more nutrients from our food. It is believed this is to help support pregnancy and breastfeeding.
#5
The egg that was to become us was produced in our grandma's womb.
#6
1. The ends of the fallopian tubes are open, so when you cramp hard sometimes blood can backwash into your abdomen - it's okay, your immune system deals with the blood and cleans it up, but that's also how ectopic pregnancies in the abdomen can happen
2. When an egg releases from the ovary, it isn't attracted to the fallopian tube, the fallopian tube is attracted to the egg - the egg releases a chemical and the open end of the fallopian tube is attracted to it. This is why if you've had a fallopian tube removed, your fertility doesn't cut in half, the other side's fallopian tube can noo-noo itself around to the opposite ovary to collect that egg! Madness
3. When an egg is fertilised and it implants, it takes a little while for the placenta to form and begin nourishing the fertilised egg. The egg still needs energy in order to divide and develop, so the uterus secretes what is called 'uterine milk' to sustain the egg until the blood supply comes in (and I believe continues to support alongside the placenta).
A major issue that continues to plague modern society is s*x inequality in medical research. Though there’s been some progress, it’s a problem that has massive impacts on female health on a global scale.
“Historically, medical studies have excluded female participants and research data have been collected from males and generalized to females. The gender gap in medical research, alongside overarching misogyny, results in real-life disadvantages for female patients,” one recent report notes.
The results? “Females remain broadly under-represented in the medical literature, s*x and gender are poorly reported and inadequately analyzed in research, and misogynistic perceptions continue to permeate the narrative.”
#7
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#9
It’s part of what makes us so susceptible to hemorrhage and preeclampsia. And it’s so much harder for humans to miscarry, because we can’t just shunt off our own arteries.
Brain development is just very oxygen hungry. We give birth at the time that the baby’s oxygen needs outstrip our ability to breathe for them and ourselves at the same time. It’s not really hip width!! The hip width thing is mostly a male-gaze reading of the birthing process.
It also allows people to act as if what’s dangerous about childbirth is the birth canal issue. It’s not! Human pregnancy is dangerous because our bodies are literally playing a kind of oxygen-chicken. Cesarean section doesn’t change this fundamental fact.
Dr. Hadine Joffe, executive director of the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told Time magazine that there has been “major progress on s*x-informed research” within the past decade. However, “it’s a mixed story because there’s still such a long way to go.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Jecca Steinberg, from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, said that women are still under-represented in research. “Female representation isn’t proportionate to the burden of disease in many clinical trials,” she said.
There have been some bright spots in recent years, however. “I think the pharmaceutical industry is more cautious now to look in drug trials at the biological impact in males and females,” Dr. Marianne J. Legato, the founder and director of the Foundation for Gender Specific Medicine, said. According to her, between 1997 and 2000, 8 of the 10 d***s removed from the market had greater risks for women. Time notes that women experience adverse reactions to d***s nearly twice as frequently as men do.
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What were your school biology, health, and reproduction lessons like back when you were students, dear Pandas? Do you think that you were taught enough or did you have to do your own research? What knowledge gaps do you feel you could do more to fill but might not have enough time? Let us know in the comments.
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#18
It's called a dermoid teratoma for anyone interested.
#19
28% of PMDD sufferers attempt s****de by age 30.
It's NOT just you. You are NOT imagining it. Look it up.
Practitioners who treat it are few and far between, but they do exist. Go outside your health plan's provider list if you must.
It's worth it. The world needs you.
#20
