Even after reading just a few sentences of Riverbend’s blog, I was amazed at how strong and wonderful this woman is. She posts things and says things that many are scared to say. American families take so much for granted and lead such blind lives. The only worry we have is whether or not we are going to have a bad hair day. These families have to worry whether or not they will all wake up alive. They have to face the facts that women around them are being treated in ways that, to us, seem so inhumane and they have to live in fear that they may be next.
Breast Cancer Awareness October 11, 2007
I’m sure everyone this week wrote about Breast Cancer Awareness…so I will too. My paternal grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 5 years old. I vaguely remember seeing her after her mastectomy while she was getting chemotherapy. I remember her hair not looking quite right and she just looked like she didn’t feel well at all. But after what seem like just a short time, she was back to her normal self. She ran the MHMR (Mental Health and Mental Retardation) Center for the county. She held summer camp for all of her grandchildren, all 14 of us. We stayed with her for a week during the summer doing arts and crafts, visiting the zoo, having sleep overs and other fun things. But then when I was about 9 years old, she got real sick again. I didn’t understand what was happening but the cancer was back. She was in and out of the hospital. The cancer had progressed to far to do anything so we all just waited. We slowly watched her lose weight, lose her appetite, lose her energy…lose everything thing that was truly her. I felt so bad for my father and his brothers. My dad’s father died when he was just 16 years old from lung cancer. Now they were having to watch their beloved mother go through the same pain as their father.
We still visit my grandmother when we drive through town. We drop off fresh flowers and talk for a little while. It is not very often we get up there because none of our family lives there anymore. But sometimes we go out of the way just to say “Hello”. She is buried next to her first husband, my dad’s father. It is such a pieceful place.
Plastic Surgery…Who would have thought? October 11, 2007
I really didn’t think there would be such a strong reaction this week on labiaplasty. I think too many people think that these women are only having the surgery to please their men. I’m sure there are many women out there that are having plastic surgery to please their men. One prime example is a friend of my mother’s. She is probably in her late 40s and just remarried. The man that she married goes on and on about how he loves her body and what great shape she is in….but her boobs are just too small. He thinks she should get breast implants. WHAT?!?! So she is seriously considering getting it done. That is something that I don’t understand. So I can understand a woman being pressured into having labiaplasty. Her partner wants her to look like the girls do in porn movies or magazines. These people, I think we can all agree, are doing this for the wrong reason.
On the other hand there are people who have labiaplasty performed for, what I would consider, valid reasons. They might have pain when they have sex. Or maybe they are personally embarrassed to have labias as large as they do. For these women, I don’t think its about looking like a porn star but being more comfortable and more self confident. Imagine being in a swimming suit and feeling like your swimming suit looks funny because your labias are so big.
Each person has a different story to tell.
