Women need more sources for health information, author says

[Guest guest]

Women need more sources for health information, author

says

By Burns

News Writer Online

10/18/2005

Although Botox parties are gaining popularity and

receiving breast implants as graduation or birthday

presents is becoming more common, young women are

often not well informed about what they are doing when

they make these and other decisions about their

health, said Judy Norsigian, executive director and a

founding member of the Boston Women’s Health Book

Collective.

Norsigian showed pictures of breasts deformed by

leaking silicon implants and surgeries gone wrong.

“I was horrified when I saw the pictures of the faulty

breast implants and that the surgeons never provided

substantial warnings,” Millard, ’08, said.

Sardella, ’08, said the pictures inspired her

to take a closer look at the collective book Norsigian

was promoting, the recently published, eighth edition

of “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” which created controversy

in high schools and public libraries when it was first

published in 1970.

The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective publication

is “changing the ways in which we have reached out to

an audience who does not get good information on

women’s health,” Norsigian said Monday at a

presentation entitled “The Media and Women's Health:

Sorting Fact From Fiction,” which was sponsored by the

Women’s Center and Women’s Studies department.

Cosmetic surgery, the fastest growing medical

specialty in the United States, should not be taken

lightly, Norsigian said, and women should research

information from sources besides surgeons before

undergoing surgery.

The collective is a non-profit organization that is

committed to publishing information on topics that

include sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, women

and health care reform and genetics and reproductive

technology.

Norsigian began her presentation with statistics about

eating disorders. She said 63 percent of high school

girls and 16 percent of boys report dieting to lose

weight, 42 percent of first to third graders want to

be thinner, and, in a study of 682 non-anorexic,

college-age students, 3 percent were found to be

bulimic.

Norsigian stressed that eating disorders are not a

“quick fix.” She recommended the Web site

www.about-face.org, which she said does a good job of

reaching out to college-age adolescents.

The site “tries to help girls develop a more positive

body image and does its work with humor,” she said.

Norsigian said cigarettes have recently been written

into television and movie scripts, making the idea of

smoking appear more attractive. She said in “Mona

Smile,” cigarettes or tobacco companies were referred

to or shown every four minutes.

In 2002, 25 percent of 16-24 year olds smoked,

Norsigian said, and of smokers surveyed, 83 percent

thought they could quit if they wanted to, but only 25

percent succeeded in stopping for more than just one

week.

“I was surprised at the number of people who still

smoked and died from tobacco use,” said Marissa

Basile, ’08.

During the question and answer session, one student

asked what a woman can do to fight an addiction to

tobacco. Norsigian mentioned the American Cancer

Society, tobacco prevention programs and the

smoke-free coalition in the Lehigh Valley.

Norsigian said advertisements overstate the benefits

and understate the risks of drugs. She said that ads

are geared to sell the product, not educate the user.

“Women often get prescribed drugs with no evidence

that they’ll benefit from them,” Norsigian said.

She said some prescription drugs are overused, misused

or, in some situations, cause the very problems which

they are supposed to be treating.

Viagra, for example, which was created to treat male

erectile dysfunction, is now advertised in magazines

and on television. She said she has heard the drug has

been used on college campuses to increase erection

time, and that it is “not an insignificant drug” and

should be used with caution.