Links: Reproductive Freedom

Landmark Report Concludes Abortion In U.S. Is Safe (NPR, 16 March 2018)
The report is: The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018).

Tabbot Foundation telephone abortion service is safe and effective, review finds (SMH, 4 April 2017)

The rate of abortion in Australia is lower than you think (ABC, 13 December 2017)
According to this article, medical organisations continue to greatly overstate Australia's abortion rate when promoting long-acting reversible contraceptives, or LARCs. (One of these, the Implanon implant, left me with permanent menorrhagia.)

Why Birth Control Is an Economic Issue (DailyWorth, 8 July 2015)
The economic benefits of contraception access.

A day in the life of an abortion nurse (SMH, 6 October 2017)
Provides a general overview of abortion in Australia.

From the US: the National Network of Abortion Funds assists pregnant people with the cost of abortion.

Complications from Unsafe Abortions Are a Daily Emergency (Medicins Sans Frontieres, 2 March 2017). Pregnant people in developing countries face the same kinds of barriers as those in developed countries: legal, accessibility, and financial.

Links: LGBT+

The gay, transgender and bisexual men on Manus are forced into silence (GA, 16 May 2018). "No one knows how many gay, transgender or bisexual refugees live on Manus, but what is clear is that the suffering they experienced in their countries has been repeated on Manus in a disastrous way."

Children with gender dysphoria no longer have to seek court approval to undergo surgery (ABC, March 16 2018). "The Family Court has decided it will no longer intervene in cases where children with gender dysphoria have the permission of their parents and treating doctors to undergo surgery."

The hidden $100,000 price tag on being transgender (ABC, 2 March 2018). Transitioning ain't cheap.

On Liking Women (N+1 Magazine 30, winter 2018). Long, entertaining and insightful look at transphobia and feminism, often very funny. Includes a quote from Robin Morgan I've long puzzled over: "... thirty-two years of suffering in this androcentric society, and of surviving, have earned me the title 'woman'". I myself didn't have to do anything to earn the title; it was assigned to me by "this androcentric society". OTOH, there's this quote from transphobe Sheila Jeffreys - "Transgenderism on the part of men can be seen as a ruthless appropriation of women's experience and existence." Not this little black gender non-conforming duck.

The Politics of Your Piffling Little Planet (The Caretaker)
Ms Elizabeth Sandifer destroys Gareth Roberts.

Links: Miscellaneous Gender Stuff

There's no such thing as a male or female brain, study finds (Stat 30 November 2015). The study is: Sex beyond the genitalia: The human brain mosaic

Menopausal killer whales hold key to family's survival (ABC, 6 March 2015). Most animals continue reproducing until they die, so why do some animals undergo menopause - what's the evolutionary advantage? Research suggests it's because they support their descendants with their accumulated knowledge. (I've just imagined a whale having a hot flush and steam coming out of her blowhole.)

Inside a fading Chinese culture ruled by women (Washington Post, 12 July 2017). The matriarchal Mosuo.

Popular feminism in the digital age: How the personal has been made commercial (ABC, 1 September 2017). The vexed connection between feminism and women's magazines - between feminism and feminine culture, or femininity culture. The editor of Teen Vogue: "I can't tell you how many times I've been in the bathroom with another woman ... we feel we have nothing in common but we talk about a great lipstick shade or great hair ... and it's just this doorway for connection and for understanding and for dialogue." This is another experience I will never have.