“Despite high pregnancy rates, abstinence-only programs still in ... - Brownsville Herald” plus 4 more |
- Despite high pregnancy rates, abstinence-only programs still in ... - Brownsville Herald
- Severe Liver Disease Risk in Offspring Increases With High Fat Diet ... - Med India
- Does Morning Sickness Start During Pregnancy? - PRLog (free press release)
- Ask Professor Foxy: How Does Pregnancy Impact My Sex Drive and Desires ... - Feministing
- Thousands protest abortion in Spain - CNN
| Despite high pregnancy rates, abstinence-only programs still in ... - Brownsville Herald Posted: 17 Oct 2009 07:02 PM PDT For more than a decade, public school districts throughout the Rio Grande Valley and the state have taught students to wait until marriage to have sex to avoid getting pregnant and contracting sexually transmitted diseases. It hasn't worked for everyone. Last year alone, almost 2,000 teenage girls in the Valley ages 13-17 became pregnant, about a dozen fewer than the year before. In both years, the Valley's pregnancy rate was the highest in the state. Pregnancy isn't the only concern. The number of people in the Valley who contracted chlamydia and/or gonorrhea rose by more than 1,500 people from 2007 to 2008. And while the state does not break them down by regions and ages, the highest percentages of cases statewide are among people ages 15-24.
GETTING THE WORD OUT Reta Durham knew something had to change when she noticed the Edcouch-Elsa school district's efforts to teach children to wait until marriage to have sex weren't working. Students were still becoming parents or contracting STDs. In the 2007-08 school year alone, about 100 of the district's 1,582 high school students were either going to have a baby or were already parents, Durham said. "I thought, 'This is ridiculous,'" said Durham, the chairwoman of Edcouch-Elsa High School's family and consumer science department. "This is really sad for these kids." She and other educators at Edcouch-Elsa pushed the district to adopt a more comprehensive sex education program. Last year, the district decided to take a new approach toward teaching high school students about the birds and the bees. The high school began teaching the Big Decisions curriculum, which is marketed as an "abstinence-plus" program, last year in hopes of curbing that trend. Edcouch-Elsa joins other districts throughout the state that have switched to such programs after determining abstinence-only initiatives, which have been required in the state for many years, were not working. Abstinence-plus programs are in line with state recommendations because they still teach that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective method of avoiding pregnancy and contracting STDs, but they include mentioning other forms of birth control as other ways to help prevent getting pregnant or catching a disease. Before, "we just had to tell the kids, 'Don't have sex,'" Durham said. "Some students didn't even know that's how you get pregnant." Edcouch-Elsa learned about the abstinence-plus program through the Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County, which gave a presentation on the curriculum a couple of years ago. "We feel it's a little more comprehensive," said Martha Leos, the association's education supervisor. Teachers are not allowed to bring in condoms or other forms of birth control to show students, Durham said. And as with any sex education program, Edcouch-Elsa High School had parents sign permission slips for their children to take the course. Edcouch-Elsa High has only been using the Big Decisions curriculum for a year, so it's too early to tell how effective it is, Durham said. But so far her students seem responsive and their parents seem to support the new learning model. Leos believes the community is becoming more receptive to such programs because teen pregnancy rates are such a problem. "We can't put our heads in the sand anymore," she said. "We have to give medically accurate information." One of the curriculum's strengths, Leos said, is that it includes a component aimed at helping parents to talk with their children about sex. "Parents need to be more aware now (and be) communicating their values," she said. Many other school districts in Hidalgo County, however, are sticking with abstinence-only programs in compliance with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards for health education. TEKS standards are guidelines set by the State Board of Education as to what objectives should be met in certain subjects. The McAllen school district's school health advisory council is reviewing new abstinence-only programs because the district feels the one being used in schools now is outdated, said Mario Reyna, the district's coordinator for health and physical education and after-school enrichment programs. The school system also uses the Parenting and Paternity Awareness curriculum, which teaches parenting skills to high school students and young adults who are already parents. The Edinburg school district adopted a learning model dubbed Choosing the Best. Though billed as an abstinence-only program, it also includes discussion about the use of condoms and other birth control methods but stops short of supporting them, according to its Web site.
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT Society has become more sexualized in recent years, some parents note. But they have different opinions on who should be the one explaining the birds and the bees to their children. McAllen parent Javier Rangel said he's making sure his children don't go through what he did when he was a teenager. Rangel, 43, said he dropped out of high school and married his girlfriend after she got pregnant. He was working low-paying jobs to support his family and the marriage ended in divorce. Rangel remarried and returned to school, earning an associate degree in information technology, and is now pursuing a bachelor's degree. He talks with his children about the struggles he went through in hopes they don't follow the same path. "You can only educate them … only do so much," he said. "The last choice is going to be made by them." Sex education courses were offered when Rangel was in high school, but he believes parents should be the ones responsible for teaching their children about sex. "I just don't think that school is the place to do that," he said. "I think schools should teach what prepares (students) for college." But Dalia Sanchez, who has a son in junior high school and is an elementary school nurse in San Juan, said she appreciates such programs because they help parents explain to their children the changes they're going through. At the school where she works, Clover Elementary, educators follow state guidelines for talking about puberty and reproduction with students at the elementary level, she said. "Some kids don't get anything from the parents," she pointed out. Such programs can help open a dialogue between parents and their children, especially if parents feel embarrassed or uncomfortable talking about puberty and sex, Sanchez said. Even at the elementary level, she receives a lot of questions from students. "They're very curious nowadays," she said.
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| Severe Liver Disease Risk in Offspring Increases With High Fat Diet ... - Med India Posted: 17 Oct 2009 07:30 PM PDT Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition associated with obesity and caused by the build up of fat in the liver. The condition advances in some people and it is important to understand the factors that contribute to disease progression. Until recently, NAFLD was considered rare and relatively harmless but now it is one of the most common forms of liver disease that may progress to cirrhosis a serious life threatening chronic liver disease. Professor Christopher Byrne, with colleagues Dr Felino Cagampang and Dr Kim Bruce, of the University's School of Medicine and researchers at King's College London, conducted the study, funded by the BBSRC. Prof Byrne explained: "This research shows that too much saturated fat in a mother's diet can affect the developing liver of a fetus, making it more susceptible to developing fatty liver disease later in life. An unhealthy saturated fat-enriched diet in the child and young adult compounds the problem further causing a severe form of the fatty liver disease later in adult life." Source-ANI This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Does Morning Sickness Start During Pregnancy? - PRLog (free press release) Posted: 17 Oct 2009 02:01 PM PDT PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 17, 2009 – This is very popular question! Does Morning Sickness Start During Pregnancy? Yes is the answer. More than fifty percent of pregnant women suffer from Morning Sickness or Nausea Gravidarum.
This sickness comes along with vomiting. Many doctors feel that morning sickness is a good sign for would be mother because they believe that the placenta is developing well. http://www.mymorningsicknesscures.info/
The first signs of pregnancy are supposed to be nausea and vomiting which starts around 6th week of pregnancy. In the case of excessive vomiting this dilemma is known as hyperemesis gravidarum. This can prove harmful for mother and baby if it is not treated properly in time. There is more probability for a woman to suffer from morning sickness if she uses hormonal contraception. One might try some easy tips for getting rid of this problem. She should not drink water or fluids while eating food. Water should be drunk before half an hour or after half an hour of meals. Small meals five to six times may be taken to avoid vomiting. Fluids should be taken frequently to avoid dehydration. Plenty of rest should be taken and warm places should be avoided. A woman suffering from morning sickness should not cook or eat spicy food. She should get enough sleep in night. She might take naps in the day but right after eating meals should be avoided. Start drinking non caffeinated drinks like peppermint and ginger tea. These drinks are helpful in calming nausea. There are some of the suggested meals that are advisable for pregnant woman such as cold foods such as sandwiches, raw vegetables, salad, Bland foods like chicken soup, broth, plain baked potato, plain vegetables and fruits. Intake of Vitamin B6 50 mg a day is helpful in eradicating pregnancy-induced nausea.
Start eating protein snacks frequently. Low fat meats, seafood, nuts, eggs and beans are supposed to be high in protein. To Get Rid Of Morning Sickness Permanently Visit - http://www.mymorningsicknesscures.info/ This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Ask Professor Foxy: How Does Pregnancy Impact My Sex Drive and Desires ... - Feministing Posted: 17 Oct 2009 02:01 PM PDT This weekly Saturday column "Ask Professor Foxy" will regularly contain sexually explicit material. This material is likely not safe for work viewing. The title of the column will include the major topic of the post, so please read the topic when deciding whether or not to read the entire column. Dear Professor Foxy, However, since I have become pregnant, long romantic nights of love making no longer happen due to my desire to have rough sex. I do want a romantic scene sometimes but more often than not, it's a wild, intense, passionate fuck. We have sex more often and when we do, I am on top (due to how fabulous being on top is and my large belly) and we both get into an intense, wild frenzy of naugthy talk, pulling and many quick orgasms instead of one large one. Furthermore, while my partner satisfies me very well in the bedroom, I masturbate more often then on average, even after we have sex. I know that many women who are pregnant desire sex more but I am on a trip that I feel has no end in sight. I do miss our long romantic love making sessions but these hard ramps are giving me my fix. Is this something that will pass or am I in for the long haul? Is my pregnancy causing this desire and need for rough hanky panky or am I entering a new phase of my sexuality? If there is any advice you can give me I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks Hello Sexy Sue Who - A dear friend of mine and I were talking about what sex felt like while she was pregnant. One of her thoughts sticks out at me: "Honey, when you are pregnant, you just want to and need to fuck. Your desire is sooo strong." And my friend is not a woman with a low sex drive. Good for you for being able to be sexual and pregnant. Hormones impact our bodies and our desires and our sex drives. Pregnant women have stronger hormones, so a stronger desire for sex and a particular kind of sex, should not surprise us. Unfortunately in our society, pregnant women are too often seen as either asexual or sick for having sexual desires. When a woman stops being pregnant, those hormones dive down (often one of the reasons for post partum depression) and then go back to where they were pre-pregnancy. Your sex drive and desires may very well go back as well. There is really no predictive factor. All you can do is ride it out and see where your body and desires end up. Best, If you have a question for Professor Foxy, send it to ProfessorFoxyATfeministingDOTcom. 0 TrackBacksListed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Ask Professor Foxy: How Does Pregnancy Impact My Sex Drive and Desires?. TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/16660 9 CommentsThis content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Thousands protest abortion in Spain - CNN Posted: 17 Oct 2009 09:32 PM PDT MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Thousands flocked to Spain's capital Saturday to protest the Socialist government's move to make it easier to get an abortion.  Protesters in Madrid on Saturday demonstrate against legislation to loosen restrictions on abortion in Spain. The anti-abortion protest, themed "each life is important," began at 5 p.m. in central Madrid and many leading conservative politicians attended, including former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Local media estimated the crowd in the tens of thousands. The protest was prompted by a proposed law that would ease restrictions on obtaining an abortion. Since 1985, abortion has been decriminalized, but only in matters of rape, or when the health of the child or mother is at risk. Victims of rape can legally get an abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy, and women can opt for abortions until the 22nd week of pregnancy if doctors detect a malformation of the fetus. Most abortions in Spain are performed when the woman's psychological or physical health is at risk, and mainly in private clinics, abortion clinic staffers at Dator Clinic in Madrid told CNN. The number of abortions has doubled in the past decade in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, from nearly 54,000 in 1998 to 112,000 in 2007, the most recent year for available data, according to Spain's Ministry of Health. The Socialist government has introduced a bill that would make it easier to get an abortion and give it legal backing, riling up abortion opponents, who already rallied thousands of demonstrators to the streets last March. The bill, soon to be debated in Parliament, would permit abortions through 14 weeks of pregnancy and set the legal age to obtain an abortion without parental consent at 16 years old. Supporters say the bill includes the "voluntary interruption of pregnancy" as part of a broader national strategy on sexual and reproductive health, with education and access to contraceptives, aimed at preventing unwanted pregnancies. Unwanted pregnancies have been on the rise in Spain, said Equality Minister Bibiana Aido in May, shortly before the introduction of the bill. But opponents say the proposed law throws open the door to more abortions. Benigno Blanco, director of Spanish Family Forum who organized the protest, told conservative newspaper ABC that "this debate won't end until there's not a single abortion." Blanco was a senior official in Aznar's government. Protesters traveled to the rally from various cities across Spain, and the event had the support of 234 anti-abortion groups from 45 countries, organizers said. The ruling Socialist party called the conservative-run protest "hypocritical" in a statement Saturday. The marchers said they opposed abortion in general, but the party said conservatives did nothing to completely outlaw abortion during their eight years in power. Socialist lawmaker Carmen Monton said the protesters are trying to "take the debate back to 20 years ago, when in fact abortion has been going on in Spain." She said the Socialists, despite the protest on Saturday, are confident of passing the bill with the support of several smaller, mainly leftist parties in parliament. But due to parliamentary schedules, it may not face a vote to become law until early next spring. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
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I loved the crazy sex dreams I had when I was pregnant. In one memorable one, I walked up to a mini-van (ah, the car symbol of being a mother if there ever was one) and I open the siding side door and inside was a huge group of people, women and men, all having crazy sex! It was awesome.
And remember, at the end of pregnancy, sex can help start labor. It worked for me when I had my baby this past May!
Wow. This almost makes me excited to get pregnant. Almost.
Hormones impact our bodies and our desires and our sex drives. Pregnant women have stronger hormones, so a stronger desire for sex and a particular kind of sex, should not surprise us.
Why is everyone always talking about testosterone as the "sexy" hormone when I'm going to guess pregnant women have very high levels of estrogen and progestin, so these must act as sexy hormones too. I have a stronger sex drive just before my period. So what's up with the testosterone shit?
I also get almost unbearably horny the week before my period.
I think this answer is a little oversimplified, and falls into the "I heard from a friend" trap. Do some women have much higher sex drives during pregnancy? Yes. Do some women have much lower sex drives during pregnancy? Yes. It really depends. My mom said her sex drive was much, much higher during pregnancy, whereas when I was pregnant, my sex drive was practically zilch. Hormones don't necessarily affect every woman the same way--for example, why do hormones cause some women (like me) to have terrible morning sickness, but others (like my mom) to have none at all? We definitely shouldn't be looking at pregnant women like they're too sick or delicate or asexual to want sex, but we also shouldn't be looking at pregnant women who DON'T have a high sex drive as abnormal.
I agree with the original questioner. I wanted a very active sex life during pregnancy.
"Ride it out." Nice. :)
My mom told me (in one of her many "TMI" moments when I didn't really care to know) that when she was pregnant, the pressure of the fetus against her everything made her want to masturbate more. I guess that would make some kind of sense. If a fetus is squeezing down on your bladder, surely it's squeezing down on everything else too.
But I still didn't need to know. I think I was about 13 when she told me. o__o For no good reason. Hurray, TMI moms.
I think it's a kind of a roll of the dice as to what pregnancy does to a sex drive. First of all, it's a physiological roller coaster - during a pregnancy a woman's body changes more and more rapidly than at any other time in her life, except when she was in the womb herself. On top of that comes the mental roller coaster - all the sociological baggage about what is and isn't acceptable for a pregnant woman to feel/think/do. You should also not expect to bounce right back to whatever kind of sexuality you had before you got pregnant. When we first got married, my wife had an extremely high sex drive, and it stayed high during her first pregnancy. Afterwords, her physical desire absolutely flat-lined then slowly recovered over the course of a couple years, tho it never reached the same heights as before. It bottomed out again after her second pregnancy, and is just starting to climb more than 2 years after the fact. I guess what I'm trying to say is be ready for anything, roll with it as best as you can, and hope your partner can roll with you. As with all things sexual, how you feel and what you desire is never "wrong."