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November 2

11-02 TABLE of CONTENTS: Women and HIV Breast Cancer Detection DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and EVENTS QUOTES by Gabrielle I. Edwards, Audre Lorde and Lillian Hellman. Women and HIV       According to various studies, a woman is 2.3 times more likely to contract HIV in man-woman intercourse than the man and the rate goes higher if the woman already has a disease such as vaginitas or uses a UID. The reasons are obvious to any woman. Sally Zieler of Brown University School of Medicine said this fact underscores the need for methods a woman can employ without the male partner's cooperation.       "Women... need the skills and resources to protect themselves physically in their relationships with me. Because of poverty they do not have options that allow sexual negotiation and sexual choices." (USA Today, 10/31/94.)       Any woman who has unprotected sexual intercourse with a man is asking to yet increase the stats that make women the fastest growing (and soon to be largest) segment of the population to be HIV infected. (And use a condom you provide that you are SURE of. "They" may be making fun of women's condoms, but they work.)       In the houses of prostitution patronized by U.S. servicemen in Asia, the rate of women with HIV is estimated at 90%.       "AIDS started in Africa as a disease sexually transmitted by heterosexuals, and its fastest growth rate in (the U.S.A.) is now among teenagers and women. So far, the only group spared by sexual preference is lesbians, a fact that must give some pause to those believe that it is all God's plan."             -- Molly Ivins, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 1992, as reprinted in Nothin' But Good Times Ahead. New York: Random House, Inc., 1993. ISBN 0-679-41915-2. | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE | Breast Cancer Detection       "I was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer, which fortunately had not metastasized. While most male doctors tend to offer drastic mastectomy, it has been shown that a lumpectomy, along with radiation or hormonal therapy can be just as effective and does offer a 90% cure rate.       "Any women with questions should call the 1-800-4 cancer hot line. These people are very helpful in explaining new clinical trials and other programs for cancer patients.       "I had to find out most of this information on my own and feel that until there is more responsibility on the government's part (and doctors?) all women should take the matter into their own hands, because breast cancer is one of the few cancers that if found in its earlier stages can be cured or controlled.       "Finally, a woman should not be afraid to ask her doctor as many questions as she feels is needed to answer her questions. I would even suggest that they get a copy of their medical records, to make sure what she is being told is actual facts. Make sure an estrogen essay test is given. Make sure a biopsy of the lymph nodes is done and if there are any doubts always ask for a second opinion.       "Breast cancer is one disease where it is better to know than to take the stand that what one doesn't know won't hurt, especially when you are looking at a 90% cure rate in early cases."             -- Myrna Brown, 1992       The breast you examine once-a-month is the one you want to save. | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE | 11-02 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and EVENTS B. 11-02-1755, Marie Antoinette, contrary to popular stories, a decisive and able politician. Her mother and mentor was the master politician Maria Theresa who is arguably one of the three greatest women rulers in western civilization along with Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great. B. 11-02-1890, Moa Martinson, Swedish novelist raised in that terrible poverty and misery, wrote about the conditions of the agricultural laborer, the landless worker of the Swedish countryside. B. 11-02-1892, Alice Brady, stage and screen actress, won Academy Awards for supporting roles in Old Chicago,1937, and Young Mr. Lincoln, 1939. B. 11-02-1896, Constance Winchell, legendary reference librarian of Columbia University 1941-1962, compiled Guide to Reference Books (1951; 1967) B. 11-02-1936, Rose Elizabeth Bird, became Chief Justice, California Supreme Court 1977/87. She was a judge in Tuscon, Arizona, and California Secretary of Agriculture (1975) Her widowed mother installed plexiglass windows on transport planes to support her three children. B. 11-02-1942, Shere Hite, author and researcher. Her best known work, The Hite Report, one of the pioneer works on the realities of women's sexuality not censored by men's views. | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE | | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE | QUOTES DU JOUR EDWARDS, GABRIELLE I.:       "Abusive men, whether rapists, batterer, or sexual harasser, can be likened to members of terrorist groups -- their control and power are bolstered by fear of violence created in women. As long as women exist in a state of terror, abusive men feel greater power."             -- Gabrielle I. Edwards, Coping with Discrimination (1992) LORDE, AUDRE:       "To share the power of each other's feelings is different from using another's feelings as we would use a Kleenex."             -- Audre Lorde HELLMAN, LILLIAN:       "I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions."             -- Lillian Hellman in defying U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy's so-called unAmerican hearings. | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE | | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE |