Category: essay

To All Women in Tech*

thoughts, leadership

Josepha Haden Chomphosy's avatarShedding Light not heat

There are many “right ways” to be a woman in tech, and I hope that people have learned to welcome you with open arms. But at the same time, I worry that some women may not feel brave enough to ask if they are welcome.

I have something subversive to share with you.

I once felt that to be a woman in a male-dominated field (that’s just existing, not even excelling) you had to be as un-female as possible. I had this suspicion in the back of my mind that not allowing women to express themselves as women (but then also claiming them as part of your diverse workforce) — I had this suspicion that it was a lie.

Then I had two great chats with two great women, and I’m going to share their wisdom forever. And I’m writing it here so that you can, too.

  1. Helen 侯-Sandí and…

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A Very Un-ladylike Embryo Transfer

embryo transfer, FET, frozen embryo transfer, infertility, ivf, pcos

infertilitycopingj's avatarInfertility Coping

**this is an old post of mine that I drafted over the summer after my first FET. Figured I’d share it now. I did not post it in “real time” because I didn’t want to jynx anything. This was the FET that resulted in my 3rd miscarriage. I sounded so happy and optimistic below, sigh…***

When I first started blogging I told myself to try to stay away from my personal medical details, but once I got thrown into the realm of IVF I feel myself crossing the boundary between sharing and oversharing! Full disclosure, I get pretty blunt here- but not too graphic or anything. The purpose isn’t to scare you about transfers, but rather to provide some comic relief to this whole thing! Something where you can say, “glad that didn’t happen to me!”

Ok, so my transfer is a frozen embryo transfer. To prep my uterus for…

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Fed is Best

Brittany Behler's avatarLittle Bit of Britt

As if being a new parent isn’t hard enough the expectations that come with it just tops the nonexistent cake.

Breast is best, keep your supply up, don’t brag about your oversupply. Formula? It’s the devil. Feed on demand. Hold off on supplementing but make sure your child isn’t hungry.

I did it. I breastfeed my son for two months. Let me tell you the ugly truth. We BOTH were miserable.

I reeked of sour milk constantly. My breast had a let down when I did something as simple as sneezing. Gray shirts were a no go even with layers of pads tucked into my bra. With much excitement after giving birth to sleep on my stomach once again, I couldn’t due to constant engorgement. I was waking up more to pump then to feed. Running errands took twice as long due to the need to pump in the car…

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We’re Kidding Ourselves: Self-Objectification is not Self-Empowerment

gisellehengst's avatarWGS 2225: Women in Popular Culture

by Giselle Hengst

The line between whether representations of female sexuality in the media amount to female empowerment or objectification is a blurry one. There is a very real need for normalizing displays of women’s sexuality, yet a lot of images in the media that claim to do so heavily cater to the male pornographic gaze. This creates a paradox wherein it is easy to condemn any representation of female sexuality as a product of the male pornographic gaze. It’s easy to feel as though this oppressive conundrum has no solution. One solution supported by liberal feminists is that we should disregard the concept of the male gaze, otherwise it would be impossible to ever represent female sexuality.

However, just because we choose to participate in a dominating system doesn’t mean it ceases to be oppressive. In the words of Black feminist thinker Audre Lorde, “the master’s tools will never…

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We need to talk about sex

couple , dyspareunia , health , painful sex , relationship , sexual health , vaginal tear , vaginismus

Eloïse's avatar

Last week, I shared a video from the BBC on my instagram, about a condition called vaginismus, and alluded to my experience with dyspareunia (painful sex). I encouraged women to seek GP advice or talk to me if they were experiencing this. To my surprise, 11 people reacted or directly messaged me on the topic (I’ve assigned them a random number to be able to refer to them anonymously throughout this blog). 

I have written about a lot of the things I have been through before, but I’ve only ever alluded to the problems I have had in my sex life; I was always wary of what people might think when it comes to talking about sex.

But now, I’ve seen the reactions that opening up has had, and I’ve recently read Emma Barnett’s Period book, so maybe that’s why I feel empowered to share my story. Or maybe it’s…

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