Health// “I’m not a typical, white nerdy guy”: challenging stereotypes on World Autism Awareness Day
By Sally Patterson
It’s been almost 80 years since Austrian-American psychiatrist and physician Leo Kanner first diagnosed someone with autism, yet prejudices and misconceptions about ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) continue to prevail.
Autistic artist and advocate Mahlia Amatina is working hard to challenge the narrative. She’s determined to counter age-old notions about autism.
“It’s still characterised in the media as being male, like if you’re female you’re not going to be autistic,” she explained. “This nerdy, geeky stereotype, someone who has loads of collections, who isn’t able to make eye contact or make friends, who can’t be in a relationship. These are the stereotypes that come to mind, which are just wrong. I’m not a typical, white nerdy guy, so I’m hoping to raise awareness.”
Health// 7 Things to Know if You Are Having Surgery During a Pandemic.
By Sophia Kleanthous
I got a lot of advice before I went into surgery which was amazing, but I quickly found out a lot of it didn’t fit with my experience. So here are some top tips and a list of what to expect if you are having surgery during the pandemic. Obviously, this is just my experience so this may not be the case, but here is what I learnt!
Health// This is What UK College Students Want You to Know About Their Mental Health During the Pandemic.
By Emillie Belmore
The COVID-19 pandemic reached the United Kingdom in January 2020, since then the British public have endured three national lockdowns and over 104,000 deaths. Understandably, this has challenged many people’s mental health, with 49.6% of adults living in the UK reporting high levels of anxiety at the start of the first national lockdown. Colleges and sixth forms have closed; traditional exams have been cancelled. There has been a devastating mental impact for university students, which the British media has rightly highlighted. But what about college students?
Health// This Is Our Everyday: How COVID Has Changed Life For The Chronically Ill.
By Samantha Gehrls
I say to people all the time that my life was probably one of the least affected by COVID compared to others around me. I have had friends lose jobs, be forced to move, lose family members or friends, those who are frontline workers. But me? I’ve been homebound with my parents for the last two and a half years due to chronic illness. I have five autoimmune diseases and a plethora of other ailments that have me frequently hospitalized (over ten times in 2020) and that cause me such distress that I am bed bound a lot of days and live a very different life than my friends or a “normal” 24 year old.
Health// In Defence of Walking: A Critique of Sports Snobbery, Diet Culture and All Things Lycra.
By Frances Whittaker
I more regularly write about feminism, but for once I’m writing about something other than that, or rather feminism-adjacent. I’m writing in defence of walking. Running and cycling’s older cousin, it comes from the idea that humans should use their legs to get somewhere without being clad in hundreds of pounds worth of lycra (although you can do that too, if you want). Walking is a form of exercise for almost anybody. It’s underestimated, overlooked, and seems like a mockery next to other sports. Despite this, it’s accessible, it’s good for you, and it requires very little specialist kit.
Health// Problems with the Medical Model of Disability.
By Eleanor Barnett
This is a difficult piece to write, but an important topic that needs to be addressed, and something I wish I had heard of sooner. I came across the medical model of disability while researching ADHD as I await my appointment at an adult ADHD clinic in June, where I’ll hopefully get a clinical diagnosis. I found basic information about ADHD on the NHS website, but wanted to find content that had been created by actual ADHD-ers, particularly other women as we are underdiagnosed due to the diagnostic manuals being based on research conducted on white boys, and ADHD presents differently in different people, including women (thank you, society). A lot of neurodivergent people have talked about and disagree with the medical model, and after learning more about it I can see why.
Health// What is Endometriosis and Why Don’t We Talk About It?
By Hannah Marie ZT
Endometriosis is a long-term condition that can affect women of any age. It is extremely common, effecting one in nine women across the world. However, most people know very little about what it is and how to detect it. This is a significant problem that results in many women living in pain without knowing why or being able to properly treat the condition. Awareness needs to be raised about endometriosis, and women should be encouraged to seek medical advice when they are experiencing symptoms. This will help break down the taboo that exists around the topic, and hopefully help others feel more comfortable about seeking help.
Health// So, Your Sex Is On Fire: A No-Nonsense Guide To Bartholin’s Cysts
By Chloe De Lullington
It’s remarkable just how much I don’t know about my own body. (Sorry in advance to my mother, who doubtless never dreamed of her daughter talking in graphic detail about her vagina on the internet, but here we find ourselves.) Last week, I found out about my Bartholin’s glands via Bartholin’s cysts – aka, the hard way. Over four days, I went from being my usual levels of stressed (skin breakouts, my new kittens suddenly needing the vet, the general state of the world being both diseased and on fire) to a new and altogether more painful form of stressed.
Health// Why We Should Make the Most of Women’s Health Check Ups.
By Hannah Marie ZT
Women’s health has a taboo around it, meaning that many people find it uncomfortable to discuss. This can result in women knowing little about what an OBGYN/Gynaecology appointment or general women’s health check-up involves. It is important that you look after your physical health, and regular appointments can help you do this. Women’s health appointments are also vital for potentially catching more serious conditions such as cancer early. Many illnesses are more treatable when they are detected early – particularly issues such as breast cancer. You can also receive guidance on how to perform quick health checks at home, one of the most important being a breast self-examination which should be carried out every month.
TW: Disordered Eating// Glamorising Weight Loss: Why We Do It More Than We’d Like To Admit and How We Can Stop!
By Yasmin Rashid
This summer, amidst the global pandemic and constant updates on where we could go, when, and for how long, you may have seen another big story in the headlines - Adele made a comeback.
It was Adele, but not like we’d seen her before. She’d lost a lot of weight. The big story, really, was her appearance and how much it had changed. One clever headline – ‘Someone like who?’- suggested she was almost unrecognisable.
Health// PCOS, An Acronym for Broken?
By Brianna Dèsir
I remember growing up how important it was to be girly. I had to wear pretty dresses, like feminine colors, and even speak “girly”. I wasn’t much of a tomboy per se, but I wasn’t akin to your average girl. I preferred shows like Ben 10 and Generator Rex over Barbie. I was bullied for these things. That as well as after hitting puberty, my peach fuzz was a little too dark, my voice didn’t have that same high pitch as everyone else, but it never made me feel different. I never felt less than or like I wasn’t a woman until I turned 18.
Health// It’s Not ‘Just Womxn’s Stuff’ - The Trauma of Being Dismissed.
By Sophie Seger
Medical trauma is something that affects countless people – it can occur when we experience something deeply traumatic within the medical system. For womxn this experience often differs to that of men. Both are valid and important to look at; however, I will be focussing on my own reality as a womxn and highlighting serious issues surrounding this shared experience.
I was 19 when I woke up in agony, a day that I did not realise at the time would be such a turning-point in my life. From that day onwards I have been unwell – some days better than others, but I have a chronic illness called endometriosis (endo) and for me that looks like being in pain most days.
Health// Sex Education is Failing.
By Ruth Wormington
Thinking back to sex education at school, I think we can all agree that it was universally poor. But I want to examine exactly what it was that we were missing. There are three key things that really stand out to me, which absolutely boil my blood because I can see blatant repercussions of these simple omissions from my education across my life. Not receiving sex education around what a healthy relationship is landed me in a toxic one for three whole years. Not learning about female sexuality led me to believe that masturbation was dirty long after I had first had sex. Not learning about LGBTQ+ sex education reinforced my own internalised beliefs towards my bisexuality, meaning I wasn’t able to acknowledge my attraction to other genders until I reached university…
TW: Mental illness, suicide // Destigmatising medication for mental health illnesses.
By Mhairi Claire Lynch
In fact, admitting that you cannot function without something that is so heavily stigmatised is often one of the hardest things to do. It would be wrong of me to argue that pain isn’t part of life, but just as an ear infection is painful, so too is a mental disorder. No one praises someone for not taking antibiotics to aid an ear infection.
Health// Why body positivity does not promote obesity.
By Kathryn O’Connell
What I mean by this is that fatphobic comments are encouraging negative body image and this can lead to physical and mental issues such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders and even heart issues. Dr Stacy Berman says that “negative body image is an actual and well-documented causation of obesity. The only environment our bodies can achieve and sustain physical and mental health is in a positive one.” Having a few plus sized models in the media isn’t going to make us all obese. However, having only one body type (obese, fat, thin or otherwise) advertised for many years is unhealthy and will continue to lead to mental and physical health problems.
Health// Calories, Menus and the Brain: an open letter to the eating disorder recovery community.
By Isobel Clough
There are so many things I could say about the UK government’s new ‘anti-obesity’ policies. I could talk about how unlikely they are to reduce obesity? How they disregard the large body of research showing that dieting does not work? Or how flagrantly they ignore, and maybe even exacerbate, the impact of socioeconomic circumstances on food choices?
However, what I really want to talk about is what this means for people in the eating disorder recovery community. This is partly because I can call myself an expert-by-experience when it comes to eating disorders in a way that I can’t with those other criticisms; I was diagnosed with anorexia in 2017, after developing an eating disorder in my mid-teens.
TW: Sexual Assault// Healthy weight, unhealthy mind.
By Zoe Burnett
In tears, he looked me in the eye and said, “can you really not see what this is doing to you? It is killing you”. For 14 years, I have struggled with a-typical anorexia, and to this very day, I still find myself having to validate my illness, validate my struggles, because I am “not slim enough to have an eating disorder”, or “I am too fat to have an eating disorder”. I use to binge, and then restrict, constantly yo-yo-ing in weight, constantly obsessing over my weight and size, warped by an obsession with body image.
Health// Healing trauma through social media.
By Hannah Gartrell
I share my experience because I have been so surprised by the power of using social media to reclaim my story and publicly own my narrative. Instead of shying away, and living with intense shame and anxiety, I am now an open book.
The catalyst for this change was the fact that this routine operation closely mirrored a trauma I experienced at 16. I’ve never fully confronted that experience, and in the weeks following the operation, I began having symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Health// Unmask yourself, Sis.
By Leila
Arya's situation is something many strong women experience. It can be tiresome to hold on to an invincible persona while suppressing your human side. As a strong person, people tend to assume that you're self sufficient, don't need anyone, are not vulnerable and have no weaknesses. The truth is... we all need someone. Someone to reciprocate what we give, to understand the vulnerability behind our strong persona, to embrace our feminine softness and not expect us to hold it together.
Health// The difference between beauty ideals and health.
By Aggie Payne
Picture a blonde, tanned, white woman, with long slim legs, toned abs and curves in all the right places. She’s probably laughing, too, and holding a salad. The Western ideal of beauty. We’ve all seen it and, girls, let’s be honest, we’ve all wanted it. Many of us have pursued diet after diet in a frenzy to achieve what we believe is perfection. And when dieting started to become unacceptable, we switched to lifestyle changes.