Month: November 2014
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Menstrual Taboos
Culture shapes behaviour, attitudes and beliefs -or is it the other way around? The chicken or the egg? This has puzzled me since I was a child wondering why everybody I knew wore jeans but in pictures the people living in, say, India did not. And the members of my family –uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins- all…
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The Begging Bowl
We all have needs; we are all mendicants at some level. Sometimes subtle: a smile that begs response, a look that hopes for more; sometimes obvious: a verbal request, or even a sign that solicits aid. But sometimes it is more blatant. Glaring. Almost rude. I was once accused of that –of shameless, brazen panhandling. And right…
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Breast and Ovarian Cancer Screening
I am sometimes troubled by the concept of risk. I mean how can we possibly decide whether or not a risk is acceptable? No matter the statistics, if the issue under consideration doesn’t happen, then the risk assumed was acceptable. So far, so good. But of course the converse is also true: no matter how low the risk,…
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Have Hypnosis, May Travel…
“You want me to do what?” Janet’s smile never waivered; it broadened if anything. “Hypnotize my friend.” I rolled my eyes in a maudlin attempt to emphasize my frustration at her answer. “But your friend is a male, Janet…” She blinked slowly –her version of an eye-roll, no doubt. “Given that you are as well,…