When Shelley Savage Caw turned 40, her family decided that my merit badges would be a great way to help her celebrate. I created these two pieces:
Ovaries:
Shelley’s Grey Hair:
for a woman with one of the loveliest heads of salt-and-pepper hair I’ve seen. Thanks to the Savage family for thinking of this one.
In 2006, I was asked to create a hysterectomy merit badge. At the time I couldn’t believe that I had never thought of this one, but it was in fact missing from my series of merit badges. I intend to include every significant event that could be seen as a female rite of passage, and will continue to create images like this. I appreciate being reminded that there are many life events that deserve to be celebrated or commemorated through my work. Here is Hysterectomy, stitched in 2006:
Stabbed! 
September 16, 2007 at 3:06 am |
Hysterectomy as a rite of passage? The incidence of disease in the female organs and male organs is identical, but can you imagine male sex organ removal as a rite of passage?
Female Anatomy Exposed: If the female sex organs were visible like the male sex organs, would they still be removed from 622,000 women each year?
Myth: “Only men have gonads.”
FACT: A woman’s gonads are her ovaries. Removal of the ovaries is castration, and the aftereffects are to women what the aftereffects of removal of the testicles are to men.
Myth: “Sex will be better than ever after hysterectomy.”
FACT: Removal of the uterus causes the loss of uterine orgasm, one of the many irreversible consequences of hysterectomy.
Myth: “After the surgery you’ll feel like a million bucks!”
FACT: The most common problems women report after hysterectomy include loss of sexual feeling, loss of vitality, bone/joint/muscle pain, fatigue, and personality change.
Myth: “Doctors don’t perform as many hysterectomies as they used to.”
FACT: Less than 2% of all hysterectomies are life-saving. Most hysterectomies are performed for benign conditions, not medical problems. The rate of cancer in the female sex organs and the male sex organs is almost identical. The rate of male sex organ removal is statistically insignificant, and yet in the last decade an average of 622,000 hysterectomies and 454,000 female castrations were performed each year in the U.S. That’s more than one every minute of every hour of every day. There are 22 million women alive today in America whose sex organs have been removed.
Myth: Doctors don’t have enough time to provide information about female anatomy and the functions of the female organs before they tell women to sign hysterectomy consent forms.
FACT: It takes just a few seconds for doctors to hand women HERS’ 12-minute “Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs” DVD, available at http://www.hersfoundation.org/anatomy.
And that’s good news. HERS’ 12-minute female anatomy video makes the female organs visible. It fills the information gap and can prevent about 610,000 unnecessary hysterectomies each year and save more than $17B+/year in rising healthcare costs.
Contact:
HERS Foundation
Nora W. Coffey, President
610-667-7757 hersfdn@earthlink.net
Rick Schweikert, Program Director
484-432-8356 hersfdn@verizon.net
http://www.hersfoundation.org
September 16, 2007 at 6:11 am |
Well, as I said in the post I didn’t consider a hysterectomy
dto be a “standard” rite of passage, but I’d be interested in hearing more from the women who have had partial or radical hysterectomies, as to what impact the procedure has had on their health and well-being.March 4, 2008 at 3:34 pm |
Laser Body Waxing
Information on Body Waxing
April 19, 2008 at 10:51 am |
that is kinda weird yet interesting stitches..
I enjoy your blog
Cheers:)
April 8, 2010 at 5:18 pm |
Interesting stitches. Did you tried them yourself?
January 3, 2011 at 12:49 am |
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