Several students have already noticed there was a formatting problem with one question, such that the correct answer was already indicated, and you are not able to select an answer. It’s an unfortunate error on our part, but the good news is that you will all receive credit for that question.

If you encounter any technical problems, please call the UF Computing Help Desk (392-HELP). You can also leave a comment here on the blog — we’ll monitor it throughout the day.

Good luck!

As I noted in class, this film is important because it pulls together several themes of the course and connects us in a personal way to the suffering of rape victims in the DRC. It also draws attention to the ongoing conflict in the DRC, which has only begun to catch the attention of the mainstream media in the U.S. during the last few weeks.

I invite you to share your thoughts on the excerpt of the film we viewed today. How did you react to the stories of the men and women featured in the film? What differences and similarities did you observe between the people in the film and the filmmaker or other victims of sexual violence in the U.S.? What responsibility, if any, do you feel for the situation in the DRC? Do you think about your cell phone differently now? Do you think most Americans know enough about the war in the Congo or its causes and consequences? How does the film relate to our earlier discussion of structural violence and global health? Other thoughts?

The final exam will be administered on E-Learning, as the first two exams were. That means that you are free to take the final exam from anywhere you have an Internet connection. But beware that some students have had technical problems with exams when using their own computers, and if you’re not in Gainesville, there will be a limit to what we can do to help you. My advice is to take the practice exam on our course’s E-Learning site on the same computer you plan to use for the final exam. If there’s a problem with your computer’s configuration, it’s better to find out now and try to deal with it ahead of time. If you detect a problem, please contact the UF Computing Help Desk (392-HELP) — the sooner, the better.

If you have any questions or concerns, leave a comment to let us know.

Update (12/4): A couple of students have asked via email about the format of the final exam. Like the previous two exams, it will consist of 60 questions, and you will have 50 minutes to complete it. The exam will be available on E-Learning from 7:00 a.m – 7:00 p.m. on December 18.

This is the story of one simple invention, the vibrator, and its relationship to one complex human behavior, the female orgasm. The history of the vibrator and its medical use had virtually vanished until historian, Rachel Maines, researching needlework patterns in early 20th century women’s magazines, ran across ads for electric vibrators.

Piquing her curiosity, she traced the origins of this early electrified appliance and made an astonishing discovery. Under the guise of a medical treatment, Victorian doctors had used vibrators to relieve women of symptoms of hysteria. Symptoms of hysteria were vague - being cranky, reading French novels while wearing tight corsets, etc. It was a disease manufactured by doctors creating a lucrative clientele and a mutually camouflaged procedure that satisfied both. This film looks at the evolution of women’s sexual satisfaction from its use by Victorian doctors to its resurgence during the sexual revolution of the 1970s and on to its status today, when in some states laws still exist that restrict the number of vibrators one may own. 2008/ 74 mins/ USA/ NR

For viewing times and ticket prices visit the Hippodrome website.

If you encounter any technical problems with the exam, please contact the UF Computing Help Desk at 392-HELP. If they are unable to solve your problem, be sure to get a ticket number from them, and then contact me directly.

Good luck!

“For just about everybody, adolescence means having to confront a number of choices and life decisions, but rarely any as monumental as the one facing 15-year-old Alex who was born an intersex child. As Alex begins to explore her sexuality, her mother invites friends from Buenos Aires to come for a visit at their house on the gorgeous Uruguayan shore, along with their 16-year-old son Ãlvaro. Alex is immediately attracted to the young man, which adds yet another level of complexity to her personal search for identity. This sharp directorial debut by Lucia Puenzo treats the challenging subject of intersexuality with intelligence and sensitivity. 91mins/ 2007/ Spanish/ subtitles”

Letter from Playwright/BOLD Founder, Karen Brody

You have BOLDly arrived in your seat today to watch a performance of a play that offers a portrait of how low-risk educated women are giving birth. I’m always surprised at the number of people I meet every day who know nothing about giving birth, have never heard a mother tell her birth story (have you asked your mother your birth story?) and are shocked to learn how hard it is to have a powerful birth experience in a hospital today.

At this BOLD (Birth On Labor Day) performance and talkback you have the opportunity to lower the number of “unknowing” people when it comes to childbirth; you have the chance to listen to women make birth sounds that for so many of us are unfamiliar and more than a bit uncomfortable; and you have the space to process feelings and questions that come up when you see a play that portrays a medical system struggling to deliver birth services that work for mothers.

BOLD is a global movement of people standing up for safe birth choices for mothers. What’s unique about the performance is that all over the world over one hundred BOLD performances of the play Birth are happening as part of a global commitment in communities to tell the story of birth through mothers’ voices. Finally, childbirth and mothers take center stage.

I urge you to listen deeply to the birth stories on stage and the issues discussed in your BOLD talkback. And while you are listening stay hopeful. We can rewrite the script of childbirth. This “we can” attitude is what BOLD is all about. Now is the time to be BOLD.

Excerpt from Christiane Northrup, M.D. author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom

How we are born is crucial to how we live the rest of our lives. Birth leaves a deep imprint about what to expect in life on both the mother and the baby. Right now, the United States Caesarian-section (C-section) rate is up to an all-time high of over 30 percent. (In some hospitals it’s as high as 50 percent.) The World Health Organization’s recommendation for industrialized nations is that the C-section rate be no higher than 10-15 percent. That’s what it is in Holland where most babies are still born at home!?

As an ob/gyn who first did my training when women were drugged senseless during labor with what was known as “twilight sleep,” I have dedicated many years to helping women wake up (literally) and find the empowerment and wonder that their bodies are capable of during birth. Birth was never designed to be a major surgical procedure! C-sections have four times the mortality rate for the mother as normal births. And most can be avoided entirely if a mother is truly supported in labor—and well-educated. That’s the point of the BOLD movement.

Glossary
Epidural - regional anesthesia resulting from injection of an anesthetic into the epidural space of the spinal cord; sensation is lost in the abdominal and genital and pelvic areas; used in childbirth and gynecological surgery

Episiotomy - a surgical incision through the perineum made to enlarge the vagina and assist childbirth. It is one of the most common medical procedures performed on women.??

Contraction - a forceful and painful motion of the uterus as part of the process of childbirth.

Induce - a method of artificially or prematurely stimulating labour in a woman

Cervix - the lower, narrow portion of the uterus where it joins with the top end of the vagina. During labor, repeated uterine contractions lead to widening of the cervix. Completion of dilation is at 10 centimeters. Delivery of the infant usually takes place shortly after this stage is reached.

Breech - refers to the position of the baby in the uterus such that it will be delivered buttocks first as opposed to the normal headfirst position.

Doula - an assistant who provides various forms of non-medical support (physical, emotional and informed choice) in the childbirth process.

OB - Obstetrics is the surgical speciality dealing with the care of a woman and her offspring during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (the period shortly after birth). Midwifery is the equivalent non-surgical specialty. ?

Recommended Reading
Emergency Childbirth: A Manual by Gregory J. White
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
Farmer and the Obstetrician by Michel Odent
Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin
Wall Street Journal - August 5, 2008 - Birth Trauma: Stress Disorder Afflicts Moms

Cast
Jessica Charapata (Beth)
Jenny Hill (Natalie)
Janese Nix (Janet)
Mary Rainer (Jilllian)
Joy Steiner (Vanessa)
L’Tanya VanHamersveld (Lisa)
Naomi Whitely (Amanda)
Katie Kirkpatrick (Sandy)

This special event will take place at 5:30 p.m. in Weil 270. Here’s the abstract:

This talk will discuss recent performative ethnographic work in the Goth/Industrial music scene as the band “Blood Jewel” and how through the medium of cyber space this has led to different kinds of engagements with ethnographic “subjects”. The cultural meanings of sexual and violent representation, challenges to normative sexualities, and the emergence of digital subjectivities and ontologies are then examined in relation to the emergence of a post-human anthropology.