WST Engagement 1

On Saturday, September 15th I attended the Women's Health Panel at the Youth Organizing and Policy Institute on the UCF campus. The speakers were Jenna Tosh, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando, Scott Randolph, the Florida State Representative, and Dr. M.C. Santana, the director of the women's studies program at UCF. The panel was shorter than I expected. I think there were some time issues. So I would have liked to hear more, but overall it was pretty good. Scott Randolph talked about the affordable care act and the equality it can create in insurance payments. Dr. Santana was probably my favorite speaker, although I am probably biased because I know her, unlike the other two speakers.

Dr. Santana spoke on some of her personal experiences with reproductive health. She talked about the hard time she had getting her maternity leave from UCF when she had one of her children and how she had to be back within two weeks of having her baby. She talked about how she took her son and daughter to both get the HPV shot and how this brought about much reaction from the clinic staff. Everyone saw this to be a huge deal. Scott Randolph discussed how our Governor Rick Scott is one of the most disliked governors. He discussed the breakdown of how people voted and who voted and said that in the end it took less than 20% of the population to vote for Rick Scott for him to get elected.

I think Dr. Santana’s stories are a great example of how women’s health and sexual health affect us all in our everyday lives, and Scott Randolph’s discussion about Rick Scott shows the importance of getting involved and voting. Towards the end of the panel someone asked Dr. Santana what brought her to the movement? Or why she is involved like she is? Her answer was simple: “Because you have to!” She said, you can’t life and look the other way. This was something that really stuck with me. How can we ignore issues that are affecting all of us? How can we not vote and leave our futures and our vaginas futures up to representatives that we don’t even support. Anna Eskamani, a Planned Parenthood representative, ended off the panel in the perfect way. She said “if you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention.” I completely agree. We have to stop ignoring and start being active.

Wingapo! (That's hello according to Pocahontas)

My name is Kelsey. I fancy myself Pocahontas sometimes though. My current motto in life is naturally inspired by her Disney movie in that I want to go wherever the wind takes me. A little about me: I am a senior this year (thank goodness). I am from Largo, fl. I am majoring in criminal justice… but it’s not really real. I’m double minoring in sociology and women’s studies and consider those my real majors. It might not seem to make sense but I understand it so don’t worry! I’m not sure what I will do after graduation. My real plan is just to follow my previously stated motto. Overall, I’m a happy person. I’m a jokester and try not to take myself too seriously...as you can probably tell.

I am interested in studying girls and body image because I know it is a very prevalent issue. I am aware of the harmful and damaging effects of poor body image among girls. It breaks my heart when I hear young girls saying they aren’t skinny enough or they need to go on a diet. My mother suffered from bulimia nervosa for 9 years before my brother and I were born. She now works as a psychotherapist for women and girls with eating disorders. So that is a topic that was frequently talked about in my household growing up. Because of my mother's struggles her goal in raising children was to instill a high self-esteem in us. Because of my mother I have been spared a lot of the insecurity issues typically faced in girlhood. That is why I am so hurt to see girls buying into the altered images the media show us. I think this is an incredibly important topic and that is why I have chosen this class.

In conclusion, I am very excited for this course. I hope to learn from all your experiences and unique perspectives on the topics. I look forward to getting to know you all as the semester goes on. Good luck to everyone!