I check Feministing.com every morning. And unfortunately, most of the posts make me angry or sad.
This evening something weird happened to me. Not only did I have a conversation with a stranger, but a young woman like myself. We discussed STD's and the importance of protection.
It all started out like this: I was waiting for the X80 bus on the north side of Chicago, and it was raining and very cold. I was shivering, without a warm coat or umbrella (I know, bad choice on my part). A woman who looked like she was 23 or 24 came up to me and said, "do you want to share my umbrella with me?" and I said, "Yes! Thank you so much."
We stood awkwardly under her umbrella, and then she asked me how my day was going. I told her that my best friend has swine flu, and we began talking about all the vaccines we've had and need to get. "my boyfriend is an elementary school teacher, and he got ringworms from them, he should have gotten the vaccine" she told me. I work with 2-5 year olds, and I too had to get vaccines to prevent diseases. We talked about TB, the flu, and ringworms until we got to the topic of Gardisil. I had gotten the shot a few months ago, and she said she wish she had.
She was HPV positive and had to get surgery because of some pre-cancerous cells in her body. She told me it was very frightening and she's so glad she went to the gynocologist when she did, just for a routine check-up. I told her I too was HPV positive but mine was so minor that my doctor told me it wasn't anything to worry about and I could get the Gardisil shot anyways. We talked a bit more about HPV and Gardisil, and we only once made a comment about how odd it was that two strangers discussed such personal things with each other.
We boarded the bus, and each took out our books and read. I then told her goodnight and walked home.
This may seem trivial, but it really gives me hope. This women was OK with telling me about some really personal issues (STDs, vaccines) and I did the same to her. I hardly told anyone I had HPV and now this random person in Chicago knows. I hope more women find strength to talk to each other about these things and support each other within such issues. STD's are a total tabboo in today's society, and I hope they become more acceptable to discuss as to prevent them and teach younger girls, and young women how to get treatment.
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It is a compulsion of every activist movement seeking to highlight and rectify social injustices to focus only on the bad and fail to bring to light the good. But posts like yours remind me at least that in spite of our pessimism and in spite of how much work there is to be done, it all stems from successful conversation between people.