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Dear reader,
If you’re looking for a thought-provoking weekend read, consider catching up on HuffPost U.K.’s deeply reported fertility series exploring some of the biggest issues women face when considering their futures — with or without children.
The site often covers fertility and the way women experience it “because that’s a conversation we’re having with our friends, partners, families all the time – and we know that’s true for our readers too,” said Vicky Frost, HuffPost U.K.’s executive editor for lifestyle.
But she said she was keen to devote more time to these kind of stories and conversations, which can be “kind of quick,” through a series of longer reads.
It kicked off with piece examining how women in many developed nations are waiting longer to have children, and posed the question: Are you waiting until it’s too late?
The series continued with a deep dive into egg freezing, one of several increasingly common procedures that lets (some) women around the world get pregnant on their terms. The piece notes the practice’s exorbitant cost and questions whether egg freezing is an empowering option or “an expensive luxury few of us can pay for or need.”
This weekend, the series turns to the nasty side effects many women taking hormonal contraceptives face (and quietly tolerate — for years, in some cases).
The article asks if, given all the other options now available, we really need to put up with them.
As a whole, the series paints a striking picture of the unique burdens women bear from an early age and the ways we have attempted to assert control over our futures.
The series will end next weekend with a focus on the hushed topic of miscarriage, bringing deeply personal stories into the open. I look forward to reading it and hope you will, too.
Until next time,
Emily
For more stores from the U.K. on women, health, fitness and kindness, follow HuffPost U.K. Lifestyle @HuffPostUKLife, @rachelmoss_, @vickyfrost, @tashahinde and @SCFGallagher.
As thousands of baseball fans poured into the streets of Boston to celebrate the U.S. city’s World Series win, HuffPost turned the spotlight on the “massively undercovered” Women’s Baseball World Cup. An average of just 360 people showed up at each game to support the world’s top female baseball players, and their premier event took place in the dead of summer in an off-the-beaten-path corner of Florida. Writer Jessica Luther tells the story of this year’s competition, weaving in the fascinating history of how women were slowly squeezed out of a sport that wasn’t always a “man’s game.” She also reports on signs of progress: U.S. efforts to invest in girls baseball are already producing more talented players that are elevating the level of competition. As Jessica notes, this expansion of women’s baseball is not a revolution, but “an act of restoration.”
If you haven’t been paying attention to Brazil’s presidential election, it may be time to catch up. Voters in the world’s fourth-largest democracy elected far-right authoritarian candidate Jair Bolsonaro this week, spreading fear among women and LGBTQ people. His rhetoric against the two groups and threats to roll back protections against them, HuffPost U.S.’s Travis Waldron writes, could worsen their plight “in a country that already experiences high levels of femicide and anti-gay violence.” His rapid rise, though, did motivate women and LGBTQ people to organize and run for office, notable steps HuffPost Brazil recently highlighted in a well-timed piece about the positive news for women in the country.
In case you missed it…
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