Don't suffer in silence: Get answers about uterine fibroid symptoms and treatment
A Feminine Problem: The Common Issue Of Vaginal Discharge Among Women Of All Ages
Many women of various ages go to physicians and complain about vaginal discharge. Even though talking about it makes them uncomfortable, they want answers and treatment.
Newborn female babies sometimes have a white or even blood-stained vaginal discharge. This occurs because the mother's hormones cross the placenta, affecting the baby's uterus. After delivery, these hormone levels fall rapidly, and the discharge usually resolves spontaneously in 10 days without treatment.
Some amount of vaginal discharge is normal after puberty. Many people do not understand this and are worried. It occurs because of the action of the hormones estrogen and progesterone in the uterus and vagina.
In a normal menstrual cycle, bleeding occurs on days 1-5, and white discharge starts on day six and lasts till the next bleeding starts. This normal discharge is colourless or pearly white. It is odourless and is not accompanied by itching or abdominal pain.
Sometimes, the discharge may increase because the woman uses scented washes or douches and irritates the vagina with frequent cleaning. The underwear may be made of synthetic material that traps sweat and does not allow air in. Even the detergent with which underwear is washed should be mild and non-irritating. Underwear should not be rinsed out with antiseptics and should be changed daily.
Sometimes, while wearing salwars, pants or shorts, the woman dispenses with underwear. This should not be done as the stitching can injure the delicate vaginal epithelium, causing a discharge. Women who have hormonal imbalances because of PCOD or have taken hormonal tablets can also have an overgrowth of fungus. This causes an itchy white discharge.
Some harmless commensal bacteria and viruses live in the vagina. If there is a metabolic disease like diabetes, especially if it is uncontrolled, the normal friendly bacteria can be overrun by fungus. The commonest fungal infection is from the candida group of organisms. The discharge immediately becomes curdy, thick, white and causes intense uncontrolled itching.
When there is a urinary tract infection, the infected urine contains disease-causing bacteria, which kill the good bacteria in the vagina, and there is an overgrowth of fungus. Antibiotic usage, immune suppressants or cancer treatment can also cause this.
Foreign bodies may be present in the vagina. This may be tampons, cotton or cloth forgotten there during a period or even the threads of an intrauterine contraceptive device. Children may insert buttons or toys into the vagina. This can cause an infection.
A widespread infection is caused by the organism Trichomonas vaginalis. It causes a painless, frothy, green discharge. It is easily treated but can be transmitted between partners. So, both may need to be treated.
Antibiotics and other medications can alter normal vaginal flora. Overgrowth of normal vaginal bacteria can cause a discharge with a fishy odour. This can be easily treated and the balance restored.
If a person feels that they have a white discharge, they should consult a physician. An examination of the private parts, a smear of the discharge, a pap smear, and an ultrasound of the abdomen and pelvis can be done. Blood and urine tests should be done to rule out diabetes, urinary tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
Antibiotics and antifungal agents can cure infected white discharge. The whole course of medication should be completed. Local applications of ointments may be required for fungal infections. Sometimes, both partners need to be treated.
Taking a tablespoon of homemade curd on an empty stomach helps repopulate the vagina with good bacteria. Sitting in a basin of warm water to which a quarter teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of soda bicarbonate is added acts as an adjuvant to treatment and can help reduce the smell and itching while specific treatment is taken.
The writer has a family practice at Vellore and is the author of Staying Healthy in Modern India. If you have any questions on health issues please write to yourhealthgm@yahoo.Co.In
What Is A Feminist, Really?
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Artist Frida Wannerberger Believes: "The Most Feminist Act I Could Do…Is To Wear All The Dresses I Want"
Frida Wannerberger in Beijing.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary ArtFrida Wannerberger is a feminist and fashion-friendly Swedish artist based in London whose bitter and sweet work speaks to the current zeitgeist in a nuanced way. She paints life-size paper-doll-like women who are uniform dressers, at least in terms of silhouette. First impressions are likely not to stick: Their imposing scale, the patterning of their frocks, and, most important, the titles of the work reframe how they are read.
In April, this recent RCA graduate presented a series of work she had started during the isolation of pandemic lockdowns at the Haricot Gallery in the British capital. Titled "Take Me, I'm Yours," the exhibition addressed "intense longing and the complexities of human connection." This month, another of Wannerberger's "girl gangs" traveled from London to Beijing to take up residence for the run of "Into the Sunset With You," an exhibition about "love and disappointment," at Tang Contemporary Art. In their beribboned puff-sleeve dresses, the life-size cuties reflect the trend for a romantic, even rococo flourish (see the costumes in Poor Things and Balenciaga's pre-fall evening looks). Look again, however, and you'll notice that the backgrounds against which some of the dolls stand are unsettled; titles like "You're the Anticlimax of My Life" and "In My Dreams You Reply" are acerbic and potentially ironic. Also included in the shows are works from the artist's ongoing imaginative "What to Wear" series, i.E., "What to wear when hoping that the past will become the present: Waxed tablecloth blouse, 1997 sandals."
The way that Wannerberger's work speaks to a dichotomy makes it feel particularly resonant. Her paintings are life-size but not lifelike in a realistic way. And dressing these women up is done to expose an inner memory or experience; in this way vulnerability commingles with boldness.
One of the most provocative elements of Wannerberger's work is its flatness. Like two-dimensional garments that are completed by the body, these totemic women are animated by the emotions they depict. Moreover, there is strength in their solidarity. For Wannerberger, a frock is a feminist mantra. "At the end of the day, I would like to think that I am exploring a ground where I—out of choice—choose to pay homage to centuries of women wearing dresses and adhering to a certain chaste, fragile way of looking, all while having a sound mind for how you conduct yourself as a business and your own personal moral grounds," she writes. "I would like to think that the most feminist act you could do (in my position) is to wear all the dresses I want, in doing so paying homage to the generations of women who paved the ground for my choices and have a firm view on my standpoints."
Below, excerpts from a correspondence with the artist on her year in art, life, and fashion.
Frida Wannerberger, There Is a Wound in My Heart for Each and Every One of You, 2023. Oil and acrylic on canvas; 180 x 120 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary ArtYou've had two solo exhibitions this year, "Take Me, I'm Yours," in London, and "Into the Sunset With You," in Beijing. Can you talk us through them?"Take Me, I'm Yours" was a body of work that I painted in my studio during the second half of the pandemic. The paintings and the dresses had lines such as "sex and affection" written in their decorative ornaments. The girls [were] wearing pointy hats, as at the time I felt the only thing I could relate to was medieval maidens being locked up against their will. In our case, it was the government that stopped young adults from pursuing their lives, telling them that they were not allowed to have intimacy or sex for years. For someone in my position—being single and 29 before the lockdown, 33 coming out of it—[those rules] might have jeopardized my possibility to have a family. I think this body of work expressed the sense of being so ready for life but then not experiencing it.
"Into the Sunset With You" follows that trail, that sense of wanting love. [It's] basically about both wanting to make up for those lost years and also wanting to settle. We chose "Into the Sunset With You," as it is romantic, hopeful, yet dark and possibly sinister. The sun goes down. Will he stay? Will he abandon you? Will you take a car home after sex or will he make you breakfast? The title was somewhat taken from the song "French Boy" by Moodoïd and Say Lou Lou, which I listened to a lot.
The Barbie film was released while I was painting for this show, and I feel there is a melancholy hanging over my generation on how to navigate love, society, independence, generational trauma, and life.
Frida Wannerberger, Into the Sunset With You, 2023. Oil and acrylic on canvas; 230 x 150 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary ArtI keep reading about an epidemic of loneliness and wonder if this is related to your consideration of "intense longing and the complexities of human connection."It is a mixed bag really [that taps into] highly personal experiences growing up and never really identifying with the norm, then moving abroad as a teenager and being a "displaced" expat child as a result of globalization. I think for most of my life I really struggled to make genuine connections, and when I did it meant so much to me. What I have learned now is that I have that longing to feel a sense of belonging and connection but also a heavily romanticized and narrative-driven filter to my connections. I love it when [things are] dramatic, romantic, and "meaningful." Sometimes I think my threshold for feeling something is very high. But yes, it's about loneliness and searching. It is about wanting to be loved and not being loved, it is about wanting to feel and not finding anyone who makes you feel. Wanting to be seen, not being seen…
Frida Wannerberger, The Darkness Within, 2023. Oil on canvas; 180 x 120 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary Art
Frida Wannerberger, 100 Men, 100 Kittens, 2023. Oil and acrylic on canvas; 160 x 100 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary ArtAre your paintings life-size? And are they stand-ins for you?They are! I wanted to make the girls larger than the viewer, towering over them. Yes, they tell my stories 100%. I was always supershy. The paintings are how I can express how I feel about a certain event or thought.
Are they also companions of a sort?They are in the sense that they wrap up an emotion I have felt at a given point. I have kept two for myself, and they both represent / tell the stories / carry the emotions I felt toward men I want to still have in my life through the paintings. It is a way to keep things that have passed, but also a way to release by parting.
Is "Into the Sunset" a sort of chapter two to "Take Me"? Is there some fulfillment of longing somewhere between the two?I think it became more real? Maybe the longing proved disappointment in the end? There is totally a relationship between the shows; it has gone from suppressed romantic to sinister realism—but that is okay. I think the second show has a protective layer to it, extending into how the paintings have been executed. It is a body of work; they are not individual paintings. Even [in the multitude], there is a layer of protection to not give as much of yourself away.
Frida Wannerberger, You said you hadn't had a girlfriend for a long time because women are complicated but then you got back with your ex, 2023. Oil on canvas; 160 x 100 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary Art
Frida Wannerberger, You disappoint me in so many ways II, 2023. Oil and acrylic on canvas; 160 x 100 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary ArtAt the same time that you play with "sugar and spice and everything nice" stereotypes of the feminine, your work is feminist. Can you speak about that balancing act?I used highly saturated colors—pinks and purples; ribbons, being a symbol for ties and attachment; gemstones for preciousness. After graduating and having this new life ahead of me, I was referring to tropes from my teenage years. Fake jewelry when everyone around me is having diamond wedding rings. It takes a lot of courage to own up to your own situation and to feel that you are entitled to wear a £1 plastic ring on your left ring finger if you so want to. In that sense the work is post- / neo-feminist. In my view, post- / neo-feminism does not address problems women face(d) that are fundamentally structural and probably linked to political policies, societal norms, and human rights, but rather assumes that these "fundamental" rights have been met and women are free to explore their own wants, needs, and desires.
That is my aim in the art but also how I structure my business, who I work with, and how I would hope that my paintings, due to their scale, are hard to bypass. I would hope that the confrontational look in these girls' eyes and titles such as "I Am Having Sex With You in My Head" make the viewer question who is viewing who.
At the end of the day, I would like to think that I am exploring a ground where I—out of choice—choose to pay homage to centuries of women wearing dresses and adhering to a certain chaste, fragile way of looking, all while having a sound mind for how you conduct yourself as a business and on your own personal, moral grounds. I would like to think that the most feminist act you could do (in my position) is to wear all the dresses I want, and in doing so pay homage to the generations of women who paved the ground for my choices and have a firm view on my standpoints. I would like to think that the ultimate counter-position to the patriarchy is a girl / woman who neither uses sexual attributes nor echoing male behavior or dress codes, but just rides on the waves of generations of women and the positions they were in with a direct and outspoken mind.
Frida Wannerberger, Oh I Was a Lonely Girl, 2023. Oil on canvas; 160 x 100 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary Art
Frida Wannerberger, The Girlfriend Wouldn't Approve, 2023. Oil on canvas; 180 x 120 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary ArtYou have said that you were focused on "tropes of late-1990s, early-2000 girl culture." Why so?[I equate that time period with] that vulnerable time as a teenager when you feel everything and don't have to think about adult life. I do think we lived through an extraordinary time. Culture was readily available yet on the verge of becoming global; I experienced the move from analog to digital in my teenage years. I remember only being able to store 10 text messages on my Nokia 3330 and choosing which ones to keep from the guy I liked. That sense of nostalgia sits very, very comfortable between the analog and the digital in regards to the definition of preciousness. I am guessing it is a generational shift, but looking back, so many dualist women identities were part of my childhood years. I loved Sailor Moon…and how she could be a complete misery in real life, obsessing about a ridiculous boyfriend, and then also a superhero, who albeit still needed rescuing from a male superhero from time to time. It is independence and the search for love that haunts us.
Can you talk about your relation to fashion? What is your personal style, and is it reflected in your work?I love to dress. I absolutely am under the belief that it is our duty as humans to make the world more pleasing for ourselves and for others. In the paintings, the dresses serve as a blank canvas on which I can sort of embroider a narrative. As I previously stated, I personally believe in honoring what came before rather than rejecting it; hence dresses.
I wear different types of white nightdresses and white tights when I paint. When not in the studio, I try to adhere to good quality and versatile use. I love dresses and wear a lot of Pringle of Scotland for winter and around the house. Also Pleats Please, Peter Jensen, Brunate shoes from Italy, and Busnel jackets from Sweden. (I love the brand story: A Swedish tourist in the 1960s acquired a manufacturer in the South of France that supplied the French Navy with its uniforms.) So I would like to think these jackets are some sort of heritage of a Scandinavian romance with the idea of the French Riviera while being actual military gear. I always feel great in those. Bora Aksu for show openings—they are overtly feminine but romanticized and a bit modest and practical, I would say.
Frida Wannerberger, I Smile If I Want To, 2023. Oil on canvas; 160 x 100 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary Art
Frida Wannerberger, You wanted to see me again but you didn't ask me if I wanted to see you again, 2023. Oil and acrylic on canvas; 180 x 120 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary ArtMany of your titles are "How to dress for…." As I write this, I start thinking of Jane Austen. Is dressing a means in itself? A means to an end?It is a means to an end in my book. I think the fact that dress is a means to an end is what the work is about. I would like to think that these are portraits of young women who are confrontational. They occupy space and are hard to ignore. I am hoping to make the viewer question who is observing who. For me, the work is about the relationship between strength and fragility, and how to carve out a space to be assertive as a young woman.
For me, the space in which I can dress in a way that I think is beautiful and clever and relevant (whatever that means to me), that facilitates me being confident, assertive, supportive of others, challenging, independent, or whatever I want to be as a young woman—that space is the most powerful. I reject the idea of echoing male behavior to claim space or adhere to some sexualized version of a woman (unless from choice). I'd rather indulge in my own heritage as a woman, and I think an extensive part of the history of women has aspects that are "girl-like" due to the restrictions on choice and independence women have historically experienced—that is my own view for myself.
Frida Wannerberger, In My Dreams You Reply, 2023. Oil on canvas; 180 x 120 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary Art
Frida Wanneberger, You're the Anticlimax of My Life, 2023. Oil and acrylic on canvas; 230 x 120 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary ArtYou often use a puff-sleeve dress silhouette. What is the significance of the shapes remaining somewhat static and the interiors/decorations/motifs changing?There is something very artificial about how static they are. I was always interested in that static / passive / chaste / controlled demeanor and how powerful that seemed to me. At Central Saint Martins, I was obsessed with Byzantine icons. I loved how they were so distant and cold and flat, yet supposedly always present and overlooking the people in whatever space they were placed. Visually there is something about that flatness, the gold leaf that makes them graphic in a way that is timeless. I see my portraits as some sort of staged capture of a person experiencing something; a bit like how a graduation photo doesn't look anything like the experience of going to school, the same with these portraits, they are staged. The symbols on the dresses tend to change and have their own connotations. I am making up my own dictionary of symbolism.
Frida Wannerberger, When it is 2023 and you cannot believe you are reading a FT column titled 'military briefing' still..., 2003. Oil and acrylic on canvas; 160 x 100 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary Art
Frida Wannerberger, When you think all is permitted in love and war and your friend tells you how they, a year later, managed to flee from Russia, via Georgia, to Germany and safety, 2003. Oil and acrylic on canvas; 160 x 100 cm.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist and Tang Contemporary ArtFantasy > reality?I have never been good with reality, and I think I have been okay in avoiding it, but I am not sure that is fulfilling in the end or constructive. It is a big struggle for me; I do feel like I live in a fantasy most of the time and constantly get disappointed with the extent of the lack of fire, drive, and risk-taking reality holds. At the same time, it is what it is, and you have to turn reality into a fantasy when you can and move on when it doesn't deliver.
What's next for you?I'm working on shows for next year but want to take time to think things through and do more drawing. I also need to sit my final law exam; I did a conversion master in law just before the RCA to back myself up, so it will take time to complete that.
What does the world need now, in your opinion?Reflection, meaningfulness, sense of purpose, courage, romance, action, bravery, attachment, independent and critical thinking. And action. I think we are living in the very last stage of a post-WWII era of holding shit together, but I don't think this strange fear of actually acting is healthy. I think things need to change. I think we need to embrace a generational shift to what a global mentality is, to what the status quo should be.
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