the digital giraffe

All About Women

Our Woman of the Month Award for July, 2026, goes to Dolly Parton for her Imagination Library, which gives free books monthly to needy children under the age of 5.

A Critical Care Doctor with over 40 years of experience, awakens us to the worldwide dangers created by government defunding of crucial programs for preventive health. Robert B. Shpiner, Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA, makes it clear that "we are bringing back diseases that medicine spent a century learning to stop." The deepest cuts, he tells us, have yet to appear. In his words, "I've never seen the US harm its children this deliberately."

TED Talks brings us the story of a refugee young woman who fights for the education of children like herself. Mary Maker, reflecting on her own life, tells us, "For the child of war, an education can turn their tears of loss into a passion for peace." Her harrowing tale begins, "My mother dug a trench that soon became our home."

A clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanfords's Clayman Institute for Gender Research wants us to re-examine the assumptions made in dealing with domestic violence. The usual pattern assumes a heterosexual environment, episodic occurrences, a choice of stay or leave, and a trajectory of victim to survivor. Working with women in India, Amrapali Maitra found diverse responses, like live on a separate floor of the same house, for example, or move in with parents. Her work suggests a broader approach which takes into account local and cultural opportunities as well as the presence of homosexual figures and the attitudes of other females in the living quarters.

Currently undergoing tests at Stanford Medicine is a wearable ultrasound patch that monitors fetal blood flow in the umbilical cord and reveals pregnancy problems in real time. The patch connects to a computer that analyzes ultrasound data. Additional useful information can be gathered, like intrauterine growth restriction. The patch is a flexible adhesive sticker, about the size of a palm of a hand, that adheres to the abdomen. Eventually the researchers hope to develop a wireless version so that doctors can monitor pregnant women at home.

The climate crisis is making it difficult for women to access health care as well as employment, education, and other essential facilities. Women in rural areas are especially vulnerable. The U. N. reports that women, girls and children are 14 times more likely than men to die in extreme weather. Floods in Pakistan left roughly 650,000 pregnant women without medical care, forcing them to give birth with no medical help. Scarce resources are intensifying child marriages, to ease the burden of providing for girls. Vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue fever, and some viruses are spreading. Sexual violence and human trafficking are increasing. In many developing nations, women produce up to 80% of the food supply. Yet too often women have little or nothing to say about political decisions affecting their lives. Giving women a seat at the power tables is one suggested solution.

Melinda French Gates has recently donated $215 million USD to women's health programs, for contraceptive access, maternal healthcare, mental health services, and research and education in menopause. Over the past 2 years, she has donated more than $600. million USD to women's initiatives. She noted that women's health has a history of being "underfunded and under-researched".

The New Yorker magazine presents an in-depth look at Andrew Tate, and his building of an online pornography empire. Tate ruled an online network called the War Room which, for a fee of $8,000. USD annually, taught men how to recruit women into sexual slavery. Some of his other activities, conducted primarily out of Romania, included bribing local officials and boasting that he was above the law. Part of his pitch to young men urged them to get rich, get fit, and retake their "natural masculine imperative for power". He apparently became well-known in the manosphere and started Hustler's University which boasted an enrollment of 160,000. The New Yorker article claims that Tate got large payments of at least $6 million USD annually from American billionaires for a weekly production of 5 short videos and a 30-minute live stream. The article is lengthy and graphically detailed. I wiil leave it to each of you to pursue.

From the University of California San Diego we learn that common dementia risks may more strongly impact women's cognition than was previously understood. Women make up almost 2/3 of the 7 million Alzheimer's patients in the U.S. even though women generally live longer than men. The new finding supports the idea of precision medicine which tailors prevention strategies and treatments to individual characteristics, including gender.

Be sure to email giraffe@giraffe.com with your suggestions, be they articles, videos, images, cartoons, music, or comments, so that we can share our celebrations and our concerns with each other.

Last updated July 1, 2026 - 32 years of monthly Web publication

Corinne Whitaker - Artist, Editor, Author, Poet, Sculptor, Publisher, Composer, Betaphysician, Chief of the Newanderthal Tribe

Best of Foster City 2016
Best of Palo Alto 2013

Golden Web Award, 2001 and 2000

Artist of the Month, Artisan Bazaar, 2000

Best in Cyberart Award, 1999

winner of BATech's "Catch of the Day"

winner of Fractal Design's "Artist of the Month"and "Image of the Day"

Featured Master Artist, Shadowart Galleries, 1997 and 1998

Guest Artist of the Month, Hampton Click Salon Online
Exhibit below from Virtual Gallery online