the digital giraffe

All About Women

Our Woman of the Month Award for October, 2025, goes to Amy Sherald, not only for being chosen to paint a portrait of Michelle Obama, but for her courage in withdrawing her exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum due to their censorship over showing the Statue of Liberty as a trans woman.

Dr. Natalie Feldman, a board-certified psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, has published a ground-breaking article on mental health for post-partum women. Dr. Feldman specifically highlights post-partum anxiety as a specific entity often confused with post-partum depression. She discusses treatment, accessibility, and ease of access as well as low-quality resources and ethical issues. She also reveals possible after-effects like altered biology and mental health of offspring and poor maternal psychological outcomes that can change quality of life. (1)

The Taliban is banning books written by women from Afghan Universities. It also is outlawing any teaching about sexual harrassment or human rights. In total, 18 subjects can no longer be taught, including Gender and Development, the Role of Women in Communication, and Women's Sociology. Books by Iranian authors or publishers have also been banned.

An article from Goldman Sachs Research discusses the employment status of women in India and the obstacles to success that need to be overcome. Called India Womenomics,, the report delves into self-employed women, women entrepreneurs, how to improve women's participation in the labor field, and recent developments.

Mos'anne is the name given to a woman who lived about 10,500 years ago in the country we now call Belgium. Researchers have used bones, artifacts, and genes to reconstruct her life and appearance. Her remains were discovered in 1988, in a burial site that dates to the early Holocene when forests were warming. Her age is thought to be between 35 and 60, with blue eyes and a leather hair band.

An article in Ms Magazine asks why children in America get sick more often and die younger than in peer nations. Consider these statistics: American children are almost twice as likely to die in traffic accidents and 15 times more likely to die by firearms; American babies die at 1.78 times the rate; other wealthy nations have an average 18 excess child mortalities daily while the U.S. daily average is 54. Almmost 1/3 of American children live with a chronic health problem, like depression, diabetes, anxiety, and reduced physical activity. 1 out of every 5 is obese. Citing additional grim statistics, Ms. calls this a war on women and children

The National Museum of Women in the Arts presents a You Tube discussion titled "Guerilla Girls: Making Trouble". The well-known artist collective, formed in 1985, calls themselves "the conscience of the art world". Topics covered include not only gender disparity in the arts but politics, the environment, and pop culture.

Senior Women in Korea are famed for diving like marine creatures. Called Haenyo, these female subsistence divers on Jeju Island spend more time under water than do beavers, and almost as much time as sea lions and otters. Haenyo means women of the sea, many of whom are over 70 and some into their 80's. For centuries they have taught themselves breath-hold diving. It has been found that their repeated short, shallow dives lead to higher carbon dioxide buildup, producing physiological responses similar to standard exercise.
A hospital in Texas says they have developed a new non-opioid painkiller. UT Health San Antonio has produced suzetrigene, sold as Journavx, for post-surgical care, offering strong pain control without the harmful effects of narcotics. Rather than aiming for the central nerve system of the brain, the new drug targets the peripheral nervous system. It appears to have none of the nasty efffects of narcotics like addiction, constipation, and drowsiness.

Are you familiar with the Electric Typewriter? It offers a plethora of excellent articles aimed at women. Some recent titles include "The Tyranny of the Ideal Woman", "The Umspeakable Things Between Our Bellies", and "The Rise and Fall of the Trad Wife". Nora Ephron pens "A Few Words about Breasts", while Naomi Wolf dives into "The Beauty Myth". You can subscribe for free to their newsletter.

A homeless facility for women only is helping women to feel safe and rebuild their lives. The community offers private rooms, shared kitchens and living room, and support. One woman commented, "It's my first proper little home that I have lived in independently. I've never had my own kitchen, I've never had my own sofa, I have never had my own front door key, that is very important to me."

The government of Turkey is imposing restrictions on female artists who do not obey the government's image of women. The Turkish young female band Manifest, popular for their K-pop type choreography, is being targeted for "exhibitionism" and "indecent and immoral acts"and charged with having a bad influence on young people. An advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the performers "immoral, shameless, demonic creatures".

It appears that women are using ChatGPT to fight against gender bias in the workplace. They find it helpful for negotiations and counteroffers, to check how their responses might affect others, to be more constructive. This gives them a "work voice", according to Preply, a corporate communications platform. The women surveyed said they feel more empowered using the bot, specifically apologizing less and tailoring their responses to the recipient's Linkedin profile.

We try to link you to reliable sources, which is becoming more difficult in today's altered news environment. We also have no way of knowing which items are AI generated and partially or totally fabricated. Please read with caution.

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.

(1) Dr. Feldman is my granddaughter, disclosed with great pride.

Last updated July 1, 2025 - 31 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