‘Love your inner lesbian’ health campaign launched
September 15th, 2009Lesbian and bisexual women are being encouraged to take better care of their mental and physical health with a new poster campaign from Stonewall and the Department of Health.
The ‘love your inner lesbian’ posters will be displayed in doctors’ surgeries and healthcare centres, in order to help women feel more comfortable discussing issues related to their sexuality with doctors.
A report published in 2008 found that lesbian and bisexual women are at a much greater risk of suicide, self-harm and heavy drug and alcohol use than straight women.
The survey, which was the UK’s largest health survey of lesbian and bisexual women in the UK, revealed that lesbian and bisexual women are often reluctant to be honest about their sexual orientation when talking to doctors, and often don’t talk frankly about their health needs.
Lesbian and bisexual women are 50 times more likely to self-harm than heterosexual women, and five times more likely to take illegal drugs.
Half of the 6,000 lesbian and bisexual women surveyed said they had experienced negative comments or attitudes in the health sector in the previous 12 months.
the nurse that did my last smear said she was not aware that lesbians were at risk of cervicl cancer. As far as she was aware, semen was the main risk factor involved - women who have slept with a man at an early age or who have had a number of male sexual partners were at the most risk. Is this what all nurses are being told? Is this accurate? What are the other risk factors? Presuambly lesbians are not totally immune to contracting the disease?
Catherine ∼ December 8th, 2009 11:44 pm