Women at Queens'
Helloooo! I am Charlotte, a second year English student and as your JCR Women’s Officer I’m responsible for the welfare and interests of the female students at Queens’. I can act as an intermediary between women students and the JCR or the college. I can raise issues at meetings and I’ll be in close contact with the Women’s Tutor – Lisa Hall. So please get in touch if you ever need to talk – I can always spare time to listen and I’ll do everything I can to help. My email address is cb562@cam.ac.uk and you can find me every Tuesday lunchtime - 1-2pm in the bar.
I’ll also be attending the fortnightly CUSU women’s council to vote on issues affecting women in Cambridge. I’d like to represent the views of women in Queens’ accurately so if there’s something bothering you that you’d like me to raise please send me an email
To contact me:
Phone - 07795 832 906
Knock at - DD26
Email - cb562@cam.ac.uk or jcr-women@queens.cam.ac.uk
Pregnancy tests
If any of you need pregnancy tests, just send me an email or drop me a note in my pigeon-hole and I can put one in there for you in an unmarked envelope.
Personal Alarms
Personal alarms are available for £2 – if you’d like one just send me an email. Cambridge is generally considered to be a safe city but please don’t take unnecessary risks; avoid walking around on your own late at night, especially if you’ve had a bit to drink. And if you need to get to places late at night/very early on your own then do get one of these personal alarms – they make an impressively loud noise when they go off and could help you feel safer.
Sexual health supplies
I (Charlotte), Ali (Welfare officer) and Erni (LGBT) have lots and lots of free sexual health supplies to give out, ranging from condoms and dental dams to latex gloves and lube. With STD infection numbers increasing constantly, it really is best to be safe, so come and see me if you'd like some (confidentially, of course).
If you don’t want to go through me (understandable) you can also get cost-price sexual supplies from CUSU offices at on the New Museums Site open 9am to 5pm term time. These include: condoms, 12 for £1.60, lubricant and dental dams. There is also a condom machine in the girls' (and boys') toilets in Cripps.
Your sexual health
I'm sure most of you have noticed the emphasis we've been placing on chlamydia tests at the moment but the statistics - one in ten has chlamydia - really are worrying. Above and beyond this, it's a good idea to go and get tested at a GUM clinic if you're currently sexually active, or if you have been in the past.
There are several benefits of visiting a GUM Clinic, and these include:
- It's free;
- It's completely confidential - you're reduced to a number;
- If you have an HIV test, nobody will know (occasionally insurers will check with GPs to see if their patient has been tested by them);
- Any treatment will be free;
- You will be offered free condoms.
As well as The Laurels by the Grafton centre, the other clinic is Clinic 1A, in Addenbrooke's.
Tel: 01223 217 774 or 217 239 (Mon-Fri: 0900-1700 for an appointment or general enquiries)
The easiest way to get there is on the Uni 4 bus, which goes from just by the Porters' Lodge and only costs 50p if you show your Uni card.
Even if you're in a monogamous relationship currently and don't feel the need, remember that if either of you have been sexually active in the past you could have something - be it from oral sex without a condom, or from intercourse without a condom - and herpes can sometimes not show up for years after you catch it. So please do think about going to get tested! For more information on sexual health in Cambridge, please have a look at Your Sexual Health for more details.
Chlamydia tests
Chlamydia (self-administered) tests are available from me (EE30) Ali Dykes (welfare officer) or the college nurse. Chlamydia affects one in ten people under the age of twenty-five, and often has no symptoms. If a test is positive, then a simple course of antibiotics will clear it up, and the sooner you find out, the better. Please email me or put a note in my pigeonhole if you'd like one. You can give them to the nurse and she'll take them to the doctor's for you, just post off the other bit, and they text you your results.
When you fill in the information on the test pot, please do make sure you fill in every field, especially the date; otherwise the lab might not be able to test it. You will also need to fill in the code for the test centre: ours is 5JHUG.
Emergency Contraception
Had a condom split or missed a pill? Help is on hand - for more information on emergency contraception please visit Emergency Contraception.
Breast cancer
Have a look at Breast cancer information for information about how to check your breasts for lumps, something every woman should do regularly. Also, please click on this link and give free mammograms to women in need.
Eating Disorder Support
If you'd like to talk to someone about an eating disorder that you, a friend, or someone in your family are suffering from, check out Eating disorder support containing useful contacts and numbers in Queens' and Cambridge.
Positive body-image campaign
Research suggests that 50% of women will wake up to a diet every day and that most women have some kind of dissatisfaction with their bodies. The Positive Body Image campaign, run by CUSU, aims to raise awareness of the need for improved positive body image and help to counteract the negative way that women often see their bodies.
'The first thing you lose on a diet is your sense of humour' (Anon)
Please look at Positive body image campaign for more information.
Stop! Violence Against Women
The Women's Union supports the Amnesty International 'Stop! Violence Against Women' campaign. Violence against women (VAW) is a human rights scandal, yet in many societies it is met with governmental lack of interest, silence or apathy, despite the shocking statistics.
* One in three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime.
* More than 60 million women are “missing” from the world today as a result of sex-selective abortions and female infanticide
* Every year, millions of women are raped by partners, relatives, friends and strangers, by employers and colleagues, soldiers and members of armed groups
Women's Welfare
Have a look at Women's Welfare list of useful women's welfare information, with a huge number of organisations for you to contact if needed.
Feminism
http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2009/07/confessions_of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism
If there's anything else you'd like to see here, or on the Women's Board in Cripps toilets, please email me.
Need a chat?
Just drop me an email, text or note in my pidge and we can meet up for a chat – probably that same day!