public programs

In Canada, more than two million informal caregivers, the majority of whom are women, provide care to elders.

Afew years ago, I didn’t give it a thought. Becoming a senior seemed very far away. And if that ever did happen, I have seven children and I always joked with them that I had every intention of making them take care of me in my advanced years.

Illustration: Jaime Drew

I know something of missed opportunities, stunted and miswoven cells, futures undone. I know relentless, raging optimisms, babies not yet wished into being.

Several years ago, I oversaw Planned Parenthood British Columbia’s 40 public health clinics.

Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. administration under George Bush has defined security in the narrowest of possible terms.

In 1966,an American doctor named Robert Wilson wrote Feminine Forever, a book that promoted estrogen replacement as a miracle cure for women 's aging woes. "Breasts and genital organs will not shrivel," the good doctor promised. "Such women will be much more pleasant to live with and will not become dull and unattractive."

The human body is rarely viewed holistically anymore. In an increasingly technocratic world, our bodies are portrayed as objects made up of transferable bits and pieces.