#DMTBeautySpot #beauty

The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine rollout will continue in the U.S., with a label noting a potential risk of rare blood clots, The Food and Drug Administration announced at about 7 p.m. on April 23. The move came after after a committee of advisors to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention voted to resume distribution after a 10-day pause. This means the one-shot vaccine is again available for all adults under emergency use authorization.

Doses may be back in circulation across the U.S. as early as this weekend. There are more than 9 million doses of J&J’s vaccine available and ready to be put into arms, a COVID-19 adviser to President Joe Biden told CNN on Friday.

The FDA and CDC made a joint decision to pause the rollout of this particular vaccine on April 13 “out of an abundance of caution” after six people reported rare blood-clotting conditions in the weeks after receiving the J&J vaccine. As of this writing, 15 women total are confirmed to have developed blood clots (known as thrombosis) combined with low blood platelet counts (known as thrombocytopenia, which can affect blood clotting), after receiving the one-dose vaccine, the CDC noted at the April 23 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Three of the 15 women have died, seven remain hospitalized, and five have been discharged and are recuperating at home. Thirteen of the cases occurred in women ages 18 to 49. More than seven million J&J doses had been administered in the U.S. at the time of the pause, the CDC notes. 

The ACIP committee noted in a presentation that the risk for the clotting condition, which the CDC has dubbed thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), appears highest in women under 50 years of age, though it’s extremely rare. Women between 30 and 39 years old have the greatest risk: 11.8 cases per million doses given. 

Ultimately, the ACIP committee decided that the benefits of making the J&J vaccine available to all adults again outweigh the risks. At their meeting, a model presented by Sara Oliver, MD, a CDC scientist, predicted that if the J&J vaccine officially resumes, it could cause between 26 and 45 cases of TTS, but could prevent between 600 and 1,400 deaths, and 800 to 3,500 ICU admissions. The committee also noted that certain populations, particularly homeless, incarcerated, and homebound people, would be disproportionately impacted if J&J vaccine distribution remained on pause. Experts on the panel worried that these populations wouldn’t be as able or likely to return for a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

In a statement sent to Refinery29 after the ACIP meeting, Johnson & Johnson said: “The Committee’s recommendation is an essential step toward continuing urgently needed vaccinations in a safe way for millions of people in the U.S. As the global pandemic continues to devastate communities around the world, we believe a single-shot, easily transportable COVID-19 vaccine with demonstrated protection against multiple variants can help protect the health and safety of people everywhere.”

To date, more than 569,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S.

The ACIP committee ultimately voted to continue to roll out the vaccine to all people over 18 with a warning label, prompting the FDA’s decision to resume distribution. At the ACIP meeting, Johnson & Johnson proposed a disclaimer, using FDA-agreed language, that would state that the vaccine could lead to “an increased risk of thrombosis involving cerebral venous sinuses and other sites (including but not limited to the large blood vessels of the abdomen and the veins of the lower extremities) combined with thrombocytopenia and with onset of symptoms approximately one to two weeks after vaccination.” 

The ACIP considered a recommendation that would specifically caution women about their increased risk, but ultimately voted for a more general disclaimer.

In most of the reported cases of TTS reported so far, the blood clots occurred in an area of the brain where blood drains, a type of clot known as a cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, which can be fatal, says Jeffrey Schneider, MD, chief of Hematology and Oncology at NYU Langone Hospital–Long Island. 

But this condition and other forms of TTS were rare enough that the experts agreed it was in the public’s best interest to resume the rollout while emphasizing the risks to people getting this shot. 

Some say the pause was helpful, in that it instilled confidence that health officials were taking vaccine safety seriously, and gave officials time to gather enough data to make an informed decision. “This pause was essential to our ability to inform the public,” José R. Romero, MD, the chair of ACIP, said at the meeting. Still, many public health experts have expressed concern about the pause skewing public perception of the vaccine’s safety. 

“I don’t think we should trivialize the risk,” Jesse L. Goodman, MD, the former FDA Chief Scientist and professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Georgetown University, said after the ACIP meeting. “But let’s keep the risk in perspective. The risk of dying from a car accident in your life is something like one in 100, the risk being struck by lightning is something like one in 15,000. I think people should be aware and if they have access to multiple vaccines and want to choose one over the other they should be able to do that, but I think the communication around understanding that this is a really small risk is very important.” 

Both Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca (which is not yet available in the US) have been linked to rare blood clotting issues.

If you’ve had the J&J vaccine, know that the risk of TTS is incredibly rare, and there’s no need to panic. “If you’ve had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, I’d say, ‘Congratulations,’ because that means you’re protected from a severe disease that can lead to hospitalization and death,” Paul Pottinger, MD, a professor specializing in infectious disease at the University of Washington School of Medicine, told Refinery29 last week after the pause. If you do experience symptoms such as severe headaches, leg pain, abdominal pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks of getting your shot, however, call your doctor and tell them you’ve had the J&J vaccine. 

This is a developing story. It will be updated as more information becomes available.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Had the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine? Don't Panic

Your COVID Vaccine Side Effect Questions, Answered

No, The COVID Vaccine Won't Give You Herpes

DMTBeautySpot

via https://www.DMTBeautySpot.com

Molly Longman, Khareem Sudlow

#DMTBeautySpot #beauty

On April 20, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd in May 2020, when he knelt on the unarmed man’s neck for more than nine minutes. In the hours that followed the verdict, numerous articles and social media posts reacting to the news used the same word: “relief.” 

“The jury’s decision brought a flood of relief and emotion,” The Associated Press wrote.

“In D.C. the guilty verdict in Chauvin trial is met with cheers, tears, and relief,” tweeted The Washington Post.

“Today we feel a sigh of relief,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at a press conference. 

Destiny Singh, a criminal defense lawyer in Washington, D.C., and a Black woman, felt it too. “I watched the verdict sitting beside my son — he’ll be 5 next week — and I just remember feeling actual relief,” Singh tells Refinery29. “I hadn’t yet processed everything, but I felt my body relax and tears came to my eyes.” 

This was in part because Singh didn’t expect a guilty verdict. “I knew better than to expect anything,” she says. Between 2005 and April 14, 2021, 140 nonfederal law enforcement officers have been arrested for murder or manslaughter resulting from an on-duty shooting — but only seven have been convicted of murder, according to Philip Stinson, PhD, of the Henry A. Wallace Police Crime Database at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Chauvin is thought to be only the second police officer in Minnesota history to be convicted after an on-duty death case, NPR reports. 

“There are too many of us who are old enough to remember Rodney King, and all the other times in history when it should have gone the ‘right way’ but it didn’t,” says Alfiee Breland-Noble, PhD, a psychologist and founder of the mental health nonprofit the AAKOMA Project. 

“There wasn’t deep faith that accountability would happen,” adds Moraya Seeger DeGeare, MA, the co-owner of BFF Therapy and an anti-racism business consultant. “There was a feeling like there was a one-in-five-million chance that this was going to come out like that.” Because of that doubt, the verdict being read — confirming that Chauvin is guilty of third-degree murder, second-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter — may have set off “something similar to relief” for some, DeGeare says. 

Looking back, Singh believes her initial reaction was “an effect of trauma,” she says. “It felt like I had been holding my breath and waiting for the worst. I expected for George Floyd’s family and the witnesses not to be believed — even though there’s video evidence of this horrific crime — and that police officers would be able to continue inflicting harm with impunity as they have historically. So relief was my initial feeling.” 

Others say “relief” isn’t quite the right word. Instead, they reported experiencing grief, sadness, anger, rage, or exhaustion following the verdict, or a mix of all of the above. Many of these post-verdict emotions have to do with the body’s reaction to a prolonged state of acute stress, DeGeare says. “It’s like if you’re in fight-or-flight mode. There’s so much cortisol in your body, and it’s really scary, and you’re running for your life — and finally you’re in a safe place and you lock the door,” she explains. “You’re probably not happy. You’re probably going to finally breathe, and shit yourself, and start crying, because your body finally can relax. Your body is allowed to slow down long enough to really feel these feelings.”

“For many, since George Floyd died, people have not had the space to process and feel and slow down,” DeGeare continues. “You get to feel all these emotions, hold these emotions, and allow them to be true. We’re mourning the death of George Floyd in a new way right now.”

Singh’s initial reaction to hearing the verdict was short-lived; it lasted two hours, at most. “Then, I started to really think about the reality of the fact that this is a singular conviction and that nothing has actually changed,” she says. “In my opinion, Chauvin was sacrificed so that this institution of policing could continue operating the way it’s been operating.” She describes her relief giving way to a more intellectual understanding of the situation: “My head filtered into my heart.”  

By 7 p.m., she says, “I had already moved on in my mind to, Nothing has changed. I’m gonna let myself breathe and grieve for the night, and then continue organizing and speaking tomorrow,” she says. 

It wasn’t until later, after she tucked her kids into bed, that Singh learned that about 20 minutes before the guilty verdict was announced, Ma’Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old, was fatally shot by police in Ohio. “I didn’t allow myself to really think about what another shooting would mean until the next day,” she says. “I’m trying to only allow myself to think about things like that at certain times. Having a son who’s about to go out into the world is having a real impact on me… I don’t know when a police officer is going to drive by, and what they may do or think, or if they’ll perceive my son as a threat. That’s just not healthy. I was just thinking about how traumatic that is, constantly living in fear for your children.” 

Being Black in America is not even able to breathe a sigh of relief about the Derek Chauvin verdict before hearing about Mahkia Bryant’s death the same day. It’s honestly tiring.

— allison. (@AllyKnowsBest_) April 21, 2021

This is why it’s essential for people — especially white allies — to understand that this singular instance of accountability can’t be viewed as proof of enduring change. There is still so much work to be done. “I think maybe there are some white folks who are using this word ‘relief’ because they’re glad their city’s not burning,” DeGeare adds. “For others, they’re using relief as an excitement term. They’re on Facebook, which I try to stay away from, saying, ‘Yes, this [verdict] is amazing news!’ But it’s more like, ‘Oh, you want to be off the hook because you’ve found it uncomfortable to talk about race for the past year.’” In other words, it would be dangerous to feel nothing but relief right now, because that would mean closing the door on a conversation and a fight for racial justice that must be ongoing. 

DeGeare says this moment could be compared to January’s runoff election in Georgia that allowed Democrats to take control of the Senate, for which Black voter turnout was incredibly high, in part thanks to activists like Stacey Abrams. For Democrats, there was a moment of celebration. Then, the January 6 insurrection happened. “Right now, it’s very high emotion,” DeGeare says. “It feels like we got a win with this one verdict, but we don’t feel better.” 

So while it’s okay to take time to process your emotions and heal, says Breland-Noble, no one should mistake Chauvin’s guilty verdict for a sign that this chapter in history is coming to an end. Vice President Harris put it well in her full response to the ruling. “Today we feel a sigh of relief,” she said, then continued: “Still, it can’t take away the pain. A measure of justice isn’t the same as equal justice. And, the fact is, we still have work to do.” 

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Derek Chauvin's Guilty Verdict Is Not Justice

Derek Chauvin Found Guilty In George Floyd Murder

Everything To Know About The Derek Chauvin Trial

DMTBeautySpot

via https://www.DMTBeautySpot.com

Molly Longman, Khareem Sudlow

#DMTBeautySpot #beauty

Health officials called for an immediate pause on use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday morning. This decision came after six recipients in the U.S. developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within about two weeks of receiving the one-dose vaccine. 

All six of these recipients identified as women and were between the ages 18 and 48. One woman has died and a second person in Nebraska is in critical condition in the hospital. 

Since the J&J vaccine was approved for emergency use in America by the Food and Drug Administration, nearly seven million people in the U.S. have received this vaccine. “We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution,” Peter Marks, MD, PhD, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and Anne Schuchat, MD, principal deputy director of the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, said in a joint statement. “Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare.”

On Wednesday, the CDC will convene an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to review these six cases and discuss whether they’re significant. After careful examination by the FDA and CDC, the health agencies will decide whether the vaccine should continue to be distributed to all adults, or if the authorization should be limited to certain populations or age groups. 

Today FDA and @CDCgov issued a statement regarding the Johnson & Johnson #COVID19 vaccine. We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution.

— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) April 13, 2021

The cases of blood clots, which occurred in conjunction with low platelet counts, first came to light late last week, and on Friday, Johnson & Johnson told Reuters they were aware of the issue, and were working with regulators to look over the data. In a statement sent to Refinery29, Johnson & Johnson said: “We are aware of an extremely rare disorder involving people with blood clots in combination with low platelets in a small number of individuals who have received our COVID-19 vaccine… We have been working closely with medical experts and health authorities, and we strongly support the open communication of this information to healthcare professionals and the public.” The company added that it had also decided to proactively delay the vaccine rollout in Europe. 

This news is being announced amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. The virus thus far has killed more than 2.9 million worldwide and can cause long-term health concerns. The national vaccine rollout has been largely well-received, and although vaccine hesitancy is less prevalent than it was in December, hesitancy or resistance to vaccination is still widespread enough to have experts concerned.  

Some experts say the fact that the CDC and FDA have called for a pause on the J&J vaccine is a sign that our health systems are working, and of how seriously the agencies are taking safety. “This tells me that any possible adverse effects are getting reported up the chain of a command,” says Paul Pottinger, MD, a professor specializing in infectious disease at the University of Washington School of Medicine. “Those six cases, it’s a little less than one in a million, it’s incredibly rare, but the agencies are hitting pause so they can look at the data and decide if the association is true…. The overall safety of the vaccine has been shown to be strong, and the effectiveness is still very strong, so I’m hopeful the pause will be lifted so they can start getting the vaccine out and saving lives.” 

“I know there are people who have gotten the vaccine who are probably very concerned,” Dr. Schuchat said in an FDA and CDC briefing Tuesday morning. “For people who got the vaccine over a month ago, the risk is very low at this time. For people who recently got the vaccine within the last couple weeks, they should be aware to look for any symptoms.” 

If you received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Dr. Pottinger says that there’s no need to panic. But if you have any issues within three weeks of vaccination, report them to your doctor. Dr. Pottinger notes that in the 12 to 48 hours after the initial shot, it’s common to experience side effects such as headaches, fatigue, and muscle aches, and he emphasizes that it would be “incredibly rare” to experience this and have the reason be blood clots. But to be on the safe side, if you develop symptoms, especially severe headaches, leg pain, abdominal pain, or shortness of breath, anytime within a month of getting the vaccine, call your doctor or go to urgent care and tell them you’ve been vaccinated in the last month, he says, echoing FDA and CDC guidance. 

“If you’ve had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, I’d say, ‘Congratulations,’ because that means you’re protected from a severe disease that can lead to hospitalization and death,” he adds. 

There have been similar concerns in Europe and other countries about the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca researchers, which hasn’t been authorized yet in the U.S. It’s unclear exactly why these vaccines may cause the blood clots.

Federal officials noted in their release that the blood clots that people developed after the J&J vaccine were called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), which are somewhat rare and require a different treatment than more common clots. “Usually, an anticoagulant drug called heparin is used to treat blood clots,” the statement said. “In this setting, administration of heparin may be dangerous, and alternative treatments need to be given.”

There have been no significant safety concerns with the two mRNA vaccines by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

What Should I Do With My COVID Vaccine Card?

Is It Okay To Delay Your Second Vaccine Shot?

So, How Long Does The COVID Vaccine Actually Last?

DMTBeautySpot

via https://www.DMTBeautySpot.com

Molly Longman, Khareem Sudlow

#DMTBeautySpot #beauty

If you’ve spent as much time scrolling through the dark, foreboding trenches of social media as I have, you may be aware that (gasp!) not everything you’ll read there is totally accurate. And in the age of COVID-19, many of the false claims being disseminated through social media, in forwarded email chains, and even (in an old fashioned, Laura Ingalls twist) by word of mouth, have to do with the virus. There are myths about how it’s contracted, about its symptoms, and, of course, about the COVID-19 vaccines. 

The misinformation isn’t surprising, says Jessica Malaty Rivera, MS, an infectious disease epidemiologist and the science communication lead at The COVID Tracking Project. “Vaccine hesitancy… has been a persistent problem for many years,” she notes. She points to since-retracted 1998 study that falsely linked the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine to autism as one major source of modern anti-vaccine sentiment, though it even existed in colonial times, in response to the smallpox vaccine.

“Many of these myths have been used for decades,” says Glen Nowak, PhD, a director at the University of Georgia’s Center for Health and Risk Communication, who formerly worked in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Immunization Program. “They tend to come from websites and people who are actively working to seed vaccine hesitancy and reluctance. Social media increases the visibility and sharing of those claims.” While the misinformation stems from many different sources, at least some misleading claims seem to be spread by the same websites and people that disseminated election-related falsehoods, The New York Times reports.

We asked Dr. Nowak, Malaty Rivera, and other experts to identify — and debunk — the most common misconceptions they come across. But if you hear a surprising or suspect claim that didn’t make this list, Dr. Nowak suggests asking your doctor if it’s true before believing it.

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines aren’t safe because they were developed and tested too quickly.

Fact: Although Operation Warp Speed cut much of the bureaucratic red tape that often holds up proposals for a new vaccine, the process of testing the vaccines through clinical trials was no less rigorous. For example, vaccine makers were authorized to conduct pre-clinical trials (which test the vaccine in animals) and phase one clinical trials (which test the vaccine in humans) at the same time, rather than one after another, to save time, Malaty Rivera notes. But each trial lasted as long and looked at as many subjects as it normally would have. “Every single milestone and objective that needed to be met was,” Malaty Rivera stresses.

The Food and Drug Administration also required that manufacturers monitor trial participants and gather safety data for eight weeks post-vaccination before applying for emergency use approval, to guarantee there were no adverse effects, a supremely cautious move given that most adverse effects crop up within minutes or days of the jab, Malaty Rivera adds. What’s more, researchers have been studying mRNA, the foundation of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, for more than a decade. 

“Honestly, Operation Warped Speed was a terribly named initiative,” Malaty Rivera admits, echoing a sentiment Anthony Fauci, MD, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, expressed this fall. “But I’m grateful it happened, it provided a continuous flow of financial resources to keep the research going.” 

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines could give you COVID-19.

Fact: The vaccines that have gotten emergency use authorization in the U.S. don’t contain the virus that causes COVID-19, so they can’t give it to you. You might experience some  side effects, including pain at the site of the injection, headaches, chills, fatigue, and muscle pain, but these are symptoms of your body’s reaction to the vaccine, not the virus. 

Myth: The negative side effects of the vaccines can be fatal. 

Fact: This is a relatively widely circulated falsehood, but there’s no evidence that COVID vaccines cause death, the CDC notes. They are proven to prevent death, though, and to protect those around you. 

One twist on this myth is the claim that COVID-19’s mortality rate is “only” 1%, and therefore not all that dangerous. But “a 1% mortality rate is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu,” the Mayo Clinic points out. “In addition, the mortality rate can vary widely and is influenced by age, sex, and underlying health condition.” The bottom line: The vaccines save lives.

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines could alter DNA. 

Fact: This just isn’t true. The misconception may come from the fact that both the Modera and Pfizer vaccines contain messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), genetic material our cells use to “read” proteins. The mRNA in the vaccine helps the body recognize and fight back against a key piece of the virus that causes COVID-19; it doesn’t interact with or have anything to do with your cells’ DNA. The mRNA that’s in the vaccine will be broken down and flushed from your body over time. 

“[Anti-vaccine political groups] are saying mRNA vaccines cause ‘genetically modified humans,’ using the GMO metaphor,” explains Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine and the co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development. “That’s clearly not the case.” 

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines can cause infertility or miscarriages. 

Fact: No evidence has linked the vaccines to infertility and miscarriages, but fear-mongering misinformation campaigns continue to call the COVID vaccine “female sterilization.” “There is zero science to this claim,” Malaty Rivera says. “This is a myth that is so damaging. It’s made up to incite fear, and is ripped straight from the anti-vax playbook from the HPV vaccine. It’s an unoriginal and unscientific claim.” 

More than 69,000 pregnant people have been vaccinated to date, and early data being tracked by the CDC indicates that vaccines are likely safe and effective during pregnancy. Pregnant people are eligible to get the vaccines in more than 40 states now, and a new study from the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology showed that the vaccines offer strong immunity to people who are pregnant. 

While it’s up to every individual to assess their own risk and comfort levels, Malaty Rivera says that the benefits of the vaccine seem to outweigh the risk of getting COVID-19 for pregnant people — who are more at risk for severe illness if they contract the virus. 

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines were developed using fetal tissue. 

Fact: None of the vaccines contain aborted fetal cells or tissue, and no fetal tissue was used in the development or production of the vaccines. The confusion comes from the use of what are called fetal cell lines, which are lab-replicated fetal cells. They are derived from cells taken from elective abortions that took place decades ago, which have multiplied into new cells over the course of decades. 

Fetal cell lines offer a way to test treatments on human cells, and are often used medically. They’ve been used, for example, to test treatments for conditions like Parkinson’s. Pfizer and Moderna used fetal cell lines in their vaccine testing, and Johnson & Johnson used them in development and production. But the vaccines themselves contain no fetal cells.

Even the Vatican has said that it’s okay for Catholics to get all three vaccines. The Church has hinted that Catholics should try to get a vaccine other than the J&J one if possible, but ultimately says that Catholics have a moral duty to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus by being vaccinated. “If someone wants to morally object to an abortion that happened 50 years ago, that’s one thing,” Malaty Rivera says. “But to prevent life-saving therapies and treatments for people because of one event seems actually morally more reprehensible to me.”  

Myth: You don’t need a vaccine if you’ve already had COVID-19 and recovered. 

Fact: You should get one of the vaccines whether or not you’ve already contracted the virus. Although coming down with COVID appears to give you some immunity to the virus, we still don’t know how long that immunity will last, how powerful it is, and how much it will protect you from other COVID-19 variants, Saskia V. Popescu, PhD, an infectious disease epidemiologist and assistant professor at George Mason University, previously told Refinery29.

The CDC gives two exceptions: If you’re currently COVID positive, you should wait to receive a vaccine until after you’ve quarantined and have recovered; and if you were treated for the virus with monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma, you should wait for 90 days post-treatment to get your jab. 

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines are injected with a bar code or microchip to keep track of people.

Fact: Although this would make a great sci-fi movie, it’s not true. This bizarre claim originated in a widely distributed Facebook video that contains manipulated footage of Bill and Melinda Gates and Jack Ma, and calls out a company called ApiJect, which in November received a $590 million loan to produce injectors for the vaccines.

ApiJect does offer optional “Radio Frequency Identification chip” technology. These chips are meant to go on a syringe’s label and confirm that a vaccine is authentic, unexpired, and unused, Steve Hofman, an ApiJect spokesperson, told Reuters. They would never be injected into a human. Plus, as of December, no COVID vaccines being used in the U.S. actually opted in to using the chip technology. (ApiJect has not yet responded to Refinery29’s request for comment.)

Myth: The Johnson & Johnson vaccine isn’t as effective as the other two vaccines. 

Fact: Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine has been shown to be 66% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 globally, and 72% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 in the U.S. This efficacy rate was technically lower than Moderna’s and Pfizer’s (both are above 90%). But J&J’s vaccine was shown in the trial to have 100% efficacy against hospitalizations and deaths 28 days after vaccination, and that’s the more important figure. 

“People see the numbers in the headlines, but they miss the nuance,” says Bruce Gellin, MD, MPH, the president of Global Immunization at Sabin Vaccine Institute. The three vaccines being used in the U.S. right now can’t be compared directly, since the trials were conducted at different times, in different parts of the world, and with different COVID-19 variants in play. (For more background info, check out Vox’s comprehensive explainer.) All we need to know is that they were all deemed protective enough to be approved by the FDA, and that they’re all great at keeping us alive. With that perspective, you can’t go wrong — except by not getting vaccinated at all. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vox (@voxdotcom)

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Vaccinated People Can't Carry Or Spread COVID

Vaccine Passports Are Coming

Why Do I Feel Guilty About Getting The Vaccine?

DMTBeautySpot

via https://www.DMTBeautySpot.com

Molly Longman, Khareem Sudlow

#DMTBeautySpot #beauty

A disclaimer: One of my least favorite places in the world is the so-called “feminine hygiene” aisle at my local drugstore. Under horrible fluorescent lights sits an array of largely unnecessary vaginal products, often packaged in the unnatural pink hue of Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape. Sure, some of them are legit, but seeing vaginal “cleansers” and “odor blockers” on the same shelves as tampons and Monistat causes a visceral reaction in me that’s only matched when I see a MAGA hat or hear the word “moist.”

But the latest of such products caught me especially off guard, because I wasn’t bracing for it the way I usually do the moment I enter my local pharmacy. Someone sent me a tweet featuring a product called Down There Wash, billed on the label as “a hoorah for your hoo-ha.” I rolled my eyes and responded, “More like a product to screw ya for your moolah, am I right?” I assumed that this was just another superfluous item I’d see around my most dreaded drugstore aisle. But the more I learned about this particular product, the more my light-hearted brush-off bubbled over into total contempt. Down There Wash wasn’t just your average vaginal health scam. It was wrong in so, so many ways.

In fact, so plentiful were my issues with the product that I decided to make a list of everything problematic about Down There Wash. Here goes… 

1) Its name.

I’ll start with the obvious. I used the term “down there” to describe my vagina when I was like, 10. You’re marketing to adults (I hope). Use anatomically correct terms, please. 

2) The appropriation of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). 

The bottle’s label is peppered with cutesy, slang-y, trying-too-hard phrases. It calls the vagina and/or vulva a “hoo ha,” a “bajingo,” and a “little V,” and says things like, “this ain’t your grandma’s douche!” Some of these terms aren’t just annoying — they’re troubling. As folks on Twitter pointed out, the bottle’s branding appears to be created by non-Black people using African American Vernacular English (AAVE) to get their message across. 

“The vagina (internal) is a magical self-cleaning machine, but the vulva (external) is a whole other thang,” Down There Wash’s blush pink bottle reads. The label continues, “The wrong thing can throw off her natural pH, which leads to dry, itchy skin, UTIs, yeast infections, odor, & more. Byeee felicia thank u, next! C U NEVER. [sic]”

This is branding clearly done by non Blacks trying to use AAVE* https://t.co/dSzPUvZhCz

— Stay in the car, we’re still going to revolution (@THEEBlackleftie) March 28, 2021

“This is not branding,” one person wrote on Twitter. “This is trying to advertise yourself in a culture you really don’t know anything about. “Thang” “bye felicia” and yet no other AAVE. Okay… this isn’t it. [sic]”

A spokesperson for Goodwipes, which makes Down There Wash, confirmed the language featured on the bottle that went viral on Twitter is up to date, but has not responded to Refinery29’s request for comment on their use of AAVE. 

“Our passion at Goodwipes is to make people feel GOOD, and the communication surrounding pH-balance on the back of the washes is meant to educate on this topic, while breaking through ‘taboo’ topics, empowering our consumers, and speaking to them like we would to our girlfriends,” Maria Guilbault, Goodwipes chief branding officer, told Refinery29 in an email. “We always aim to communicate in a relatable, authentic way that makes people feel more comfortable in situations in which they may have previously been unnecessarily wary… Life is too short not to keep it real and laugh about it all along the way! :)” 

🙁 

3) The gendering of a vaginal product.

This product inaccurately assumes that all vulvas — and people with them — use “she/her” pronouns. 

4) The vaginal fear-mongering.

As you read, the back of the bottle offers up a few vaginal health worst case scenarios, seemingly to terrify people into buying this product. There was a time in my life when I’d do, buy, or try anything to avoid even the idea of a urinary tract infection. Down There Wash’s language isn’t just over the top, but it could scare people into buying something they simply don’t need.

A vaginal or vulva pH wash or “cleanser” — whether you’re buying it from Goodwipes, Vee, HoneyPot or other brands selling something similar — isn’t necessary, explains Mary Jane Minkin, MD, OB/GYN at Yale University School of Medicine. “When it comes to the vagina, if you don’t have a problem, don’t create problem,” she says. Meaning if you’re not having any symptoms such as itchiness, burning, dryness, or odor, there’s no need to change up your vaginal health routine. If you do have an issue, bring it to your OB/GYN’s attention before your bring some mystery product into the shower with you. 

Does the vulva need to be washed? Sure, but you really don’t need a special product, notes Heather Bartos, MD, an OB/GYN in Texas. “Really, some warm water is all you have to have to clean your vulva,” she says, adding that if you have to use something, it should be doctor-tested, hypoallergenic, and fragrance-free: “Anything you use on the vulva can easily enter the super-sensitive vagina, so what’s in the product matters — like fragrance.” I zoomed in on the fine print so you don’t have to: Fragrance is listed as an ingredient in Down There Wash.

Also worth mentioning: When Refinery29 asked if the Goodwipes worked with an doctor to create their product, they cited a quote from the OB/GYN Sherry Ross, MD — but in a follow-up email confirmed they didn’t work directly with her. Instead, they said they specifically worked with a chemist and, more vaguely, “did copious amounts of research.” Okay!

In the end, Dr. Bartos put it best: “This product went a little overboard with its marketing strategy and somehow ended up — even in 2021 — making people feel shameful about their vulva… I cringed reading it.”

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

How To Stop Vaginal Chafing In Its Tracks

The Truth About Restoring Your Vaginal pH

Should You Try The New Birth Control Gel?

DMTBeautySpot

via https://www.DMTBeautySpot.com

Molly Longman, Khareem Sudlow

#DMTBeautySpot #beauty

Tanya Wildes, MD, is one of those doctors who was born, not made. She’s known that medicine was her calling since she was four years old, when she instinctively reset her sister’s dislocated finger (please don’t try it at home, she warns). And yet last August, after 12 years of practicing medicine, she decided to resign from her job as an oncologist in St. Louis, MO — and, at least for now, leave medicine altogether. 

Dr. Wildes, who requested her workplace not be named for fear of retaliation, remembers three specific events that led to her decision to leave the field she adored. The first occurred after a long day of working with patients. When she came home, her son wanted to fly his model airplane in the park. She said no. “I knew if it crashed into a tree or something, he’d be devastated and I just knew I couldn’t comfort him,” Dr. Wildes remembers. “I had nothing left to give.” 

The second event took place the following week, when Dr. Wildes went on a roadtrip with her family. She read books, played with her son, laughed, and even climbed a tree. “I didn’t cry that entire week,” she recalls. “Then I went back to work and cried every day. I’d struggled with seasons of depression before, and I know that depression doesn’t go on and off like a light switch. This was situational.” Not long after that, she was speaking with her older sister about her challenges, and floated the idea of quitting. “She’d championed me as a woman in medicine my entire life, but she immediately said, ‘Yes, that’s what you have to do,’” Dr. Wildes says. That conversation was event number three, she says: “It became absolutely clear. I needed to leave.” 

Dr. Wildes is just one member of what appears to be the beginning of a mass exodus of medical professionals from their field. About 40% of nurses considered leaving or planned to leave their job in the next six months, according to a 2021 American Nurses Foundation survey of 22,316 nurses. To compare, the turnover rate for bedside registered nurses in 2019 was just under 16%. Between March and June of last year, 8% of doctors closed their practices due to COVID-19, with 43% of physicians reducing their staff because of the pandemic, a June 2020 survey by The Physicians Foundation found. 

The stressors of the pandemic have taken their toll on pretty much every corner of society, but the strain has been particularly pernicious for medical professionals, who have faced a combination of uniquely frustrating, taxing, and even traumatic circumstances. Lynn Howie, MD, left her oncology job in a rural area in the South this January for a variety of reasons: a lack of PPE, untenable staff cuts that left her without support, and worries about spreading the virus to her family or catching it herself. Some doctors also shouldered significant financial burdens, since the pandemic had increased their overhead costs (due to stricter PPE requirements) while reducing their patient volumes (as many people began delaying non-essential care). 

Prior to March 2020, Dr. Wildes was already juggling her work with cancer patients, her research projects, and her family. “Before COVID-19, there was just enough bandwidth in our lives to deal with any extra issues that arose,” she says. “It meant that if someone got a flat tire, we could handle it. But a pandemic? No. That pushed everything from being at 93% capacity to being at 102% capacity all of the time.” She pushed through for as long as she could, but when the strain began taking her away from ability to spend time with her son and husband, she knew enough was enough.

Mental health concerns and burnout are major reasons droves of healthcare workers are leaving their field. More than half of doctors, nurses, and emergency responders working with COVID patients could be at risk for mental health conditions, including acute traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and insomnia, according to a University of Utah Health study conducted in April and May 2020. ICU workers are especially at risk for meeting the threshold of post-traumatic stress disorder, research King’s College London released in January 2021 indicates.

“Everyone is dealing with the mental health impacts of the pandemic, but if you’re a healthcare worker, you have an extra burden of constantly being seen as a hero,” says Michi Fu, PhD, professor and licensed psychologist. “We feel like we have to be a little bit superhuman. In a field where you save others, there’s much higher risk of burnout than other professions already, and now there’s more vicarious traumatization of seeing what others are going through with COVID-19, sometimes being the last one to pass a message along from a loved one.” 

And the mental load is even heavier for healthcare workers who are people of color, Dr. Fu adds. They have seen firsthand how Black, Latinx, and Indigenous patients die of the virus at higher rates. Additionally, many Asian American doctors have experienced more racism during the pandemic, amid a backdrop of increased violence targeting Asian people. Many point to former President Donald Trump’s comments referring to COVID-19 as the “China virus” as a catalyst that encouraged anti-Asian sentiments and hate. 

Lucy Li, MD, an anesthesiology resident at Massachusetts General Hospital, says that after a shift in March, a man began following her, yelling profanities. He shouted, “Why are you Chinese people killing everyone? Why the f— are you killing us?” Dr. Li was terrified. “Even though I knew the hate was out there, I was shocked still when it happened to me directly,” she says. She was also offended: She was risking her health every day to save lives, not harm them.

Pre-pandemic, Dr. Li already had mental health support, including a therapist, which she says made all the difference in her ability to move past the incident and continue doing her job. She praises her hospital for setting up support systems for residents. Her director even helped create a national program called Emotional PPE, which connects medical professionals with free mental health services. 

But not all healthcare workers can access this type of support, in part due to a pervasive stigma around mental illness among medical professionals. Research presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting showed that the suicide rate among physicians is more than double that of the general population, and yet other studies have shown that few seek out mental health care. Approximately 50% of physicians have experienced inappropriate anger, tearfulness, or anxiety as a result of COVID-19’s impact, yet only 13% of physicians have sought medical attention for a mental health problem caused by COVID-19, according to The Physicians Foundation’s September 2020 survey. 

Medical professionals often cite fear of retaliation for seeking support; they could be concerned that asking for help could interfere with their licensing, according to a 2017 study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Others feel they don’t have the time or bandwidth to seek help, due to their demanding workloads, Dr. Li adds. These and other barriers can lead to burnout, more folks leaving medicine — and even more dire consequences. 

Lorna Breen, MD, died by suicide in April 2020. She was a sister, a “cool aunt” to her eight nieces and nephews, and an emergency room director at New York Presbyterian Allen Hospital in Manhattan. 

“She was always helping people, and jumped into action whenever she could,” Corey Feist, Dr. Breen’s brother-in-law, tells Refinery29. He recalls a time a cab he was sharing with Dr. Breen bumped into a cyclist’s tire. The driver got out to assess the damage, and the cyclist punched him square in the face. “Lorna immediately flipped into, ‘I’m an ER doctor, and I’m going to take care of everyone,’” remembers Feist, who is chief executive officer of the University of Virginia Physicians Group. This attitude was typical for her. Even when she contracted COVID-19 last spring, after weeks of working on the front lines of the pandemic, she made PPE care packages to send to her coworkers while she was home sick, Feist says. She returned to the emergency room and worked 12-hour shifts, often staying late to help out at a time when supplies were scarce and hospitals in New York were overwhelmed. 

On April 9, 2020, though, she called her sister, Jennifer Breen Feist, and said she couldn’t get out of her chair. She hadn’t slept in a week and was overworked, Dr. Breen’s family noted. Although she’d had no prior mental health problems, she was struggling now — but she was afraid to seek help. 

A few weeks later, she died by suicide. Suicide is always complex and multifactorial, but physician suicide is all too common, says Gary Price, MD, president of the Physicians Foundation. “A little more than one physician per day dies by suicide — 400 doctors a year,” he says. “That means so many more patients lose their doctor. This is not something we can accept as the status quo.”

“Our New York-Presbyterian and Columbia family continues to mourn the passing of Dr. Lorna Breen,” said a spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “Dr. Breen was a heroic, remarkably skilled, compassionate, and dedicated clinical leader who cared deeply for her patients and colleagues.

“Throughout the COVID crisis, our hospitals have faced unprecedented challenges, and our doctors, nurses, and other frontline healthcare workers have answered these challenges in heroic ways,” the statement continues. “We have worked to give them the support and resources they need to fight for every life while protecting their own health and safety.” 

After Dr. Breen’s story was published in The New York Times, Corey Feist says that their family received an onslaught of messages from physicians saying they had similar fears around asking for mental health support.

The family founded the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation and, along with Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, is working to pass federal legislation to prevent and treat burnout and mental health conditions among healthcare professionals. The bill was just approved for funding, and has bipartisan support. 

“I can’t underscore enough that there’s a huge gap in understanding across the healthcare industry of the strategies that’ll work to improve mental health among healthcare professionals,” adds Corey Feist. “And the healthcare industry needs to act now to support the well-being of their workforce or we’re at risk of losing a large segment of our caregivers.”

 In order to effectively treat this problem, hospitals, licensing boards, and healthcare institutions across the country and globe will need to come together, says Neil Greenberg, MD FRCPsych, a professor who researches mental health in military and healthcare settings at King’s College London. He suggests training managers to better identify the warning signs of mental health issues and to feel confident speaking with staff about their wellbeing. 

Setting up peer support groups can also be beneficial. “Nurses have been through probably the worst year of their careers — they’ve had such pressure and trauma and relentless work,” says Jill Maben, OBE, PhD, RN, a professor of health services research and nursing who has been studying nurses’ wellbeing for 20 years. “But what seems to help nurses most is talking to each other.” During the pandemic, it’s been difficult to have casual get-togethers, however. Formal peer groups, like those provided in the Schwartz Rounds program (available in parts of the U.S. and other countries) give healthcare workers a regularly scheduled time to get together and talk to the emotional, social, and ethical issues that take place at work in a supportive way that can be cathartic. 

“It needs to be okay to say, ‘I’ve made these decisions and I’m not sure I’ve got it right,’” Dr. Greenberg says. “Everybody has been in the same storm, maybe not the same boat. There have been no right answers over the last year. The story can’t be, ‘It’s all my fault’ or ‘It’s all my bosses’ fault,’ but that we’re all in this terrible storm together.” 

Without meaningful dialogue, the right resources, and manager support, the mental health of medical professionals will continue to suffer and they will continue to leave the field. When that happens, “it inevitably impacts patients,” Dr. Price says. “They lose access to healthcare. There’s going to be a growing problem of physician shortage over the next 10 years. This is felt mostly in rural areas where the doctor who leaves may be the only doctor around.” 

When it comes to quitting jobs, everyone has to make the decision that’s right for them and their mental health. But Dr. Greenberg suggests that medical professionals who are thinking of leaving their field consider seeking treatment first: Speak to your manager if you can, look into a program like Emotional PPE, or talk to a friend or family member you trust. “We know that many healthcare staff have expressed an intention to leave the profession, and it is likely that many of those intentions are linked to poor mental health,” Dr. Greenberg says. “People think if they leave, things will automatically get better. But that’s often not the case.” 

Dr. Wildes, however, says she’s confident that leaving her job was the right call for her. “Leaving was a decision I made in great mental wellness, as a protective strategy for my mental health,” she says. “If I had continued to persist, I think it could have caused depression or led me towards burnout. I’m grateful I had the privilege to be able to leave.” 

She plans to go back into medicine in some capacity at some point in the next year or two, but in the meantime she is enjoying spending extra time with her son. “My biggest fear when I was working was that when my son was 80 he’d tell his grandkids about the pandemic and his memory would be, ‘My mom was really a mess,’” she reflects. “But on New Year’s Eve, I asked him what he would say if he could go back to the beginning of 2020 and warn himself about what was ahead,” Dr. Wildes says. “He looked at me quizzically and said, ‘It wasn’t that bad a year.’ And for me, that was enough.” 

If you are thinking about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or the Suicide Crisis Line at 1-800-784-2433.

If you are experiencing depression and need support, please call the National Depressive/Manic-Depressive Association Hotline at 1-800-826-3632 or the Crisis Call Center’s 24-hour hotline at 1-775-784-8090.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Inside The Fierce Hunt For Leftover Vaccines

What Is Post-Traumatic Growth?

Why Do I Feel Guilty About Getting The Vaccine?

DMTBeautySpot

via https://www.DMTBeautySpot.com

Molly Longman, Khareem Sudlow

#DMTBeautySpot #beauty

My chaotic energy knows no bounds, and thus I rarely check the Weather app. Usually, I find out it’s raining in real time, or if someone tells me to expect showers during small talk. I suspect that most functioning adults peek at their weather app of choice sometime between waking up and leaving their house in the morning, if only to determine whether they should grab an umbrella on their way out the door. And while it would seem that being informed is the more responsible choice, as it turns out, many people completely misinterpret one of the most widely read weather stats: how likely it is to rain. Take that, “functioning” adults! 

I first caught wind of the actual meaning of the Percentage of Precipitation (PoP), as it’s known in meteorological circles, on TikTok. A video went around that claimed that a 30% chance of rain doesn’t mean that there’s a… 30% chance that it might rain that day. Instead, it means there’s a 100% chance it will rain, but said precipitation will only cover 30% of a given area. Cue the pandemonium. Who would have assumed that was the correct interpretation? People felt lied to. But for every viewer expressing dismay, another expressed skepticism. How could we be sure this random TikToker had it right? (Spoiler: They didn’t.) 

The TikToker — who didn’t respond to Refinery29’s request for comment by press time — was incorrect, but the truth is, PoP is tricky to define. I asked Castle Williams, PhD, a social science contractor supporting National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Research’s Weather Program Office, to explain PoP to me as though I was a precocious fourth grader. He said that would be “a really difficult ask.”

@sydjkell

Reply to @spice.hound The original ##ChanceofRain video w added ##closedcaption for ##deaf and ##HoH viewers!! ♥️ (And those who scroll TT w sound off😂)

♬ original sound – Syd

Dr. Williams wasn’t trying to insult my intelligence. In a study he conducted with the University of Georgia, he found that meteorologists don’t agree on how the percentage is calculated. In fact, there are five different commonly used definitions for PoP among meteorologists alone. No wonder the average weather app user is confused. 

One of the five definitions in Dr. Williams’ study is similar to the reasoning behind the TikTok: It’s based off of the idea that PoP = C x A. In that case, “C” means the confidence that it’ll rain somewhere in the forecast area. And “A” means the percent of the area that will receive a measurable amount of rain, if it occurs at all. So a 50% chance of rain in 80% of a given area = a 40% PoP. But Dr. Williams says this isn’t the most widely accepted definition among meteorologists.

His preferred definition is this: “[PoP measures] the likelihood that you’ll see rain at any given point within the forecast area within a 12 hour time period,” he tells me. His interpretation is more in line with the common understanding of PoP — not the TikTok. 

Mindy Beerends, Meteorologist-in-Charge at the National Weather Service Center Weather Service Unit in Indiana, has a more technical definition: “It’s the chance of precipitation, which we define as 100th of an inch of rain falling at a particular point over a certain period of time,” she says. Beerends’ explanation falls in line with the official NOAA definition of PoP, and both also seem to debunk the viral TikTok.  

While the video that’s been circulating recently is new, its so-called revelation isn’t. My research turned up similar “I was today years old when I learned…”-style factoids on social media and mentions of PoP misinterpretations in old articles stretching back to the early 2000s. Some, like the TikTok, claim that a 30% chance of rain refers to the proportion of a given area that will receive rain. But another misreading is that the PoP actually means you’ll be seeing rain for 30% of the time in a given forecast area over a certain period. Both are wrong. Apologies in advance if I just shattered your world view… 

A lot of PoP miscommunications happen because meteorologists and apps give us the percentage without a “reference class.” That’s when you provide context: “A percentage in a PoP forecast is most useful when the percentage is accompanied by a point of comparison that anchors the intended meaning of the forecast,” he says. “For example, if I say there’s a 20% chance of precipitation for your area tomorrow in the afternoon or evening, it’s unclear what that 20% is referring to. By adding a reference class, such as, on one in five days like today, there will be rain in your area, it provides context and anchors the probability information.”

But the thing is, even if you personally interpret PoP incorrectly, Dr. Williams says that if it’s working for you, it’s no big deal. One of the reasons there’s not a major push to help people understand PoP (or to get all meteorologists on the same page) is because there aren’t major negative consequences to misinterpreting whether it’ll rain. “The worst that happens is you don’t bring your umbrella or raincoat,” he says. “We have more dangerous hazards that are taking the stage.” In other words, meteorologists, by and large, are more focused on tracking tornadoes, hurricanes, and storms that threaten people’s lives. And most people are getting along fine even when they misunderstand PoP.

“Even though people aren’t understanding or can’t define what the PoP means, they’re using the percentage correctly when they take protective action,” Dr. Williams says. If you see there’s 80% chance of rain, you’ll probably dress appropriately, even if you think the 80% is referring to how much land will receive rain, or how long the rain will last. 

“We all have our own internal definition of what PoP means, and we’ve been using it for as long as we’ve been using weather forecasts,” Dr. Williams says. “We’ve all personalized PoP and we all have our own threshold and our own gauges of when to take an umbrella and when not to.” Basically, we don’t question our understanding of PoP because it’s been working for us. That is, until someone on TikTok comes along and rains on our PoP parade. 

Still, both Dr. Williams and Beerends say they’d like to see more be done to educate folks about PoP, whether it means an asterisk within the weather app with information going into detail about the stat and how it was calculated, or learning about it in more detail in schools. “It’s something we should be doing some more public education around,” Beerends says. “It’s important to have people be aware of what that percentage means, so it can help them make informed decisions so they can be safe and prepared” 

I asked Dr. Williams why he thought that this PoP conversation was becoming so popular now. Could it be a reaction to all the uncertainty we’ve faced amid the COVID-19 pandemic? Are we desperate to know the certain truth about something, even if it’s just our understanding of the weather? He said it was a good hypothesis. “In the last year, uncertainty has been heightened and we’ve become ‘uncertainty fatigued,’” Dr. Williams says. 

Regardless, if your interpretation of PoP has been working for you — meaning you almost always have an umbrella or raincoat on hand when it begins to rain — there’s no need to readjust your perception. But if the whole mysterious mess is infuriating to you, take a page from my book and ditch the tyranny of the weather app altogether. Dancing in the rain is more fun than coming prepared anyway. 

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

9 Wellies Your Wardrobe Needs This Fall

Who Knew Raincoats Could Be This Cool?

TikTok's Newest Trend Is Literally Just... Gluten?

DMTBeautySpot

via https://www.DMTBeautySpot.com

Molly Longman, Khareem Sudlow

#DMTBeautySpot #beauty

I was in bed drinking ginger tea and watching my 64 billionth TikTok video when I began to notice a trend. There was a lot of running mascara. And a lot of clips were set to the song “Driver’s License” by Olivia Rodrigo. Before my eyes, strangers were dissecting their failed relationships — sometimes just hours after they fell apart. They said to themselves: “Baby girl, it’s time to let go.” I had stumbled upon #BreakupTikTok, and I was fascinated. 

If you search the hashtag #Breakup or #BreakupTikTok, you’ll find an array of juicy and heart-wrenching content. Some take to the platform to share how they got over their heartbreaks. Others create montages of photos of their ex, with pointers for the next person who dates them. (Tips range from “he will love you unconditionally, so please do the same” to “order him a Dr. Pepper, no ice.”) A surprising number of people just film themselves crying on camera, wiping away their tears while a classic breakup song like Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” plays in the background. In the most gutting Toks, you’ll see someone actually get broken up with on camera. 

As I watched, a part of me was impressed with how frank these people were. Some of them reminded me a little of myself when I was going through my worst breakup. But the other part of me was skeptical — and a little concerned. Were they just trying to get attention? Wouldn’t the creators regret being so candid about their heartbreak?  

The Breakup TikTokers I spoke to were remarkably forthcoming about the reasons behind their content  — and the good and bad of going viral for showing their broken hearts off to the world. Amber Anderson, for instance, made a video seven days after calling it quits with her fiancé, whom she’d been seeing for two-and-a-half years. It was a fairly impulsive decision, she says: One morning she was getting ready for the day and putting on makeup, when she looked in the mirror and broke down in tears. Then, she started filming. “Just because somebody appears out of nowhere and you guys fall hopelessly in love, it doesn’t make you soul mates,” the 20-year-old says in the video, taking a moment to blink away her tears. “It just means that you met at a time when your souls needed each other the most.” 

@amberlucyy_

Day 7: soulmates #heartbroken #breakuptiktok #healing #breakupdiary #adviceforgirls

♬ Repeat Until Death – Novo Amor

Anderson is from the UK and, between her accent and wavy red hair, has a real Kate Winslet vibe. She didn’t think too many people would see the video, she tells me over Zoom. It’s 14 days after she posted the video and just 21 days after her breakup, but she looks much happier now than she did on TikTok. “I made it to help myself, hoping I could look back at it in a month and see how far I’d come — how much I’d grown,” she says. “I didn’t think it would blow up. I only had a couple thousand followers at that point, and now over 300,000 people have seen me cry.” More, actually: As of press time, it had received more than a million views and nearly 350,000 likes.

Tess Mueske also didn’t expect one of her toughest times to go viral. The 24-year-old separated from her partner in October. Her three roommates were also going through breakups at the time. In a video, one of her roommates pokes fun at the situation, standing in front of a screenshot of a group text with her broken-hearted friends, and reads off the messages: “So what stage of grief is everybody in?” After that TikTok took off — more than two million people have watched it — Mueske began posting her own videos, asking for advice and processing her feelings. “I feel like I’m still thinking about her a lot,” she admitted in one video. 

Mueske was motivated to share, in part, by a desire to see more non-curated content on TikTok. “I think we see a lot of highlight reels,” she tells Refinery29. “People talk about breakup glow-ups or ‘Oh I learned all these amazing things about myself.’ But we also need to hear from people saying, ‘This sucks and I wish it hadn’t happened.’ I don’t want to only share the perfect parts of my life on the internet, because that’s not who I am as a person.” But she also mentioned feeling isolated: She’d recently moved and didn’t have many local friends. Those she had were difficult to see in real life due to the pandemic. On TikTok, she felt heard.

“It’s a deeply human thing to want to share our experiences, whether in therapy, via written word, or on TikTok,” says Anthony T. Pinter, a PhD Candidate at the University of Colorado Boulder who led a study about social media and breakups.

The urge to share isn’t all bad. “It’s healthy to get your emotions out of your body, and documenting your healing process can be helpful,” adds Moraya Seeger DeGeare, LMFT, co-owner of BFF Therapy and an anti-racism business consultant. But it’s healthier to share with people you trust — a therapist, a friend — than with your social media followers, she says. “Clicks and views are different from real-life support from someone who knows you, who can console you, and who can tell you hard truths,” DeGeare says. 

There are consequences to sharing intimate moments online. “The internet doesn’t forget,” Pinter notes. And because it’s so easy to download videos from TikTok, and the platform encourages people to stitch videos together and borrow sounds, the technological lifespan of your tears could theoretically go on forever. The videos could impede your healing process. “What happens if you become a meme and you can’t escape your own breakup anymore?” Pinter asks. 

Anderson and Mueske are still in fairly early stages of their breakup process, but they both say the popularity of their respective videos has been a little anxiety-provoking — if hard to wrap their minds around. “At first, when I thought about how many people had seen it, my heart would start beating really fast,” Anderson says. “But I would still tell people who are thinking of doing this to just put it out there. It helped me grow… When I look back at it and see how sorry for myself I was feeling, I feel that I’ve come so far.” 

Privacy is also an issue — for creators and their exes, Pinter says. “People aren’t afraid of conducting what you might call ‘crowd justice’ when they see these sorts of things and they feel like someone has been wronged,” Pinter says. “So that’s definitely an important thing to consider if you are thinking about sharing your story on TikTok or through other public means…The public might decide to take matters into their own hands.” 

Then there’s the fact that your ex might see your video. For some, that’s not a problem. “I hope he’s seen it,” Anderson says. “I would like him to know how upset I was, and I want to keep posting about me getting better. That I’m doing okay.” On the flip side, Mueske was shocked when her ex liked one of her videos after they’d broken up. “She was always adamant that she wasn’t going to download the app, and, when she did, it felt like she was reading my diary,” Mueske reflects. “It was the one place I felt like I could talk openly about the breakup online.” 

After her ex got on TikTok, Mueske deleted some of her breakup videos. “I don’t want to paint her in a negative light, as much as she hurt me,” she says.

On some level, I get where Mueske and Anderson are coming from. In 2015, I was 20, listening to Taylor Swift’s “Red” album a lot, and going through a doozy of a breakup. I felt the impulse to write a horrifically candid journal entry about not being able to move on. I’d trusted someone and they broke my heart — so I let that baby bleed all over the page. “I didn’t get butterflies in my stomach when he came into a room,” I wrote. “There was something more powerful and reckless and wild and beautiful down there. Was there a bald eagle in my stomach?” Embarrassing. But I was incredibly sad, and I couldn’t hold that emotion on my own any longer. Instead of calling up my besties who were, at that point, sick of hearing me dwell, I submitted what was basically an unedited page from my diary to the teen online magazine Thought Catalog. Not long after, they posted it. At first I felt validated. Then I felt mortified. I both hoped my ex would read it, and dreaded the idea. Eventually, I just didn’t care anymore. 

I went back and read the story after talking to Anderson and Mueske, and saw some of the same emotions in my story that they’d talked about feeling. At the time, I wanted to be seen, and to know that I wasn’t alone. More than anything, I wanted to get my thoughts out of my brain, where they were circulating unhealthily. Now, I can barely get through a paragraph of the story without laughing at how devastatingly open I’d been (and sighing at the awful writing). I find the post cringey, but I don’t regret submitting it — possibly because, to my knowledge, no one I know read it. And because it gave me some peace at the time. 

Both Anderson and Mueske say a positive consequence of posting their breakup TikToks has been the community they’ve found as a result.

Mueske has taken advice commenters have left, such as to pick up a new hobby to take her mind off of the split. She’s started recording songs she sings and writes at home in quarantine. “I threw myself into a piece of my identity that wasn’t wrapped up in her, and it was freeing,” Mueske says. 

Anderson says hundreds of people have reached out to her on Instagram in the days since she posted the video. While she acknowledges there can be a dark side to seeking support online, she’s mostly made friends with people going through something similar. She’s even doing a virtual Galentine’s Day celebration with them. 

“You do some really dumb stuff when you’re really sad, but this helped with my loneliness, and it kick-started a lot of stuff for me. I’m not even crying any more. And this is so strange, but I ultimately feel proud of myself,” Anderson says. “In the past, I’ve hidden away, and that didn’t help me heal. But this did, and now I’ve got new people to reach out to who are going through something big too — who I can reach out to without judgement or opinion.”

Anderson’s post-Tok experience is a best case scenario. There are plenty of ways posting about lost love could go sour, as Pinter pointed out. But if you do decided to post and, like me, cringe about it later, take solace knowing you’re not the first person to overshare about matters of the heart on social media. And you certainly won’t be the last.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

My Breakup Made Me Rethink My Sexuality

How To Get Over A Breakup

What To Do After A Breakup

DMTBeautySpot

via https://www.DMTBeautySpot.com

Molly Longman, Khareem Sudlow