Welcome to our annual Women’s Health issue. Why do we have to say “women’s” health? Why not just “health”? Well, there are many anatomical and systemic differences between the genders, to be sure, but there are many more commonalities.

Unfortunately, that term makes it sound like women are a minority; a special subgroup of the general population. Actually, it’s just the other way around. If you examine the world’s population or just about any subdivision thereof, you will find more females than males (the exception might be prisons). So why is the public perception so skewed?

Let’s be polite and call it cultural bias. It probably stems from the same tradition that compels women to visit beauty parlors and buy scads of products that are applied to the skin and absorbed by the body, causing untold side effects. We get dolled up this way so we can attract a mate, get married and—Happy Mother’s Day!

At least there are women doctors today, both traditional and alternative (there didn’t used to be, and women couldn’t even vote for the longest time), and you can meet some of them right here in our pages. But why are insurance companies still pushing old-fashioned, painful, radiation-laden mammograms instead of non-invasive, forward-thinking thermology sessions that predict cancer that might happen instead of just showing the damage that has already occurred?

I think that if enough women made their wishes known to insurers and doctors alike that they want at least the option of thermography or any other alternative care, it would happen, because those corporations are only in it for the money. I’m sure that a lot of the employees working there are very nice people—and I’d be willing to gamble that most of them are women.

Here at Natural Awakenings, we are welcoming one very special woman, Director of Marketing Barbara Peters, to our staff. She and I worked together on the Body & Sol Women’s Expo in March, and you can read all about her on page 9. Tucson, we’re just getting started!

Another amazing woman you’ll want to meet is Gabrielle Reece, in our Wise Words department. She’s a terrific athlete herself, married to a championship surfer, a loving mother, author, fitness expert and businesswoman… how does she do it all? Find out in “Volleying Life: Gabrielle Reece’s Balancing Act,” by Christine MacDonald.

Our Community Spotlight this month features Jeanne Fellow, a wonderful, prolific artist who teaches classes at the Blue Raven Art School. Her approach to creativity was originally inspired by Judith Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way, and Fellow uses its message to assist students to explore new dimensions of expression.

Enjoy the season!