In case you missed it, here’s a collection of the issues and articles The Swaddle team devoted itself to over the past year. Thanks for reading.

This year in Health, we …

Busted period myths and stigma

• Periods Don’t Sync Up, No Matter How Much Time People Spend With Each Other
• Your Menstrual Cycle Keeps Changing Throughout Your Lifetime
• The Average Menstrual Cycle Does Not Last 28 Days, But 29.3 Days
• Chronic Pelvic Pain is More Than Just Period Cramps
• Stigma Has Rendered Period Sex Gross. But It’s Actually Good For You.
• Is It Okay to Use Birth Control to Skip a Period (or Several)?

Critiqued health care

• What a Transgender Friendly Health Care System Would Look Like
• Indian Chemists Are Not Stocking Medical Abortion Pills Anymore, Putting Millions of Women at Risk
• AIIMS Fire Is Symbolic of India’s Flailing Public Health Care System
• Patient Feedback Could Improve Childbirth Experiences at Hospitals

Took on diet culture and disordered eating

• Could Intuitive Eating End Diet Culture?
• An Obsessive Need to Keep a Healthy Diet Could Soon Be Classified as an Eating Disorder
• Eating Disorders Are Common Among Pregnant Women, But Support Is Lacking
• Eating to Gain Weight Isn’t Always Healthy, But More Women Are Doing It

Helped readers to better know and care for their vaginas (and the parts that aren’t technically the vagina)

• All You Need to Know About Getting Tested For Sexually Transmitted Infections
• Everything You Need to Know About Vaginal Yeast Infections
• What You Need to Know About Vulvodynia, or Chronic Pain in the Vulva
• The Lowdown on the Very Common Condition of Uterine Fibroids
• Untrending: There Is No Scientific Evidence Steaming Your Vagina Cleanses It
• Vaginal Discharge Is a Sign of a Healthy Vagina
• The Vagina Is Perfectly Capable of Cleansing Itself, No Douching Required
• All You Need to Know About STIs Series, which covered Chancroid, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Herpes, Hepatitis B, HPV, Lymphogranuloma Venereum, Syphilis, and Trichomoniasis

Challenged the idea that beauty equals health and hygiene

• With Little Guidance, Adult Acne Sufferers Turn to Treatments That Make Skin Worse
• Moisturizing Daily May Actually Damage Skin Rather Than Help It
• Toxic Beauty Rituals Still Plague Women in a Society Obsessed With Skin Care
• Debunking the Most Popular Myths About Hair Removal

Examined the barriers to good mental health

• For Many Women, Breastfeeding Difficulty Isn’t Low Milk Supply; It’s Unsupported Anxiety
• For Young People With Mental Health Struggles, Therapy Is a Luxury
• We Need to Reframe Mental Health as a Social Justice Issue, Not a Personal Problem
• Mumbai‑Based Mental Health Professionals Combat Stigma, Misinformation By Offering Discounted Services

Explored how culture complicates birth control

• Hiding Pills, Piercing Condoms, Stealthing — Birth Control Sabotage Takes Many Forms
• Would Women Trust Men With the Sole Burden of Contraception?
• The World’s First Injectable Male Contraceptive Is Ready — Are Men?
• Why More Indian Men Don’t Get Vasectomies

This year in Science, we …

Unpacked the gendered issues affecting STEM education and research

• Despite Education Gains, STEM Women in India Still Face Unequal Field
• ‘Masculinity Contest Culture’ in Science Disadvantages Women
• An Ancient, Female Handicraft Is Making Waves in Modern STEM Education
• Scientists Seldom Test On Female Lab Rats Because Females Have Hormonal Cycles

Learned more about how our minds and bodies work

• Why People Are So Creeped Out by Clowns, According to Science
• Psychic Tears and the Science of Crying
• Why Childhood Memories Are Vivid for Some, Hazy for Others
• What Are Those Butterflies in Your Stomach?
• Why We See Swirling Colors When Our Eyes Are Closed

Dived deep into the current climate crisis

• Birds Are Shrinking Because of Climate Change, Study Finds
• Climate Change Is Making Extreme, Once‑in‑a‑Century Flooding an Annual Event: UN Report
• Climate Change Could Put Almost 20% of the Total Human Calorie Intake in Jeopardy
• One Million Species Face Extinction Because of Humans: UN Report
• Rising Sea Levels Likely to Wipe Out the Homes of 300M People by 2050
• The Himalayas Are Set to Lose 66% of Their Ice by 2100
• Nitrogen Pollution Can Create Greenhouse Gases 300 Times More Potent Than CO2
• Report: More People Died Due to Climate Change in India Than Anywhere Else in the World in 2018

Freaked ourselves out

• Dead Bodies Continue to Move for More Than a Year After Death, Researchers Find
• The Scary Hallucinatory Condition Called Sleep Paralysis? I Love It
• Meet ‘The Blob,’ the Slime Mold That Can Think Without a Brain, Eat Without a Mouth
• Scientists Warn Mini‑Brains Used in Lab Research May Be Able to Feel

This year in Family, we …

Explored the breadth of experience of LGBTQ+ people within a biased society

• What It’s Like to Be Openly Queer and Exist Within an Indian Family
• One Year Since the Section 377 Verdict, What Has Changed?
• Corporate Investment in Pride Increases Visibility, But Doesn’t Expand Rights
• The Ethical Pitfalls of ‘Corrective’ Surgery for Intersex Babies
• LGTBQ+ Jawans Are Already in the Army; Welcoming Them Would Make the Ranks Stronger
• This Is My Family: ‘We Let Our Son’s Boyfriend Live With Us’

Spotlit how ingrained sexism harms everyone from the earliest ages

• Shame, Family Secrecy Lead to Mishandling of Child Sexual Abuse
• Gender Norms Cause Parents, Doctors to Miss Girls’ Signs of ADHD, Autism
• Study: Adolescents Who Conform to Gender Stereotypes Are More Likely to Have Health Problems Later
• Yale Study: Adults Downplay Little Girls’ Pain, Compared to Little Boys’

Challenged traditional assumptions and gendered norms around families

• Marriage Is an Inherently Unfeminist Institution
• UN Report Spotlights Role of Family in Progress Toward Gender Equality
• Urban Women Spend 312 Minutes a Day in Unpaid Carework; Men Spend 29
• Women’s Mental Load Linked to Distress, Dissatisfaction, Study Finds
• ‘Why Didn’t They Leave?’ and the Vicious Cycle of Abusive Relationships
• What It Takes For the Urban Indian Woman to Dissent

This year in Culture, we …

Took on inequity and bias in sport

• Indian Women’s Football Surges Ahead Without Resources, All Thanks To Its Players
• All The Arguments You Need: to Advocate for Equal Pay in Sport
• Australia’s Women Footballers Get Equal Pay
• Nike, Women’s Football Needs More Than an Aspirational World Cup Ad
• New Report Outlines Scale of Homophobia, Transphobia in Sport

Featured the habits and trends that our days a little better

• The Case For Platonic Intimacy
• Code‑Switching Isn’t a Shame or Pretense — It’s Survival
• Millennials and Meme Culture Have Reclaimed Astrology
• Why Cancelling Plans Gives Us Such a Rush

Called out the habits and trends that our days a little worse

• The Shame and Scandal of Indian Women’s Hair Follicles
• What Does It Mean to Look Your Age?
• The Commercialization of Self‑Care Has Left Us Needing More Self‑Care
• Loungewear as ‘Aesthetic’ Is a Symptom of Constant Self‑Optimization
• The ‘Revenge Body’ Phenomenon Promises Closure But Keeps Us Unhappy
• Body Positivity Is Excluding People; What If We Got Rid of Beauty Instead?

Scrutinized the obstacles and solutions to equal opportunity at work

• Imposter Syndrome Isn’t Just a Feeling, But a Result of Societal Conditioning
• Pay Transparency Looks Good on Paper but Proves a Tricky Policy to Implement
• As Corporate Mental Health Programs Gain Popularity, Navigating Individual Struggles at Work Still Difficult
• Emerging Gig Economy A Prime Opportunity to Include Working Women
• Study: Women Outscore Men in Most Leadership Skills
• Male, Female Employees Less Receptive to Feedback from Female Bosses, Study Finds

Sought out new ways of exploring sex

• Feminist Porn and the Glory of Ethical Sexual Representation
• On Hunting for, Finding, and Losing the Elusive G Spot
• Consent Is More Than Just a Yes to Sex, It’s an Enthusiastic Yes
• BDSM Culture Can Make Women More Assertive in Work, Relationships
• The Psychology of Sexual Kink

Called out bias in the media

• Bollywood’s ‘Age‑Old’ Sexism Problem
• Media, Fans, Listen to Anushka Sharma: Wives of Cricketers Are Not Your Punching Bag
• News Reporting of Sexual Violence Is Propagating Rape Culture
• Indian Media, Esther Duflo Is Not ‘Wife of’; She’s a Nobel Laureate in Economics
• Dear Jack Dorsey, Apologizing for the ‘Smash Brahminical Patriarchy’ Poster Makes You Complicit in It
• Brownface in ‘Super 30’ Reveals Bollywood’s Structural Racism

This year, we talked to …

• Alok Vaid‑Menon About Art, Activism, and the Transfeminine
• Sabyn Javeri on ‘Hijabistan’ and the Veil as a Metaphor
• ‘Silicon States’ Author Lucie Greene on the Gendered Dangers of Big Tech
• The Last Courtesans of Bombay
• Each other, with the launch of Respectfully Disagree: The Swaddle Team’s Weekly Culture Podcast

This year, we’re most proud of …

• Why the Moon’s Cultural Legacy Still Endures
  “This was the first feature I filed for The Swaddle! Picking this because writing it was an excellent lesson in picking up a humongous topic, choosing what fits in a strong narrative, and stitching it together. Plus, I enjoy a fun fashion reference in features about things that are not fashion.”
  — Aditi Murti, Features Writer
• My series: This Is My Family, Know Your Rights, Peripheral Vision, and What It’s Like To Live With
  “Every chapter of these four series I’ve worked on has been an eye-opener and, at the same time, overwhelming. If not for these series, how else would I get a peek inside people’s lives, their struggles, how they’ve reached where they are right now, and what it takes to defy norms and live in a way that it becomes an inspiration for society. To more such stories, and more power to the people in 2020.”
  — Anubhuti Matta, Associate Editor
• As Marriage Has Changed, So Too, Has Infidelity
  “This became a minor obsession — looking into why people cheat. Ultimately, while motivation is highly unique, there’s a social and historical undercurrent that the piece exposed to me that was very common. It was fascinating to learn about that and hear how it played out in individual relationships, and humbling to listen to people speak so candidly about their most intimate relationships — not all of which stories could fit into the piece, unfortunately.”
  — Liesl Goecker, Managing Editor
• All The Arguments You Need: to Prove Fat Isn’t Necessarily Unhealthy
  “I like this piece more than most I have written because I was just tired of explaining this to people around me until I wrote it, and now all I have to do is send a link. Oh, I also got a lot of hate for this, so yay! Always fun to anger some fatphobes in life.”
  — Rajvi Desai, Culture Editor
• The Batman‑Joker Universe Offers a Crucial Platform to Talk About Mental Health
  “This piece is a personal favorite from 2019. Timed to the release of Joker, and written during a difficult personal time, I am proud of how I was able to place two male comic characters in the context of mental health — convincingly, without pissing off the many, many Batman-Joker fans.”
  — Pallavi Prasad, Features Editor