we need a movement…

i have a post up at the unnecesarean

here is an excerpt:

for a lot of birthy white folks, writing a post about racism is the ‘i voted for obama’ card.  it is what they can point to, to prove that they aren’t really racist.   it is their way of not engaging critique and challenge to their white identity.

truth?  i really don’t give a damn if you are an ‘informed about racism’ white person.  i care about maternal and infant mortality rates for black folks in the states.  about palestinian women being denied the right to adequate health care during the childbearing year.  about the 80 percent c section rate in chiapas and oaxaca, mexico.  about imprisoned folks giving birth while being strapped down.  about forced sterilization for maquiladora workers.

how do we stop these atrocities, these genocides that are happening to those with the least amount of access and resources?

blog posts i am not going to write

1. about tim wise’s ridick over at racialicious.  because there is nothing really i can say.  he’s been doing this work for a while.  if he was really interested at this time to understand the ways that his work can and does undermine anti racism work, then he would already understand it.  i am sure that this is not the first time he has heard these concerns or stories.  its not because they dont exist, its because he really doesnt give a fuck at the moment.

2. the controversy over whether birth rape is real.  because when you claim that birth rape isnt real, then you are undermining anti rape work, by creating artificial constraints and parameters on when rape can and cannot occur.  cause while rape may or may not be about sex, it is always about power.  and once again, he cant really be a rapist, because he is an upstanding helpful member of society.  its a basic denial of rape culture.   but if you cant think in terms of culture, interlocking social systems, historical patterns, power analysis etc.  all this just went over your head, so. you know.  whatevs.

:::and scene::::

outlaw midwives vol. 2 call for submissions

call for submissions

outlaw midwives zine vol. 2

focusing on pregnancy, birth, and the baby year

for and by: mothers, friends and allies of mothers, doulas, midwives, birthworkers, childbirth educators, childbirth advocates,

intention: to create a zine for pregnancy, birth, and the first year of motherhood centering the lives of working class, marginalized mothers and birthworkers.

submit: photos, drawings, visual art
poems, essays, fiction and non-fiction
tips, suggestions, lists of resources

check out the outlaw midwives manifesta and website: http://outlawmidwife.wordpress.com/

outlaw midwives: creating revolutionary communities of love

some suggestions for topics on which you can submit…but these are just suggestions…

suggestions for those trying to conceive.  and for not conceiving.  stories of conception, abortions and miscarriage.

what are the social, economic, legal consequences and limitations for marginalized mothers to make choices about how, when and where they will give birth.

tips for the first, second, third trimester.  relationship with doctors, clinic, midwives, family, friends, etc.

how do we resist the high infant and mortality rates?

what are the ways that community could support the childbearing year, mothers and families?

how have you navigated through the systems of welfare, protective child services, hospitals, etc?

reflect on the state of midwifery today.  what do you see as the positives and negatives?  how has legalization and licensing affected mothers and families access to care?

what would you want to tell a soon to be mother about pregnancy, birth, and early motherhood?  or write a letter to your pre-mother or pre-pregnant self about what you should expect.   what didnt you expect to happen/learn/experience in pregnancy, birth, the baby year?  write a letter to you daughter and/or son about what you learned/want to pass on about pregnancy, birth, baby year.

what was your personal experience/story of birth? pregnancy, the baby year?
what did you learn/are you learning from the baby year?

what do you wish someone had told you about early motherhood and/or being a birth worker?
what do you wish you could have said to someone, but didnt?
what is your vision/ideal of how pregnancy, birth, baby year could be?

what family/traditional wisdom did you receive about pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding?  what practical tips do you have for working poor mothers?

breastfeeding vs. bottle.  what are the social, biological and economic influences and consequences of the choice to breastfeed or bottle feed?

what to do with the placenta?  placenta art, consumption, burials?

why did you become a birth worker?  what has been the highlights of the experience? what have been the difficulties?

what does ‘outlaw midwife’  mean to you?

keep it simple

deadline halloween october 31st

send submissions to maiamedicine at gmail dot com

a lil sisterist revelation

when i started reading midwife: sage femme, hebamme, comadrona, partera blog i thought she was of color.  thinking probably latina.  and then hours of reading later…6 or 7 pages into the blog, i found out that she was white.  i had to read the sentence 4 or 5 times to be sure…i am still in half-denial, like i really want to claim her as a radical woc.  but then i thought, no, it is awesome that she is white…frankly there arent that many white chicks that ‘get it’.  and when i meet (or read) one who does it gives me hope for sisterhood.  it reifies that ‘whiteness’ is not an adequate excuse to not struggle to be conscious in this world.  or for white folks to throw up their hands like: oh, there is no point in trying…

you know, sometimes life has a way of handing me some beauty.

and now…some articles/blog posts i am digging about birth.

after the birth what a family needs: this is for a friend who is looking at becoming a post-partum doula.  i think that she would be wonderful at it.

word magic: i have questions of anti-circumcision as a movement.  questions about respect for cultures and religions.  but i love this bit in this post:

She was shunned for many years for daring to speak up for the unassisted birth pioneers.  She loved being a midwife but didn’t do it with any compromise of her values.  She was fond of the idea that midwives should attend only one birth per month…She often said that “Every mother is a midwife” and then proceeded to further alienate herself from most other midwives by asking the rhetorical question “Why would I pay someone to be paranoid for me?”…Every profession needs someone to shoot straight from the hip and bring the profession back to a state of humility.