I found this awesome video at Birth and Bloom.
I heart the Birth Attendants, who run this Prison Doula Project. I also love this video because it shares the stories of these doulas and the women they work with–but it protects their anonymity using this cool form of animation. That’s a big piece of telling the stories of these incarcerated folks–you also want to respect their desire for privacy.
For more about The Birth Attendants, check out their website.
Thanks to the Barnard Center for Research on Women for making and posting this video! Apologies that there is no transcript.
More details on the event here.
A conversation with an amazing radical doula and activist tonight got me thinking about a topic I’ve been avoiding writing about here for a while, mostly because of my feelings of shame.
It’s been four years since I’ve been at a birth.
I worry that when I tell folks that they will shun me, or consider me less worthy or my expertise false.
But the real question, and the interesting part of it, is why has it been so long since I’ve done birth doula work?
The first thing that pushed me away from the work was the burn out and exhaustion I felt from just a few months working at a hospital as a doula. It can be so taxing to be a doula in those environments, witness the inequalities and injustices, but know that your role was not to fix them, or intervene, but to try and support the birthing parent.
I left my last birth at that hospital just entirely spent and triggered by the hospital environment–I couldn’t do it anymore. Part of the problem is I’ve never witnessed a birth experience (at least not firsthand) that felt inspiring to me, that was a model of what birth should be.
I’ve yearned to see birth in the home, or in a birth center, or even a hospital where the mother is truly supported and has a positive experience.
So I’ve stayed away because of not wanting to be in the hospital setting again.
I’ve also stayed away because of my life schedule. I’ve not stayed put for more than three weeks at a time since college. My work has required pretty consistent travel–not a good combination for doula work.
But I’ve also stayed away because of fear. In the four years since I’ve last done doula work, my gender presentation has changed significantly. I’m scared of how folks will react to me, if I will make them uncomfortable, if I will have to answer questions that I don’t want to answer.
Because that’s the thing about doula work–it’s not about me. It’s about the birthing parent. And that’s the way it should be–but it’s so hard to think of walking into a room and wondering what is going through the parents head. Are they wondering why I’m doing doula work? Do they assume I’m gay and not feel okay with that? So many insecurities connected to this.
These are the things that keep me from signing up for shifts with the local volunteer doula group, which is awesome and connected to a birth center locally.
In the absence of direct doula work, this blog has been an amazing outlet for the passion and energy I have for this work. I’ve felt blessed to connect with all of you and keep abreast of the work of the birth activist community.
So this is a commitment to myself to get back to doula work this year, and face some of these fears head on.
Last week I had the opportunity to speak on a really great panel hosted by the Barnard Center for Research on Women. My co-panelists were Aishia Domingue with the Brooklyn Young Mother’s Collective, and Mary and Lauren, the co-directors of the Doula Project.
Here is a great overview of the event, but I wanted to add some thoughts as well.
First, it was fantastic to be in a room full of reproductive justice activists and supporters, all talking about birth. It’s amazing how things are progressing! And to have an event focused on doula work get such great attendance on a college campus is superb.
I really enjoyed collaborating with Aishia, Mary and Lauren on the event and hope to be in conversation with them more in the future.
One issue that came up in the Q&A that I thought was really interesting was the idea of sex education. We talked about how inadequate it is, how little young people are taught about their own bodies.
What I also thought of though, is how often times birth is used as a scare tactic. Do you remember watching the video The Miracle of Life? I remember being in Elementary School and being totally scared and repulsed by the birth scene. Educators sometimes use pregnancy and birth as scare tactics to keep kids from having sex.
We all know that scare tactics don’t work–and we get the added downside of scaring young kids early about birth.
I wonder what sex education that was really comprehensive–meaning it taught kids about childbirth without adding to the fear–would look like?
I also spoke that morning at the LGBT Literature class of a friend, Ileana Jimenez. It was an amazing visit, and such a great curriculum for high school students. More about my visit here.
Health Connect One is hosting a Doula Lobby Day this week, on March 11th, in Washington DC.
It’s exciting to see doulas taking their activism to the next level–on the Hill!
Part of what spurred this advocacy effort was the recent advocacy success. Health Connect One, supported by doulas around the country, successfully secured $1.5 million dollars in funding for FY2010 for community based doula programs. This is a huge recognition of the role of community based doulas in securing the health of our communities.
On March 11th, 2010, we will be hosting a Doula Lobby Day in Washington, DC. Join us as we meet in-person with our elected officials and encourage them to increase funding for the community-based doula program! If you are interested in participating, please contact Laura McAlpine at laura@lmcalpine.com.
If you cannot join us in DC, please visit us on Facebook to follow our real-time updates, and to let us know where YOUR legislators stand on increasing funds for community-based doula programs.
For background on federal funding for community-based doula programs, please link here.
There will also be a reception, hosted by the Family Health and Birth Center in Washington DC, on March 10th to commemorate the new funding and the lobby day.
I’m sad that I will have to miss all the exciting events, but if you attend I would love to share your experiences on the site. Email me or post in comments!
More good news on the midwifery front, this time from Wyoming!
A bill was signed into law there on March 5th, legalizing the practice of Certified Professional Midwives. CPMs are midwives that are trained to practice in homes or birth centers. They are an essential player in out of hospital birth access.
Yay Wyoming!
According to the Big Push, Nevada is now the only state in Western US that does not allow CPMs to practice.
Great news from Mississippi. The bill that had passed the House there and was headed to the Senate was defeated.
Woot!
For background on the bill go here, and thanks to everyone who took action.
The International Center for Traditional Childbearing has two doula trainings this year that I wanted to highlight.
I’ve written about their work before, but they are on of the only doula groups that focuses on working within communities of color, specifically the African American community. I’ve heard great things about their work.
2010 Full Circle Doula Trainings:
April 15-18, 2010 in Atlanta, GA
May 20-23, 2010 in Richmond, VA
More info here.
It’s my third birthday right?
In the spirit of celebration, my birthday wish list:
Thanks everyone for celebrating three years of Radical Doula with me!
Today is the 3rd birthday of Radical Doula.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years already. I’ll be doing a few things today in honor of the bday, but let’s start it off some fun facts about Radical Doula:
I’ve written 314 posts, with 585 comments from all of you! This post got the most comments, this one got the most hits.
My highest trafficked month was January 2010.
My busiest day was Wednesday March 5, 2008, after I posted this piece responding to a doula bashing article in the NY Times.
Radical Doula has 227 fans on Facebook, and 103 followers on Twitter.
Some favorite posts, by year:
2010:
January 22: How about we call it blog for justice day
February 4: California pregnancy-related deaths triple in the last decade
2009:
February 19: Some thoughts on tokenism
March 5: Lost in Translation
2008:
April 16: Some thoughts on gender and pregnancy
August 14: One main cause of health disparities: Racism
2007:
April 17: Pleasure & Pain
July 30: Sterilization: Abuse vs Access
August 2: Kick-Ass radical doulas, 3rd ed: A collective post
Other posts I wanted to highlight:
Hardest post to write: On why I blog, criticism and activism
Silliest post: Radical Doula body graffiti
Most sex-related google traffic: Fresh Focus sex ed digital video contest (Seriously, I get at least 50 hits a day on this one, and the folks looking for porn even click on the contest link!)
Radical Doula 