Hello everyone!
I have just finished watching a British t.v. series called "Call The Midwife" on Netflix and it is AMAZING!
It is a series based off of a memoir of a London-based midwife from the 1950's named Jennifer Worth, who practiced midwifery at a convent and provided care for the underprivileged in the East End.
In the beginning, I thought that I loved this show because it was so entertaining and I just love anything that has to do with pregnant women and childbirth. However, now that it has ended, looking back, it was very educational in so many ways. I actually started to connect a lot of things we learned in class and some current events to this show. I loved this show because it showed a glimpse of how childbirth was beginning to be medicalized, it demonstrated the battle between breastfeeding and formula feeding, the disparities between white women and colored women, and how traditional gender roles affect women. It also perfectly demonstrated how religion is very influential in the government and in personal lives; where women could not get abortions because it was illegal, single women were not allowed to receive contraception because the government and the church did not want to promote sexual promiscuity (only married women were allowed to have contraception), and women were shamed for getting pregnant out of wedlock.
I have always heard the expression "history repeats itself" and brushed it off because, yeah it may be true, but I couldn't see it for myself so I didn't understand it. This series proved this expression time and time again, and I believed it. In class, we talked about the issues women face everyday, the problems we have with our healthcare system, our maternity care, intersectionality, the disparities between white women and colored women, etc. As I learned about all this, I did have an idea that the feminist movement and the fight against the issues women face have been around for many decades. However - now this may just be me being a millennial and all - but, sometimes I just feel like only we can understand the problems we face today because it is happening to us now and it is different than what the generation before us went through. Sometimes I think that just because we are a much more advanced society that it makes us different than all of the older generations, but that simply isn't true.
By the end of the day, we are all still humans. It doesn't matter what generation we came from or what technology we have, humans have existed for centuries, and one way or another we have felt and experienced similar things.
I recommend that you guys watch it! It was really cool to see a glimpse of how childbirth was handled in the 1950s in Europe.
-Rosely
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Monday, May 8, 2017
Nontraumatic birth is traumatic
Hey everyone!
So, I just read this article called "My Traumatic Birth Was Traumatic to Me" and it is about Becky Schroeder's (author of the article) experience giving birth. I remember one day in our class we were talking about how much more a baby is valued in this society than the mother, and that when a mother gives birth, the first question that pops into everyone's mind is "How is the baby?" not "Are you okay? How do you feel?"- to the mother. This article demonstrates this perfectly!
When the medical field, and basically our entire society, defines what a "nontraumatic birth" they say "it is when the baby arrives healthily and safely, the baby's nor the mother's life was in any danger, and there were no serious threats". However, what if labor lasted 15 hours? What if it took the mother 3.5 hours to push her baby out instead of the common 1-2 hours? What if the epidural stopped working and mother was in agonizing pain, screaming her ass off and exhausted from all the pushing she had to do? Does any of that contribute to whether the mother had a traumatic birth or not? By medical standards, no. Apparently, that just means labor and delivery was difficult, not traumatic. This is exactly what happened to Schroeder. Despite everything she felt - the pain, shock, anger, exhaustion, confusion, etc - the doctors, family and her friends still believed that she did not have a traumatic birth because the baby was healthy, it was delivered safely and mother and child are still alive.
Trauma and being traumatized (or not) does not only consider the act or the event that has occurred, but the mindset of person receiving the trauma as well. Although nobody thought Schroeder had a traumatic experience, she felt traumatized. Childbirth was a traumatic experience for her and she was traumatized. Despite the fact that she had a beautiful baby girl on her chest, she still could not get over the shock. She still could not get over the severe pain she just endured, the exhaustion and the psychological distress. And yet, business went on as usual. Everyone tended to the baby, they made sure she had all 10 fingers an toes, and they gloated about how perfect she was. The mother? Ignored in the background, still suffering from the physical and psychological damage caused by childbirth.
I actually find this very saddening to hear that situations like this happen all the time. And the worst part is that we are all in some way guilty of doing this. We think of babies as fragile little things, we dote on it every second of every day, and sometimes we just forget about the mother. Sometimes the mother even forgets about herself because all she can think of is her baby. But, what we have to realize is that not everyone experiences childbirth the same, no matter how similar childbirth may look from woman to woman. It can be a very traumatic experience; and like any other person who went through a traumatic experience, all a mother really needs is for someone to focus on her, to ask her if she is okay, to explain to her what just happened, to hug her, and to tell her that everything is going to be okay.
Check out the article here!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/becky-schroeder/my-nontraumatic-birth-was_b_5639342.html
So, I just read this article called "My Traumatic Birth Was Traumatic to Me" and it is about Becky Schroeder's (author of the article) experience giving birth. I remember one day in our class we were talking about how much more a baby is valued in this society than the mother, and that when a mother gives birth, the first question that pops into everyone's mind is "How is the baby?" not "Are you okay? How do you feel?"- to the mother. This article demonstrates this perfectly!
When the medical field, and basically our entire society, defines what a "nontraumatic birth" they say "it is when the baby arrives healthily and safely, the baby's nor the mother's life was in any danger, and there were no serious threats". However, what if labor lasted 15 hours? What if it took the mother 3.5 hours to push her baby out instead of the common 1-2 hours? What if the epidural stopped working and mother was in agonizing pain, screaming her ass off and exhausted from all the pushing she had to do? Does any of that contribute to whether the mother had a traumatic birth or not? By medical standards, no. Apparently, that just means labor and delivery was difficult, not traumatic. This is exactly what happened to Schroeder. Despite everything she felt - the pain, shock, anger, exhaustion, confusion, etc - the doctors, family and her friends still believed that she did not have a traumatic birth because the baby was healthy, it was delivered safely and mother and child are still alive.
Trauma and being traumatized (or not) does not only consider the act or the event that has occurred, but the mindset of person receiving the trauma as well. Although nobody thought Schroeder had a traumatic experience, she felt traumatized. Childbirth was a traumatic experience for her and she was traumatized. Despite the fact that she had a beautiful baby girl on her chest, she still could not get over the shock. She still could not get over the severe pain she just endured, the exhaustion and the psychological distress. And yet, business went on as usual. Everyone tended to the baby, they made sure she had all 10 fingers an toes, and they gloated about how perfect she was. The mother? Ignored in the background, still suffering from the physical and psychological damage caused by childbirth.
I actually find this very saddening to hear that situations like this happen all the time. And the worst part is that we are all in some way guilty of doing this. We think of babies as fragile little things, we dote on it every second of every day, and sometimes we just forget about the mother. Sometimes the mother even forgets about herself because all she can think of is her baby. But, what we have to realize is that not everyone experiences childbirth the same, no matter how similar childbirth may look from woman to woman. It can be a very traumatic experience; and like any other person who went through a traumatic experience, all a mother really needs is for someone to focus on her, to ask her if she is okay, to explain to her what just happened, to hug her, and to tell her that everything is going to be okay.
Check out the article here!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/becky-schroeder/my-nontraumatic-birth-was_b_5639342.html
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Scary Money-Grabbing Doula Organization!!!!
Hello everyone!
So recently I've been hearing about a very controversial doula organization called ProDoula. Now, as we all know, a doula is a woman who is trained to assist another woman during childbirth and who may provide support to the family after the baby is born. Anyone can be a doula, however, traditional the women who become doula are very passionate about childbirth, birth/social justice, quality maternity care, and the right to choose. The whole point of a doula is to take modern maternity care and progressively move it forward towards decreased unnecessary medical cost, decreased unnecessary medical intervention, decreased cesarean rate, increased physiological births, increased satisfaction in childbirth, empowerment in birth experiences and confidence in the female body. Although ProDoula is training more women to be doulas so that there are more doulas in this country, they are missing two major key points about doula work: Accessibility and Affordability.
Lately there has been some debate on what a doula should charge as her fee for service. Personally, as a doula-in-training, even I have trouble setting even the smallest fee for myself because I know not a lot of people can afford many things. As a result, I just volunteer my time so that I can provide services to a large range of people, from the under-privileged to the wealthiest, because I believe that every woman deserves a doula no matter the circumstances. The doula profession does tend to be undervalued because, to be quite honest, you can't put a price on a special moment like childbirth. I feel like being a doula is all about making sure women are taken care of, they are happy, safe, more educated and empowered, and that should come from the heart. Yeah, a little money wouldn't hurt, I mean, you and your family got to eat right? However, if you want to be a doula, you have to understand that it is a very critical profession. You're at a very special time when you're with an expecting mom, so you need to be very passionate about it because it can be very taxing, physically and emotionally. I do not think it's the type of profession you go into as a way to "get rich" or make like $100K a year, so to make it about money and business instead of love and care is very insensitive. We're in a healthcare crisis where many people can't get access to care, let alone good quality care, as it is. Having a doula is a way to combat the accessibility and affordability issue we have in our healthcare system.
Of course, on the other hand there really isn't anything wrong with setting a fee so you can cover your costs from providing your services. You can make some pretty decent money here and there if you're really good at what you do. I think I just have a problem with making it all about the money. It's bad enough that the pharmaceutical companies and the insurances companies are making health care all about money instead of fundamental human rights. I know our country was built on capitalism, making it on your own, creating wealth on your own - it is very individualistic - and that is fine I guess. Everyone should try their hardest to progress and make something out of themselves, but just not at the cost of their health. Health should never be at the betting table or jeopardized for any reason. It's not some luxurious commodity.
ProDoula is treating doula work as a luxurious service that can only accommodate the women who can afford it. They do not believe that all women deserves a doula. Their logic behind all of this? Well, Randy Patterson, founder of ProDoula, was sick of working long hours as a doula basically for free while struggling to provide for her family. She did not think that it was a logical profession to have when you have a family to provide for and take care of. She loves doula work but it couldn't be a full time career unless she made good money out of it, so she did. Now, that is somewhat understandable. As a doula, you have to work crazy long hours (24+ if a woman is taking forever to give birth) and if you have a family, you have to seriously consider childcare, how to afford childcare, and how to provide for your family. Again, it is a very taxing job. It's a very noble and honorable job but very hard, so I get it. However, to say that not all women deserve doulas, that doulas are a luxurious service, and to be aggressive and competitive about fees for services is outrageous. It is disrupting the whole birth world and everything we are trying to do for women!!
Honestly, it's hard. If you really love this profession, you do not want to do anything else and you need to provide for yourself and/or your family, then yeah make a business out of it! It really is possible to do. Just make sure it is still coming from the heart. Don't follow the same philosophies that drive ProDoula's business. Our individualistic and capitalist culture is already ruining our health care system, don't let it ruin something as beautiful as childbirth. It's just not humane. Also, it's okay if it's not your main profession. You can just do it on the side because you love helping pregnant women and love witnessing the only miracle in life that happens every day. That is possible to. It can be very fulfilling. Personally, I am okay with having a separate career and doula'ing on the side for just some extra money. It's fun, I am happy and my clients are happy. That's all I need in life.
Check out the article on Buzzfeed about ProDoula and how it's ruining the birth world!
https://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/doula-drama?utm_term=.camJMPB7K#.wcN54VvPd
Stay Strong, Stay Beautiful, Stay Empowered
Love,
Rosely
So recently I've been hearing about a very controversial doula organization called ProDoula. Now, as we all know, a doula is a woman who is trained to assist another woman during childbirth and who may provide support to the family after the baby is born. Anyone can be a doula, however, traditional the women who become doula are very passionate about childbirth, birth/social justice, quality maternity care, and the right to choose. The whole point of a doula is to take modern maternity care and progressively move it forward towards decreased unnecessary medical cost, decreased unnecessary medical intervention, decreased cesarean rate, increased physiological births, increased satisfaction in childbirth, empowerment in birth experiences and confidence in the female body. Although ProDoula is training more women to be doulas so that there are more doulas in this country, they are missing two major key points about doula work: Accessibility and Affordability.
Lately there has been some debate on what a doula should charge as her fee for service. Personally, as a doula-in-training, even I have trouble setting even the smallest fee for myself because I know not a lot of people can afford many things. As a result, I just volunteer my time so that I can provide services to a large range of people, from the under-privileged to the wealthiest, because I believe that every woman deserves a doula no matter the circumstances. The doula profession does tend to be undervalued because, to be quite honest, you can't put a price on a special moment like childbirth. I feel like being a doula is all about making sure women are taken care of, they are happy, safe, more educated and empowered, and that should come from the heart. Yeah, a little money wouldn't hurt, I mean, you and your family got to eat right? However, if you want to be a doula, you have to understand that it is a very critical profession. You're at a very special time when you're with an expecting mom, so you need to be very passionate about it because it can be very taxing, physically and emotionally. I do not think it's the type of profession you go into as a way to "get rich" or make like $100K a year, so to make it about money and business instead of love and care is very insensitive. We're in a healthcare crisis where many people can't get access to care, let alone good quality care, as it is. Having a doula is a way to combat the accessibility and affordability issue we have in our healthcare system.
Of course, on the other hand there really isn't anything wrong with setting a fee so you can cover your costs from providing your services. You can make some pretty decent money here and there if you're really good at what you do. I think I just have a problem with making it all about the money. It's bad enough that the pharmaceutical companies and the insurances companies are making health care all about money instead of fundamental human rights. I know our country was built on capitalism, making it on your own, creating wealth on your own - it is very individualistic - and that is fine I guess. Everyone should try their hardest to progress and make something out of themselves, but just not at the cost of their health. Health should never be at the betting table or jeopardized for any reason. It's not some luxurious commodity.
ProDoula is treating doula work as a luxurious service that can only accommodate the women who can afford it. They do not believe that all women deserves a doula. Their logic behind all of this? Well, Randy Patterson, founder of ProDoula, was sick of working long hours as a doula basically for free while struggling to provide for her family. She did not think that it was a logical profession to have when you have a family to provide for and take care of. She loves doula work but it couldn't be a full time career unless she made good money out of it, so she did. Now, that is somewhat understandable. As a doula, you have to work crazy long hours (24+ if a woman is taking forever to give birth) and if you have a family, you have to seriously consider childcare, how to afford childcare, and how to provide for your family. Again, it is a very taxing job. It's a very noble and honorable job but very hard, so I get it. However, to say that not all women deserve doulas, that doulas are a luxurious service, and to be aggressive and competitive about fees for services is outrageous. It is disrupting the whole birth world and everything we are trying to do for women!!
Honestly, it's hard. If you really love this profession, you do not want to do anything else and you need to provide for yourself and/or your family, then yeah make a business out of it! It really is possible to do. Just make sure it is still coming from the heart. Don't follow the same philosophies that drive ProDoula's business. Our individualistic and capitalist culture is already ruining our health care system, don't let it ruin something as beautiful as childbirth. It's just not humane. Also, it's okay if it's not your main profession. You can just do it on the side because you love helping pregnant women and love witnessing the only miracle in life that happens every day. That is possible to. It can be very fulfilling. Personally, I am okay with having a separate career and doula'ing on the side for just some extra money. It's fun, I am happy and my clients are happy. That's all I need in life.
Check out the article on Buzzfeed about ProDoula and how it's ruining the birth world!
https://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/doula-drama?utm_term=.camJMPB7K#.wcN54VvPd
Stay Strong, Stay Beautiful, Stay Empowered
Love,
Rosely
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Maternity care, Politics, and Science...
Hey everyone!
So, so far Pushed has been very mind broadening. For the most part, it has made me question everything about our health care and how competent the professionals in high-level positions really are.
By popular belief, doctors and officials are to be trusted. We hold them to the highest regard. And yet, they are the ones that are doing the most harm to us.
I believe in science, more than anything, so to hear of stories of the ACOG, scientists, and doctors conducting and believing in research studies that are not valid, reliable or safe is catastrophic. Scientists and doctors -- two professionals that uphold the principles of science; they are who they are because of empirically-evident, scientific truth. There is no arguing with science if it is done right; unbiased and with attention to detail.
What struck me the most was the Toronto epidemiologist Mary Hannah, MD -- A woman -- who led a randomized controlled trial on which birthing procedure was best for breech babies; vaginal birth or cesarean. Strike 1, unethical. Although randomized controlled experiments are the best way to have unbiased, valid and reliable result, jeopardizing the life of a mother and her child unnecessarily off of a flip of a coin is beyond unethical. Strike 2, the way the experiment was conducted was not entirely accurate or truthful. There was an unfair comparison between vaginal birth and cesarean. In this case, the vaginal births were not physiologically natural. They were monitored and very heavily managed. With the outcomes that Dr. Hannah had, of course it's true that a vaginal birth of a breeched baby is unsafe. None of the physicians were trained to safely handle a vaginal birth of a breeched baby. The way the results were framed, Dr. Hannah made it seem like cesarean births were better and safer than vaginal births, but cesareans have other complications that are not natural and cause greater harm in the long-run than vaginal births. But, of course the ACOG did not care. They ran with the results and made every woman go through major abdominal surgery without giving it a second glance. People questioned the validity and the structure of the study, they fought against it, they demanded a withdrawal of the study and demanded a better study that accurately represented childbirth. However, what did Dr. Hannah have to say about criticism? "The results of the study are the results, you don't withdraw them because somebody doesn't like them." Now, with that mindset, wouldn't you believe that the results of a better conducted observational study would be considered just as significant and valid? Apparently, according to the obstetric community, the answer is no. A physician recommended a redo of the study by making the study observational instead of a randomized controlled study. I believe this is a better choice because it is ethical and it gives an accurate representation of what generally happens in childbirth without altering it. The ACOG ignored it; deemed it inefficient. Another observational study was conducted by midwives Johnson and Betty-Anne Daviss about low-risk women planing midwife-attended home births in the US and Canada. The research showed that physiological births are safe and women are capable of having them with little to no intervention. Still, the obstetric community gave it no attention. So, by Dr. Hannah's ideology shouldn't the ACOG acknowledge the results and respect supporting evidence? I guess it's only okay to disregard results when it's convenient to officials in power. True science doesn't matter to them if it doesn't fit their beliefs. This just proves that the ACOG is biased. That is just disgraceful. You can't go above basic scientific evidence. Strike 3.
I am a firm believer in science. No matter what, observational and randomized controlled studies are both valid. I don't understand why in this case, observational research is "inefficient" when observational studies are used all the time, like in animal behavior research. That is just as valid as anything else.
How reliable is our healthcare if they are more tangled up in bureaucracy than in science?
That question will always haunt me....
So, so far Pushed has been very mind broadening. For the most part, it has made me question everything about our health care and how competent the professionals in high-level positions really are.
By popular belief, doctors and officials are to be trusted. We hold them to the highest regard. And yet, they are the ones that are doing the most harm to us.
I believe in science, more than anything, so to hear of stories of the ACOG, scientists, and doctors conducting and believing in research studies that are not valid, reliable or safe is catastrophic. Scientists and doctors -- two professionals that uphold the principles of science; they are who they are because of empirically-evident, scientific truth. There is no arguing with science if it is done right; unbiased and with attention to detail.
What struck me the most was the Toronto epidemiologist Mary Hannah, MD -- A woman -- who led a randomized controlled trial on which birthing procedure was best for breech babies; vaginal birth or cesarean. Strike 1, unethical. Although randomized controlled experiments are the best way to have unbiased, valid and reliable result, jeopardizing the life of a mother and her child unnecessarily off of a flip of a coin is beyond unethical. Strike 2, the way the experiment was conducted was not entirely accurate or truthful. There was an unfair comparison between vaginal birth and cesarean. In this case, the vaginal births were not physiologically natural. They were monitored and very heavily managed. With the outcomes that Dr. Hannah had, of course it's true that a vaginal birth of a breeched baby is unsafe. None of the physicians were trained to safely handle a vaginal birth of a breeched baby. The way the results were framed, Dr. Hannah made it seem like cesarean births were better and safer than vaginal births, but cesareans have other complications that are not natural and cause greater harm in the long-run than vaginal births. But, of course the ACOG did not care. They ran with the results and made every woman go through major abdominal surgery without giving it a second glance. People questioned the validity and the structure of the study, they fought against it, they demanded a withdrawal of the study and demanded a better study that accurately represented childbirth. However, what did Dr. Hannah have to say about criticism? "The results of the study are the results, you don't withdraw them because somebody doesn't like them." Now, with that mindset, wouldn't you believe that the results of a better conducted observational study would be considered just as significant and valid? Apparently, according to the obstetric community, the answer is no. A physician recommended a redo of the study by making the study observational instead of a randomized controlled study. I believe this is a better choice because it is ethical and it gives an accurate representation of what generally happens in childbirth without altering it. The ACOG ignored it; deemed it inefficient. Another observational study was conducted by midwives Johnson and Betty-Anne Daviss about low-risk women planing midwife-attended home births in the US and Canada. The research showed that physiological births are safe and women are capable of having them with little to no intervention. Still, the obstetric community gave it no attention. So, by Dr. Hannah's ideology shouldn't the ACOG acknowledge the results and respect supporting evidence? I guess it's only okay to disregard results when it's convenient to officials in power. True science doesn't matter to them if it doesn't fit their beliefs. This just proves that the ACOG is biased. That is just disgraceful. You can't go above basic scientific evidence. Strike 3.
I am a firm believer in science. No matter what, observational and randomized controlled studies are both valid. I don't understand why in this case, observational research is "inefficient" when observational studies are used all the time, like in animal behavior research. That is just as valid as anything else.
How reliable is our healthcare if they are more tangled up in bureaucracy than in science?
That question will always haunt me....
Monday, March 6, 2017
What the Purity Myth Made Me Realize
Hello again lovelies!
So the past few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster. The Purity Myth is serious business! It made me realize, I have so much more to learn about this world. On one hand, it's understandable to think that in less developed countries, women do not have the same privileges as men. They do not have many resources, they don't have birth control options, there aren't that many doctors to look over their reproductive health and they are seen as just property for men. But in America? In the country that I live, just a few states across there are women who are still being lied to, and forced to conform to traditional gender roles and ideals. That terrifies me. I lived in New York my whole life. Considering how privileged the women in this state are, to have the ability to get an abortion or have birth control options, it's mind-boggling that other states, that are just as a part of the US as New York, do not have the same privileges.
I believe the worst part about the purity myth is, one, the women subjected to the purity movement are being lied to and judged solely on their sexuality. They are told that contraceptives do not work. They are prevented from getting vaccinated (that will only benefit their health) solely on the fear of being promiscuous. They are told that staying "pure" until marriage should be their ultimate goal. They are also told that without purity, no man will ever want to marry them and they will be damaged forever. This is all complete crap and no woman should ever be told that their worth is solely based on if they are sexually "pure" or not. There are so many more characteristics a person can have. A person can be a good or bad person and it's not because of their sexuality. Second, the stories of the physicians and pharmacists who refuse to provide care and medicine to women who want to obtain birth control pills or an abortion are despicable. Whatever happened to the Physician's Oath? Science? Objectivity? How can a doctor, a person in a position of authority who has the trust of innocent people, disregard research and science? A doctor who refuses to provide care to a patient solely because of personal preference should not be a doctor at all. A pharmacist who would lie to a customer and would prevent a woman from taking care of herself is disgraceful. There is a serious lack of professionalism here! It isn't fair that some women are not getting the proper care they need to protect themselves.
The purity myth made me realize, and reassured me, that I am on a path to a very rewarding and a very needed career. As a young woman who strongly believes in science, the medical field and the right to choose for all women, I want to be able to teach women about their bodies, birth control and how they can be the healthiest woman they can be. This makes me want to be a midwife even more because every woman deserves someone who will look out for them and their best interests. I want to be able to tell as many women as possible that they have options, they do not have to have children if they do not want to at this time, and they can be as free and sexually liberated as they want to be and still be healthy, protected and respected. It makes me proud to be on this path towards midwifery because I can say that I help women become more empowered, more in control of their body and life, and I can deliver more babies into the world and leave them with a mother who is stronger than ever before.
I'm so gonna kick this purity movement's ass!
Stay Strong, Stay Beautiful, Stay Empowered
(...and most importantly, stay AWAY from purity balls...seriously) hehe.
Love,
Rosely
So the past few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster. The Purity Myth is serious business! It made me realize, I have so much more to learn about this world. On one hand, it's understandable to think that in less developed countries, women do not have the same privileges as men. They do not have many resources, they don't have birth control options, there aren't that many doctors to look over their reproductive health and they are seen as just property for men. But in America? In the country that I live, just a few states across there are women who are still being lied to, and forced to conform to traditional gender roles and ideals. That terrifies me. I lived in New York my whole life. Considering how privileged the women in this state are, to have the ability to get an abortion or have birth control options, it's mind-boggling that other states, that are just as a part of the US as New York, do not have the same privileges.
I believe the worst part about the purity myth is, one, the women subjected to the purity movement are being lied to and judged solely on their sexuality. They are told that contraceptives do not work. They are prevented from getting vaccinated (that will only benefit their health) solely on the fear of being promiscuous. They are told that staying "pure" until marriage should be their ultimate goal. They are also told that without purity, no man will ever want to marry them and they will be damaged forever. This is all complete crap and no woman should ever be told that their worth is solely based on if they are sexually "pure" or not. There are so many more characteristics a person can have. A person can be a good or bad person and it's not because of their sexuality. Second, the stories of the physicians and pharmacists who refuse to provide care and medicine to women who want to obtain birth control pills or an abortion are despicable. Whatever happened to the Physician's Oath? Science? Objectivity? How can a doctor, a person in a position of authority who has the trust of innocent people, disregard research and science? A doctor who refuses to provide care to a patient solely because of personal preference should not be a doctor at all. A pharmacist who would lie to a customer and would prevent a woman from taking care of herself is disgraceful. There is a serious lack of professionalism here! It isn't fair that some women are not getting the proper care they need to protect themselves.
The purity myth made me realize, and reassured me, that I am on a path to a very rewarding and a very needed career. As a young woman who strongly believes in science, the medical field and the right to choose for all women, I want to be able to teach women about their bodies, birth control and how they can be the healthiest woman they can be. This makes me want to be a midwife even more because every woman deserves someone who will look out for them and their best interests. I want to be able to tell as many women as possible that they have options, they do not have to have children if they do not want to at this time, and they can be as free and sexually liberated as they want to be and still be healthy, protected and respected. It makes me proud to be on this path towards midwifery because I can say that I help women become more empowered, more in control of their body and life, and I can deliver more babies into the world and leave them with a mother who is stronger than ever before.
I'm so gonna kick this purity movement's ass!
Stay Strong, Stay Beautiful, Stay Empowered
(...and most importantly, stay AWAY from purity balls...seriously) hehe.
Love,
Rosely
Monday, February 13, 2017
2 Dope Queens Podcast is BADASS!
Hello lovelies,
So over the weekend our professor Dr. Fairchild recommended we listen to the podcast, 2 Dope Queens with Phoebe Robinson. I've got to say, it was so crazy I really liked it. She is so badass! The most recent podcast she uploaded was about the women's march a few weeks ago and she was talking about how she went to the march in DC. If I remember correctly, I think she performed there that night and had a few guests come to do stand-up and to talk about their experience at women's march. Just by the way it sounded, made me wish I could've gone to her show. It is so funny! She's so crazy and so unfiltered, as well as all of her guests comedians, that the show just hits you like a brick wall, like WHOA! But you know, I feel like it's something we all needed to hear. In this day and age, it seems like there is more sensitivity to what is said in the media and sometimes you have to walk on eggshells and be politically correct as to not sound like a racist, sexist or just a plain douchebag. In this podcast, she tells it like it is, she does whatever the hell she wants, she says whatever the hell she wants and she breaks the female stereotype. She's funny, rugged, grungy, she's unfiltered, she's very vocal and opinionated. I think it shows that women are not just a mannequin to only be seen, not heard and used for their bodies. They don't always have to be modest and lady-like; they can curse and act the way they want to act. The best part of it is, if anyone doesn't like that, they can just leave because being a female means a lot of things not just a pretty little princess that likes pink and sits on her chair all day.
I really enjoyed listening to this podcast. I can only imagine how funny her book is. I can't wait to read it.
Go check it out! http://www.wnyc.org/shows/dopequeens
Stay Strong, Stay Beautifull, Stay Empowered.
Love,
Rosely
So over the weekend our professor Dr. Fairchild recommended we listen to the podcast, 2 Dope Queens with Phoebe Robinson. I've got to say, it was so crazy I really liked it. She is so badass! The most recent podcast she uploaded was about the women's march a few weeks ago and she was talking about how she went to the march in DC. If I remember correctly, I think she performed there that night and had a few guests come to do stand-up and to talk about their experience at women's march. Just by the way it sounded, made me wish I could've gone to her show. It is so funny! She's so crazy and so unfiltered, as well as all of her guests comedians, that the show just hits you like a brick wall, like WHOA! But you know, I feel like it's something we all needed to hear. In this day and age, it seems like there is more sensitivity to what is said in the media and sometimes you have to walk on eggshells and be politically correct as to not sound like a racist, sexist or just a plain douchebag. In this podcast, she tells it like it is, she does whatever the hell she wants, she says whatever the hell she wants and she breaks the female stereotype. She's funny, rugged, grungy, she's unfiltered, she's very vocal and opinionated. I think it shows that women are not just a mannequin to only be seen, not heard and used for their bodies. They don't always have to be modest and lady-like; they can curse and act the way they want to act. The best part of it is, if anyone doesn't like that, they can just leave because being a female means a lot of things not just a pretty little princess that likes pink and sits on her chair all day.
I really enjoyed listening to this podcast. I can only imagine how funny her book is. I can't wait to read it.
Go check it out! http://www.wnyc.org/shows/dopequeens
Stay Strong, Stay Beautifull, Stay Empowered.
Love,
Rosely
Monday, February 6, 2017
Gender Stereotypes and Children
Hello again my empowered lionesses!
So I have uncovered a few YouTube videos that pertained to the discussion we had last week about Sex, Gender and Stereotypes. That discussion kept me wondering. We all have gender expectation that are put on us and we carry it everywhere we go. Throughout our whole lives, we were expected to act like girls if we were girls or act like boys if you were a boy. Growing up, I was given every type of doll known to man, I had so many baby dolls I swore I was a mother of 12 (Thank God I didn't actually have to birth them all, Phew!) and I had a little barbie kitchenette with an attached washer/dryer set where I learned how to cook and do laundry. Meanwhile, my brother had the bob the builder power tool workshop and action figures. Fast forward to the present, even though we are more aware of the meaning of gender roles and we are starting to choose for ourselves what we want to be despite societal views, those expectations are still pressuring us. We may not remember how we felt about gender roles when we were younger because we weren't expose to it as much as we are now, but it made me think; how do the children of this era feel about gender roles? They may have more opinions about it than we think.
I found two videos. The first one, called "Teaching Children about Gender Stereotypes", was about a student who wanted to interact with primary school-aged children to see what they know about gender stereotypes. Our society and our family life have a tremendous impact on everyone, especially at a very young age. These children had such strong views on how boys and girls should be. The male children were adamant about what they liked and what they don't like. They said things like "Pink is for girls", "Boys don't do ballet", "Ballet is for girls because there is a lot of pink in ballet", "Boys like sports", "Girls can't play sports", etc. It was really sad to see that because children are so observant. They see everything and learn so fast! Watching and listening to what they were saying really made me realize how easy we can stay trapped in these old views of gender stereotypes because they can continue to live on as we teach the younger generation. It doesn't matter how many marches, protests, and petitions we participate in; if we don't start from the source, we will never see change. Where is the source, you ask? Our homes. Although media makes a strong impact in our lives, nothing makes a bigger impact than what we observe in our homes every single day. If we demonstrate and teach our children that they can do whatever they put their minds to regardless of their gender and that they don't have to follow traditional gender stereotypes, then slowly but surely we may diminish the gender stereotypes. Thankfully by the end of that video, the student read the children a book that taught them a very good lesson on gender stereotypes. They responded very well to it and soon thought that it is okay for boys to like "girl" things and for girl to like "boy" things. This just shows that kids will take in anything you tell them. It's so easy to mold them, so why not teach them the best way to live and to interact with other people so that we can change societal views in the long run.
In the second video I watched, called "How Gender Stereotypes Affect Boys and Girls", what resonated with me the most in this video was how gender stereotypes affected boys specifically. We all talk about how women feel about gender stereotypes because we are very vocal and emotional, and we tend to express more than men. Men, on the other hand, aren't as emotionally expressive unfortunately and that causes significant negative effects because they don't have an outlet. Instead, they just conform to what society thinks a man should be and continue to feel sad inside. Boys have to deal with society telling them to "Man up!", "Stop crying!", "Stop with the emotions", "Stop being a pussy!", "Grow some balls!", "Be cool and be kind of a Dick", etc. A lot of boys that do not want to conform to the manly stereotype because that is just not who they think they are, feel very insecure about themselves. At a young age, some boys aren't really ready to "Be a man" and they just want to be whoever they want to be. Dr. Michael Kimmel makes a very good point in the video when he said that our idea of what a man is does not give a way for a boy to feel secure in his masculinity and the way we make him show his "security and manhood" is by going out and proving it to everyone all the time. The way they go out and prove it is by showing aggression and acting out. When that happens, we just think that the boy is a bad kid, but really, society made him that way and it did not let him explore his own masculinity in his own way. The reason why most boys act out in aggression is because they do not know how to express themselves in any other way because any alternative to aggression isn't manly. From this video, I learned that this can cause a boy to develop severe depression and self-esteem issues where they start to have suicidal thoughts, they don't seek help because it is not manly to ask for help, they feel ashamed and humiliated when they don't act manly enough, and etc. It's really sad and surprising to see that men are this deeply affected by stereotypes. This really shouldn't be surprising because regardless of gender we are all still human and we would all feel and think the same way if we were hurt physically and/or mentally. Unfortunately, we're just not conformed to seeing men in this light. But seeing this in front of me finally put it in my radar and made me understand that we need to change gender stereotypes not only for women but for men too. Women are not the only ones that can be weak, men can too. We all have weak points and putting this unnecessary pressure on ourselves and everyone else just makes this all worse.
Comment below and tell me what you guys think about this. Do you think women are the only ones getting the short end of the stick or do men also need a little freedom from these gender stereotypes?
I'll link the videos below so you can see for yourselves and develop your own opinions about this.
Stay strong, Stay beautiful and Stay empowered!
Love,
Rosely
So I have uncovered a few YouTube videos that pertained to the discussion we had last week about Sex, Gender and Stereotypes. That discussion kept me wondering. We all have gender expectation that are put on us and we carry it everywhere we go. Throughout our whole lives, we were expected to act like girls if we were girls or act like boys if you were a boy. Growing up, I was given every type of doll known to man, I had so many baby dolls I swore I was a mother of 12 (Thank God I didn't actually have to birth them all, Phew!) and I had a little barbie kitchenette with an attached washer/dryer set where I learned how to cook and do laundry. Meanwhile, my brother had the bob the builder power tool workshop and action figures. Fast forward to the present, even though we are more aware of the meaning of gender roles and we are starting to choose for ourselves what we want to be despite societal views, those expectations are still pressuring us. We may not remember how we felt about gender roles when we were younger because we weren't expose to it as much as we are now, but it made me think; how do the children of this era feel about gender roles? They may have more opinions about it than we think.
I found two videos. The first one, called "Teaching Children about Gender Stereotypes", was about a student who wanted to interact with primary school-aged children to see what they know about gender stereotypes. Our society and our family life have a tremendous impact on everyone, especially at a very young age. These children had such strong views on how boys and girls should be. The male children were adamant about what they liked and what they don't like. They said things like "Pink is for girls", "Boys don't do ballet", "Ballet is for girls because there is a lot of pink in ballet", "Boys like sports", "Girls can't play sports", etc. It was really sad to see that because children are so observant. They see everything and learn so fast! Watching and listening to what they were saying really made me realize how easy we can stay trapped in these old views of gender stereotypes because they can continue to live on as we teach the younger generation. It doesn't matter how many marches, protests, and petitions we participate in; if we don't start from the source, we will never see change. Where is the source, you ask? Our homes. Although media makes a strong impact in our lives, nothing makes a bigger impact than what we observe in our homes every single day. If we demonstrate and teach our children that they can do whatever they put their minds to regardless of their gender and that they don't have to follow traditional gender stereotypes, then slowly but surely we may diminish the gender stereotypes. Thankfully by the end of that video, the student read the children a book that taught them a very good lesson on gender stereotypes. They responded very well to it and soon thought that it is okay for boys to like "girl" things and for girl to like "boy" things. This just shows that kids will take in anything you tell them. It's so easy to mold them, so why not teach them the best way to live and to interact with other people so that we can change societal views in the long run.
In the second video I watched, called "How Gender Stereotypes Affect Boys and Girls", what resonated with me the most in this video was how gender stereotypes affected boys specifically. We all talk about how women feel about gender stereotypes because we are very vocal and emotional, and we tend to express more than men. Men, on the other hand, aren't as emotionally expressive unfortunately and that causes significant negative effects because they don't have an outlet. Instead, they just conform to what society thinks a man should be and continue to feel sad inside. Boys have to deal with society telling them to "Man up!", "Stop crying!", "Stop with the emotions", "Stop being a pussy!", "Grow some balls!", "Be cool and be kind of a Dick", etc. A lot of boys that do not want to conform to the manly stereotype because that is just not who they think they are, feel very insecure about themselves. At a young age, some boys aren't really ready to "Be a man" and they just want to be whoever they want to be. Dr. Michael Kimmel makes a very good point in the video when he said that our idea of what a man is does not give a way for a boy to feel secure in his masculinity and the way we make him show his "security and manhood" is by going out and proving it to everyone all the time. The way they go out and prove it is by showing aggression and acting out. When that happens, we just think that the boy is a bad kid, but really, society made him that way and it did not let him explore his own masculinity in his own way. The reason why most boys act out in aggression is because they do not know how to express themselves in any other way because any alternative to aggression isn't manly. From this video, I learned that this can cause a boy to develop severe depression and self-esteem issues where they start to have suicidal thoughts, they don't seek help because it is not manly to ask for help, they feel ashamed and humiliated when they don't act manly enough, and etc. It's really sad and surprising to see that men are this deeply affected by stereotypes. This really shouldn't be surprising because regardless of gender we are all still human and we would all feel and think the same way if we were hurt physically and/or mentally. Unfortunately, we're just not conformed to seeing men in this light. But seeing this in front of me finally put it in my radar and made me understand that we need to change gender stereotypes not only for women but for men too. Women are not the only ones that can be weak, men can too. We all have weak points and putting this unnecessary pressure on ourselves and everyone else just makes this all worse.
Comment below and tell me what you guys think about this. Do you think women are the only ones getting the short end of the stick or do men also need a little freedom from these gender stereotypes?
I'll link the videos below so you can see for yourselves and develop your own opinions about this.
Stay strong, Stay beautiful and Stay empowered!
Love,
Rosely
Teaching Children about Gender Stereotypes
How does gender stereotypes affect Boys and Girls ?
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