Belly Tales

A few weeks ago, Dark Daughta over at One Tenacious Baby Mama asked me for a contribution to her new weekly series entitled Reloaded, which happens every Sunday and features old posts that are worth posting and reading a second time (oldies but goodies, as she calls them). She wanted posts that I was particularly proud of, “something that really kicks ass analytically, politically” etc., and I quickly discovered when I was combing through my old posts that I don’t really have much in the analytical/ political/ highly opinionated/ kick-ass vein. It seems that my blogging style overall tends to be of the objective-news-reporting variety, or at best the highly-researched highly-factual variety; in other words, the variety that is so factual and evidence-based that no one can really argue or disagree with what you’re saying; in other words, the risk-free variety. Which is good to know about yourself, I guess, because it then prompts a bunch of really good questions, like: WHY AREN’T YOU TAKING MORE RISKS? Why aren’t there more highly opinionated, highly political, highly analytical, highly kick-ass posts on your blog? What are you scared of? Pissing someone off? Causing controversy? But really…is there any other point to a blog than opinion? If all we’re after is the news, we’ll read newpapers and news sources, thank you very much. Blogs are supposed to comment on things. So, good to know. Note to self: enough with the reporting on things. Get commenting instead. Go out on that limb. It’s about time, don’t you think?

Anyway, I sent Dark Daughta a few posts. One on the Keeper (still one of my proudest feminist and environmentalist statements), one on the UK’s new birth agenda (Maternity Matters), and two on female circumcision (Circumcision or Mutiliation? and Further Thoughts on FGM).

I was curious to see what Dark Daughta would think of them. Leave it to Dark Daughta to not only think about them, but to write an explosive 1000 word treatise as well. She picked my posts on female circumcision, of course, and then ran with them. Ran is a polite word for what she did. More like smacked the posts upside down, flipped them inside out, and then shook all of the loose change out of their pockets. She took everything I had thought after my first encounter with a circumcised woman, and all of the conclusions I had come to at that time (and this had involved a lot of thinking back then, trust me), and managed to turn all of those thoughts, all of those culminations of thought, absolutely, irrevocably, upside down. In the space of just one post. Leave it to Dark Daughta to challenge the hell out of you.

Just a few highlights, here:

Dear Student Midwife:I’m glad that you’re asking yourself questions about how best to proceed. …Maybe examining the culturally based and biased and ofttimes downright racist, response of many privileged feminists who were not born into cultures where genital circumcision is practiced might offer some much needed space inside which there might be less emotionally and politically charged room for a true examination of the issues.There is a power relation here. Are parents in western societies hunted down and denied access to safe male circumcision? Why is the WHO advocating for this procedure when there is a fast growing segment of the male population that is crying out against it?

When male circumcision of babies who can’t make the choice for themselves is enshrined as a part of at least major world religion, are health care practitioners strategizing about how best to stigmatize grown men who present penises that are mutilated? Are feminists of conscience refusing to sleep with men who are circumcized? Are we looking on them with pity and defining them as mutilated? Are we strategizing about how best to divest them of custodianship of their sons so that we can keep them safe from circumcision? Is anyone noticing that the actual side effects of male circumcision…besides those that go horribly wrong…are minimal because these surgeries are done by skilled practitioners in sterile settings?

I don’t agree with either kind of circumcision. But I can’t fail to notice that one is filled with shame and stigma heaped on those who experience it, while the other is thought of as a throwback that should be done away with but is still tolerated and executed in hospitals.

Being useful is definitely not going to include making any circumcized wimmin feel uncomfortable and on the spot about the decisions of their parents. So, labeling a woman’s cuts “mutilations” without checking to see what if anything she says about her own genitalia will go a long way to making a practitioner seem like a judge and not as someone a woman can potentially confide in or turn to.

Because really, the shock and the unfamiliarity with the view below is ours, not theirs. If we’re gonna pay lipservice to accepting the anatomy of the vulva, we’re going to need to work at really understanding and respecting that wimmin come in all sorts of configurations for all sorts of reasons.

This “who is civilized” and “who is babaric and uncivilized” binary split that serves the west/the north, giving our cultures a much needed oppressive ego boost needs to GO!

Yowsa. And those are just the highlights. I’d highly reccommend that you go and read the rest of the post, because she writes with so much passion and conviction, and has this incredible way of phrasing things in ways that I would never, ever think of.

Now, how do you respond to a post like that? I didn’t even know where to start. First I had to do a lot more thinking on the subject, which I’ve been doing for the past several days and nights. I wrote an e-mail response to her, which she published in last Sunday’s Reloaded V which started to flesh out some of my thoughts. And now I find myself here again, having done yet another 180 on the subject (my apologies for repeating some parts of my e-mail, but this is pretty much where my thinking is at right now).

I think Dark Daughta is right on a lot of counts. There is indeed an inherent racism/ oppression in a viewpoint which has decided to call one form of ritual cutting “mutilation” while at the same time leting so many other types of cutting fall under the category of “circumcision” or some other word, and therefore under the umbrella of cultural acceptability (male circumcision, labioplasty, clitoral hood piercing, episiotomy etc.). I can see how that is indeed our culture (and by that I mean western culture) taking its own viewpoint on what constitutes a healthy vulva and setting it forth as “right” and “correct” and that anyone else who does anything different to their vulva (especially something brutal or harmful and something we as a culture don’t fully understand) is therefore wrong and backwards and oppressed and brutalized by their own culture…and that this “mutilation” is therefore a form of violence against women. This viewpoint then lays the groundwork for our invasion of their culture; in other words, this viewpoint basically gives us permission to enter their culture and tell them what’s right and wrong, and that they have to stop this cultural practice. And many huge, big name organizations like UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the US Dept. of State, Amnesty International, USAID etc. etc. have all issued policies and statements which call for an end to this practice, and have programs or policies in place which exist to help educate and save these women from their fate.

Calling something “mutilation” implies, by its very nature, that those who are “mutilated” need to be saved. That makes sense, and I see that now, but I had never before thought of it in those terms. So further thinking on this is prompting me to start to refer to this ritual as “circumcision” again rather than “mutilation”. I do appreciate that my view of what constitutes a healthy vulva is certainly not everyone’s view, and who am I (or who are we?) to decide what is or is not the right kind of vulva? Why is labioplasty or clitoral hood piercing okay, while female circumcision is not? And what would happen if circumcision was done well, by medically-trained people using sterile instruments, sharp instruments, making clean, hygienic cuts? So many of the problems inherent in this practice comes from the scarring and infection which is secondary to the cuts themselves. If there was no scarring, if there was no infection, would the damage be less? As Dark Daughta pointed out, female sexuality stems from a lot more than the tiny nub of flesh which is the clitoris. If the clitoris is removed, but in a clean and precise manner, using sharp, sterilized instruments (rather than a rusty tin can or a piece of glass etc.), would women be able to retain a higher level of sexual functioning? I never, ever would have thought that an underground feminist movement to provide clean, hygienic, medically-trained female circumcisions is not that far off from what feminists were doing in the 70s with their underground abortion clinics to provide clean, hygienic, medically-trained abortions, but yeah, I do see the similarity.

I wrote in a comment on my first post that “I undrstand that there are a lot of cultural and personal reasons involved in choosing [male] circumcision, and I don’t feel like it’s my place to say.” So if I can so graciously back out of the debate when it comes to males, why can’t I do the same with females? To say that these girls aren’t educated about the pros and cons of the procedure, that they’re forced into it by their parents and their culture at a young and vulnerable age (usually at puberty), and that they therefore aren’t making informed consent doesn’t hold up, either, because the same can be said of male circumcision. Baby boys are absolutely, positively NOT making an informed decision when it comes to having their penises cut or not. It’s a decision that their parents are making for them for many different reasons, just as it’s a decision that the culture/ parents are making for the girls who are receiving female circumcision. And I ask again: what right do I have to step in to this decision-making process and tell someone that they’re wrong, or that this decision is wrong? I have no right whatsoever.

Now, before someone comes along and rips into me, let me just make this very very clear: I am not advocating female circumcision, nor am I advocating male circumcision. I am not condoning either practice, nor am I saying that they’re both fine and acceptable, and that they should continue unhindered. All I am saying is that it’s not my place to judge these practices, and it’s not my place to make these decisions. Since I’m not a member of a culture that practices female circumcision, the rich cultural context with which this practice resides is lost on me. The shame or humiliation someone of that culture might feel by not being circumcized and therefore not being a full participant of their culture is something I’m never going to be able to empathize with. And I am questioning whether it is right for our culture (Western culture) to go on huge “Stop Violence Against Women” campaigns in cultures which are not ours, in contexts which we don’t fully understand (and probably can never fully understand).

I do think that these practices need to stop. But I don’t think that the impetus for changing this is going to come from us (from the West), and I don’t think it should. If it’s going to change, it needs to come from within; from women and advocates who are of these cultures, who understand the context, who can see the patriarchy at work in such acts, and who want to rise up against it. And when they do, we as Westerners can and should support them with all of the resources our rich, privileged cultures afford us.

I guess the only sticking point I still have at this point is the following: if you’re a member of a culture, and if it’s all you know, and if you’re never exposed to anything else, you will never have the objectivity necessary to ever question or rise up against these practices that you have seen and been a part of since birth? And maybe that is where an organization can step in and offer education to members of these cultures; ideally, the education should come from members of the culture themselves. I think the folks over at RAINBO are on the right track, and if we as Westerners want to support the education of women (and therefore indirectly the hope that eventually these practices might stop), we can do this by supporting organizations like this.

As far as being a practitioner, the take-home lesson here is once again very simple, and very difficult to fully learn: LISTEN TO WOMEN, and DON’T JUDGE. How is it that I can see this so clearly on issues like abortion, where I absolutely, 100% feel that it is not my place to say, and that since I’m not carrying her baby or walking in her shoes, I have no right to judge at all….and yet issues like female circumcision still bring about huge, heaping amounts of judgement? As a white woman from a privileged background, I’ve been trying for awhile to own my privilege, and see the way that this affects my point of view on everything. This is a difficult, never-ending task, and while I feel that I’ve managed to own this on several more obvious issues, this is an issue I hadn’t even picked up on. I guess the ultimate, life-long goal for every evolving human soul is to continue to move towards a state of less and less judgement. To become as close to non-judgemental as you can possibly be. I say possibly, and “close to” because I think being non-judgemental is an impossible goal. Our psyche, our sense of self, our identities, our culture, our experiences and background and upbringing, everything we use to know ourselves as who we are–all of this is based on judgements which we have formed through living, judgements which we have consciously or unconsciously absorbed, and I think it’s impossible to seperate yourself from them. I am not using this as an excuse. Moving towards a more non-judgemental state requires very close and painful examination of those life experiences and background and upbringing and culture. It requires seeing the ways that your life experiences and culture has potentially prejudiced you, seeing the ways you are privileged, seeing the ways that power affects your identity–power you have, or don’t have, or have in some areas but not others. It requires seeing where you come from, seeing the way that this has formed your world view, and then seeing the way that this outlook affects how you see others. That’s a huge part of becoming less judgemental.

The LISTEN TO WOMEN and DON’T JUDGE take-home message means that all future encounters with women who have been circumcized will involve calling it circumcision, following her cues, and letting her talk or not talk about it, as she desires.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on this subject at this moment in time. Granted, I will continue to think, and I’m sure my thoughts will continue to evolve. I’d be really interested to hear what others think about this as well. It is a very sticky subject, and it’s not about to get any more clear any time soon.

So, I’m back in the blogosphere again, and realizing that I’ve been missing a lot of important news by taking a vacation for a few months. Here’s a quick overview of some of the stories I’ve found most pressing (and/or impressive) lately, even though some of these stories are old news by blog standards, and many other people have already done a much better job at covering them than I have.

First, Verizon Wireless, the cellphone megagiant, has gotten itself into a heap of trouble by initially refusing to allow NARAL Pro-Choice America to host a text messaging service on its network. Verizon initially claimedthat company policy allows it to refuse “highly controversial” and potentially “unsavory” messages from being distributed on its network. NARAL quickly shot back with an action alert and Verizon was flooded with thousands of e-mails and text messages from angry subscribers, and several anti-censorship groups also joined the fray. Quickly realizing it had made a huge mistake (especially when it discovered that other cellphone networks like Sprint and AT&T had approved the NARAL text messaging service without a whiff of protest), Verizon reversed its position, allowing the NARAL text service to go forward, and issued a statement in the press, but NARAL is still hounding Verizon to put its new public policy in writing. Interstingly, since the issue dealt with text messaging and shortcodes, the story was picked up not only by pro-choice and anti-censorship news carriers and blogs, but by sites like Ars Technica and Slashdot.

Sticking to the technology theme, the website Facebook recently started banning pictures of women breastfeeding from user accounts, and in some instances has banned specific users altogether (for example, Karen Speed from Australia, who has chronicled the entire event on her blog, One Small Step for Breastfeeding). Facebook banned certain pictures on account of their “obscene content” and asserted its right to remove pictures as a violation of its terms of use policy, but as the Sydney Morning Herald points out, it’s not exactly clear what constitues an “exposed breast”, which is the specific violation, and Facebook hasn’t provided any further. clarification. Right. So, breastfeeding is obscene, and women aren’t allowed to post their own pictures of themselves breastfeeding on their own facebook accounts. If this bothers you as much as it bothered me, go join the new facebook group entitled Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!

In other news, a 43 year old Russian woman has recently given birth to a 17 lb. baby, her 12th baby to date. Wow!!

Finally, this is a quick reminder to local folks that the 5th annual Miles for Midwives will be occurring this weekend, Oct. 6th, at Prospect Park. The 5K run/walk helps to raise awareness for midwifery, as well as raise money for the ACNM local NYC chapter, and Friends of the Birth Center. My beloved boy and I will both be there, of course, running and sweating in the sunshine. Race time is 10:00 am, rain or shine. If you’re interested in joining the race, you can register at Active.com.

Finally, the long-awaited SUNY Downstate Gala will be occurring this coming weekend, celebrating 75 years of continuous midwifery education. SUNY Downstate is actually the oldest and longest running midwifery program in the country, and is commerorating the event by a day-long educational symposium featuring speakers such as well-known author Barbara Katz Rothman and keynote speaker Joyce Thompson, CNM, followed by a dinner-dance. Sounds amazing! Go Downstate!

Like we didn’t see this coming: as predicted, the newly revamped the Supreme Court is doing its best to steadily chip away at women’s rights without actually having to lift a finger against Roe v. Wade, and in the process is opening the door for State legislatures to enact even more restrictive abortion legislation on a state by state basis. Today, the Supreme Court upheld President Bush’s ban on “partial-birth” abortion, setting a dangerous precedent which, until now, has always been avoided due to the fact that exceptions for the mother’s health are not present in this legislation. Feministing has a great post up on Justice Ruth Ginsberg’s dissent to the decision, as well as the fall-out in the media, including each presidential candidate’s response to this news. Of course, SCOTUS blog and Women’s Health News also have comprehensive posts on the subject. While I occassionally disagree whole-heartedly with ACOG on other matters, this is actually a situation where I applaud their stance on this subject: “partial-birth” abortion is a purposefully inflammatory media term, not a medical term, and the “partial-birth” abortion (i.e. non-intact dilation & evacuation) is rarely used in favor of the safer, more common practice of intact D&E, which is what is medically recommended by ACOG. Rulings which refuse to have exceptions for the woman’s health is placing current “morality” (which is transient, and can obviously change from one administration to the next) over the rights of an individual, which are constitutionally defined and supposedly untouchable. You can read the rest of ACOG’s amicus brief here. I’ll let others expound on what this means for the future of our country (I have a case-study due tomorrow which I must work on now), but this is indeed, a very sad new day.

So, I’ve been a bit incommunicado thanks to the intensity of my clinical schedule, and the fact that last week was our first exam, and I was busy spending every spare minute studying for it (I’m very pleased to report that I did well on my exam, despite my deepest concerns regarding my sincere lack of study-time). In the meantime, lots of news has been breaking out all over the place, and I’ve been letting it slide. But no longer! Here’s what’s new in the world of women’s health and midwifery news:

First, Merck has recently stated that they’re going to stop lobbying for state legislatures to adopt universal HPV vaccine requirements, in part because of all of the sudden bad press and objections to their lobbying efforts and their fear that continued lobbying would undermine use of the vaccine. Meanwhile, questions continue to arise regarding Merck’s financial invovlement with Texas Governor Rick Perry’s campaign. The CDC has also recently emphasized that no additional warning labels will be placed on Gardasil and that so far, all of the side effects reported with use of the vaccine (mostly inflammation reactions at the injection site and fainting) are low risk.

Since we’re on the subject of vaccines, it appears that research is now targeting Chlamydia for a new vaccine.

A post by Miriam Zoila Perez, the latest NAPW guest blogger, is up on Feministing regarding Radical Doulas.

The Mommy Blawg has a great break-down of all of the latest midwifery legislation being proposed in various states, particularly legislation working to legalize that status of direct-entry midwives (CPMs).

And finally, via Women’s Health News, Tenessee Representative Stacey Campfield has recently proposed legislation requiring a death certificate for each terminated pregnancy in the state of TN, while simultaneously not requiring death certificates for each spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) that occurs in the state of TN. In most states, death certificates aren’t issued until the baby reaches certain gestational age and/or weight requirements, such as 20 weeks, or 500 gms. Since most elected terminations occur during the first trimester, and most spontaneous miscarriages also occur during the first trimester, does it not seem a bit hypocritical to issue death certificates for one and not the other? Naturally, the Tennessee Guerilla Women have plenty to say on the subject. And while Campfield continues to look foolish by trying to deflect attention away from the nitty-gritty details of his bill, NARAL Pro-Choice America has joined the fray by setting up an online form for the women of Tennessee to contact their state representatives.

Amanda from Pandagon and Jessica from Feministing, both of whom were lucky enough to attend the National Advocates for Pregnant Women Summit a few weeks ago, decided to continue to explore many of the issues and topics covered at the summit through weekly guest bloggers hosted on Feministing. The first two are up already:

Jill Morrison on Laws that Punish Pregnant Women and Priscilla Huang on Killing the Immigrant Body.

Both are fascinating and highly recommended reads. Can’t wait to see who the new guest blogger will be.

National Advocates for Pregnant Women just concluded its 4 day Summit To Ensure the Health and Humanity of Birthing Women in Atlanta, GA, this past weekend. This summit, one of the first of its kind, was organized by NAPW and NAPW’s director, Lynn Paltrow, to explore the grey area where pregnancy, birth and the law intersect. In our increasingly litigious society, the debate about reproductive choice and reproductive freedom is not limited only to the debate over abortion; women are constantly facing difficult decisions, constrictions and legal battles on a daily basis simply to be allowed to give birth where they want, how they want and when they want. It seems like one of the overt aims of this conference was to widen the terms of the discussion and to get the reproductive rights advocates talking with the pregnany and birth rights advocates, demonstrating how these two debates are really just different ends of the same spectrum, and how all womens’ rights are being constricted, whether they choose to have children or whether they choose to have an abortion.

The Summit program covered everything from the overbearing and disempowering birthing machine in this country to our culture’s rampant fear of birth, from the legal restrictions being placed on VBACs, contraception and abortions to the disturbing rise in fetal rights, where mothers with substance abuse problems are prosecuted for “child abuse” on behalf of their unborn fetus, instead of being offered the care and treatment they need….and so much more, more, more. I really wish I could have attended! NAPW even offered several bloggerships to a few of the lucky feminist, birth and reproductive rights bloggers who were able attend. Too bad we didn’t get a longer winter break; school started again on January 9th, alas.

It’s been absolutely fascinating reading the reports and thoughts of many of the bloggers who were able to attend. I’ve linked to a partial list of the blogs on the Summit, so that you can read for yourself. It’s almost as good as being there (although not quite).

Feministing: Semi-live blogging from NAPW Conference

Gymno: Sick Blogging

Gymno: Summit Day 1 (cont.)

Is there no sin in it: NAPW Conference is happening now!

bird in a bottle: More Lynn Paltrow love (and a prelude to Blog for Choice Day)

bird in a bottle: Language and Gender, Part Deux

bird in a bottle: Why I want to be Dorothy Roberts when I grow up

Angry Black Bitch: Thoughts inspired by sessions

Angry Black Bitch: Thoughts inspired by debates, particularly the VBAC v. cesarean delivery debate.

Pandagon: NAPW Summit kicks off

Pandagon: NAPW Summit: end of the 1st Day

Bitch PhD: Join this Organization

Women of Color: The first part of the conference

And even more from brownfemipower here and here and here, and finally: Midwives of Color.
Oh, and this is just too cute not to pass on.

And finally, a word or two from the demi-goddess herself: Lynn Paltrow’s article in the San Francisco Chronicle, On the Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

Wow, this really makes my blood boil: a woman was recently kicked off of a Delta airline because she was breastfeeding her daughter. Isn’t it hard enough traveling with young children without being penalized for trying to feed them? Sheesh! It’s high time Congresswoman Maloney’s Breastfeeding Promotion Act was passed. Please take 2 minutes and sign a petition to Delta Airlines in support of breastfeeding women, and while you’re there, check out the very cool Momsrising.org. This anti-breastfeeding behaviour seems rampant lately, and is cropping up all over the place: Starbucks, Toys ‘R Us, now Delta. If you have a moment, take the time to tell your Senator that NOW is the time to get moving on the Breastfeeding Promotion Act. I still don’t understand why this bill hasn’t passed already: it’s all about the health of moms and babies. Isn’t that a politician’s bread and butter? What’s not to like? Jeeze louise.

I’m running off to class this morning, and I do apologize for the severe lack of posting that’s been happening around this place, but here’s some quick news for all of you:

First, the people of South Dakota have spoken loud and clear when it comes to more restrictive abortion legislation.

Women’s Health News has a lovely break-down of the newly proposed Pregnant Women Support Act, which proposes to increase funding to gather more complete information about the reasons women choose to have an abortion, offer assistance to women carrying thier pregnancies to term, and strengthening informed consent options when women choose to have an abortion. The initative is designed to help support women facing unplanned pregnancies, new parents and their children by providing comprehensive measures for health care needs, supportive services and helpful prenatal and postnatal services. Nevertheless, as Women’s Health News points out, there are still a lot of flaws in this legislation: for one thing, it doesn’t actually greatly increase the amount of financial support women will recieve during their pregnancy, let alone assistance they’ll receive while trying to raise a child—which is no small thing, given that the second most frequent reason cited for having an abortion is “can’t afford a baby”. And of course, while this legislation aims at reducing the number of abortions, there’s no funding for contraceptive education or a more comprehensive sex education curriculum. I also agree with Women’s Health News: wouldn’t it make sense to study the reasons for abortion first, before trying to reduce the number? We’ll have to keep our eye on this.

Finally, this is older news, but I’ve been meaning to post about this for awhile now: New Jersey sent a strong message to the federal government by choosing to reject federal funding for abstinence-only education, which demands very tight requirements on sex education in return for funding, including requiring that teachers say that sex within marriage is the “expected standard of human sexuality” and not allowing them to talk about contraception in the classroom. Way to go New Jersey!

And finally, three words: Hallelujah, go Dems!

In response to the highly publicized nurse-in at Toys ‘R Us a few weeks ago, Daily News writer Tracy Connor decided to conduct her own test of NYC’s breastfeeding tolerance by nursing her 3 month old daughter in a variety of public places around the city. You can read the entire article over at Hip Mama.

Crosstown bus: We board a M79 at midday, taking a seat opposite the driver. At the next stop, the bus starts to fill up and we get down to business.

The baby wriggles around, exposing a few inches of skin - and all around me, riders develop the kind of glazed-eye look usually reserved for panhandlers and the mentally ill.

Finally, one passenger pipes up, “Can you do that someplace else?” But she’s not talking to me - she’s barking at a man talking loudly on his cell phone.

When we get to the end of the line, the driver tells me I’m his first breast-feeder passenger. He’s not sure what the Transit Authority’s policy on nursing is, but he has his own. “I don’t see no objections to it,” he says.

Overall, it seems that most New Yorkers are pretty cool when it comes to public breastfeeding, although Connor’s nursing prompted an admonishment from a Babys ‘R Us worker, which the corporate spokeswoman was quick to point out went against store policy. Guess they learned a thing or two from their partner company, Toys ‘R Us, but it sounds like their workers could still use a bit more training.

Apparently, 300 people showed up to last week’s Nurse-in at Toys ‘R Us! Wow! Go NYC breastfeeding community! It’s so sad that actions like this are even needed in the first place, but I bet Toys ‘R Us will never make the mistake of harrassing and calling security on a breastfeeding woman again, and every bit of education helps. I wonder what the employees will do next time they see a nursing woman? Hopefully leave her in peace! The Daily News picked up the story here.