On Wednesday, October 7, I attended the Perinatal Symposium (http://www.birthsymposium.com/) at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. The event is the brainchild of GMU graduate student Jessica Clements and offered an incredible opportunity to engage with nationally known speakers… all for free.
I was privileged to be on a panel with Karen Brody, author of Birth in a discussion moderated by Sheryl Rivett, founder of the birth consumer advocacy group Birth Matters Virginia, which represented consumers in the successful effort to license certified professional midwives (CPMs) in that state. I talked about my journey from a clueless consumer to birth activist, with both my feminist upbringing and my deep fear of needles being contributing factors. I was also fortunate enough to have my mother attend the session, so I could thank her publicly for making sure that I had the most current copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves on my bookshelf when I first got pregnant in 2001. When I read in the Our Bodies, Ourselves Pregnancy and Birth chapter about the cascade of interventions with conventional birth settings and providers, I realized I wanted nothing to do with any of these interventions, if at all possible. That’s what got my husband and me looking at alternatives such as a birth center, the first step on my long journey of birth activism that continues today. My presentation is on the symposium website at http://www.birthsymposium.com/assets/polk.pdf.
During the Q&A session following Karen’s and my presentations, someone in the audience lamented that all too often expectant parents, both men and women, who seek alternative birth settings and providers are shunned as pariahs in their own communities. They cannot go to family, neighbors, co-workers or friends for support of their birth choices. That’s when I mentioned how proud I was of the great work that Birth Options Alliance (http://www.birthoptionsalliance.org/) is doing through its active Yahoo e-mail discussion group and monthly meetings in Takoma Park. When people find their way to BOA, its more than 600 members provide the informative answers, advice when asked, and loving support that expectant parents crave.
Following Karen’s and my session, there was an audience-lead reading of the one-act version of Birth (http://www.boldaction.org/theplay/play.html). I had seen the two-act version of the play in 2006 and knew that it was an extremely powerful work. Following the performance, I chatted with Karen Brody and local director Angela Lauriam about the possibility of staging the two-act version of the play as a fundraiser for the birth center in 2010.
Following the audience-lead reading, there was one great keynote and panel discussion after another. Shel Lyons, president of the Mother’s Rights Network, discussed how birth rights can be seen as a subset of women’s rights and consequently human rights, as enumerated in the United Nations’ Declaration on Human Rights. Anthropologist Robbie Davis-Floyd gave a fascinating keynote presentation on successful midwifery practices that she had observed around the world. Shafia Monroe, founder of the International Center for Traditional Childbearing, talked about the importance of diversity in midwifery providers. J.D. candidate Lisa Pratt gave a history lesson in vaginal birth after caesarian (VBAC) and how a high rate of primary c-sections and restrictive VBAC policies in many hospitals is causing some women to choose “birth on the black market”.
Henci Goer, author of one of the first birth-related books I read during my first pregnancy – The Thinking Women’s Guide to a Better Birth published in 1999 – gave an update on how far we have come since then. When I first read The Thinking Woman’s Guide, I remember that it made me depressed and then angry that so many birth practices not only are non-beneficial and some ever harmful when used routinely, but continue to be widespread despite medical evidence to the contrary. Sadly, Henci Goer’s keynote presentation at the symposium revealed that, not only has progress not been made on many fronts – such as episiotomies (still used in 33% of births as of 2006) – but that things have actually gotten worse on others – such as the ever-rising caesarian sections (used in 31% of births as of 2006).
The daytime portion of the symposium concluded with a roundtable discussion that further explored the ideas raised by Shel Lyons earlier that day: Are women’s rights in birth human rights? And, if so, what can we do to address the threats to these rights? The discussion ended with names being taken and a new effort being formed to work on this important issue.
But the symposium wasn’t all talk, talk, talk. There were showings of the films Laboring under an Illusion and Orgasmic Birth, an exhibition of paintings of birth scenes by symposium organizer Jessica Clements, as well as a performance by my own belly dance troupe Triple Goddess Tribal (http://www.triplegoddesstribal.com/). In our performance, members of Triple Goddess Tribal showed the celestial, silly and sacred sides of birth. In our finale piece, my teacher Maya Taahira and I played the role of midwives as a birthing mother (played by DC area midwife Karen Klauss in her belly dancing debut) undulated through contractions to the tune of “Bascha” by the band Domba from the album Evocation. Earlier, I had given the audience a quick lesson on how to undulate their bellies and encouraged them to stand up and undulate to commiserate with the birthing mother and foil the Evil Eye. The sight of everyone in the theater moving their bellies during our performance moved my teacher Maya to tears. It was a great ending to a great day for me, and hopefully an event that will move birth forward in the DC area.
-Amy Polk
I was privileged to be on a panel with Karen Brody, author of Birth in a discussion moderated by Sheryl Rivett, founder of the birth consumer advocacy group Birth Matters Virginia, which represented consumers in the successful effort to license certified professional midwives (CPMs) in that state. I talked about my journey from a clueless consumer to birth activist, with both my feminist upbringing and my deep fear of needles being contributing factors. I was also fortunate enough to have my mother attend the session, so I could thank her publicly for making sure that I had the most current copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves on my bookshelf when I first got pregnant in 2001. When I read in the Our Bodies, Ourselves Pregnancy and Birth chapter about the cascade of interventions with conventional birth settings and providers, I realized I wanted nothing to do with any of these interventions, if at all possible. That’s what got my husband and me looking at alternatives such as a birth center, the first step on my long journey of birth activism that continues today. My presentation is on the symposium website at http://www.birthsymposium.com/assets/polk.pdf.
During the Q&A session following Karen’s and my presentations, someone in the audience lamented that all too often expectant parents, both men and women, who seek alternative birth settings and providers are shunned as pariahs in their own communities. They cannot go to family, neighbors, co-workers or friends for support of their birth choices. That’s when I mentioned how proud I was of the great work that Birth Options Alliance (http://www.birthoptionsalliance.org/) is doing through its active Yahoo e-mail discussion group and monthly meetings in Takoma Park. When people find their way to BOA, its more than 600 members provide the informative answers, advice when asked, and loving support that expectant parents crave.
Following Karen’s and my session, there was an audience-lead reading of the one-act version of Birth (http://www.boldaction.org/theplay/play.html). I had seen the two-act version of the play in 2006 and knew that it was an extremely powerful work. Following the performance, I chatted with Karen Brody and local director Angela Lauriam about the possibility of staging the two-act version of the play as a fundraiser for the birth center in 2010.
Following the audience-lead reading, there was one great keynote and panel discussion after another. Shel Lyons, president of the Mother’s Rights Network, discussed how birth rights can be seen as a subset of women’s rights and consequently human rights, as enumerated in the United Nations’ Declaration on Human Rights. Anthropologist Robbie Davis-Floyd gave a fascinating keynote presentation on successful midwifery practices that she had observed around the world. Shafia Monroe, founder of the International Center for Traditional Childbearing, talked about the importance of diversity in midwifery providers. J.D. candidate Lisa Pratt gave a history lesson in vaginal birth after caesarian (VBAC) and how a high rate of primary c-sections and restrictive VBAC policies in many hospitals is causing some women to choose “birth on the black market”.
Henci Goer, author of one of the first birth-related books I read during my first pregnancy – The Thinking Women’s Guide to a Better Birth published in 1999 – gave an update on how far we have come since then. When I first read The Thinking Woman’s Guide, I remember that it made me depressed and then angry that so many birth practices not only are non-beneficial and some ever harmful when used routinely, but continue to be widespread despite medical evidence to the contrary. Sadly, Henci Goer’s keynote presentation at the symposium revealed that, not only has progress not been made on many fronts – such as episiotomies (still used in 33% of births as of 2006) – but that things have actually gotten worse on others – such as the ever-rising caesarian sections (used in 31% of births as of 2006).
The daytime portion of the symposium concluded with a roundtable discussion that further explored the ideas raised by Shel Lyons earlier that day: Are women’s rights in birth human rights? And, if so, what can we do to address the threats to these rights? The discussion ended with names being taken and a new effort being formed to work on this important issue.
But the symposium wasn’t all talk, talk, talk. There were showings of the films Laboring under an Illusion and Orgasmic Birth, an exhibition of paintings of birth scenes by symposium organizer Jessica Clements, as well as a performance by my own belly dance troupe Triple Goddess Tribal (http://www.triplegoddesstribal.com/). In our performance, members of Triple Goddess Tribal showed the celestial, silly and sacred sides of birth. In our finale piece, my teacher Maya Taahira and I played the role of midwives as a birthing mother (played by DC area midwife Karen Klauss in her belly dancing debut) undulated through contractions to the tune of “Bascha” by the band Domba from the album Evocation. Earlier, I had given the audience a quick lesson on how to undulate their bellies and encouraged them to stand up and undulate to commiserate with the birthing mother and foil the Evil Eye. The sight of everyone in the theater moving their bellies during our performance moved my teacher Maya to tears. It was a great ending to a great day for me, and hopefully an event that will move birth forward in the DC area.
-Amy Polk
