On Wednesday, Eden and I had the good fortune to attend the Perinatal Symposium on contemporary birthing practices and birthing rights. It was organized by Jessica Clements, an acquaintance of mine who has recently become a friend. I volunteered to help pull some of it together; my brother even did the website design. (Thanks, L!) Some familiar names were there, like Henci Goer and Robbie Davis-Floyd, and Debra Pascali-Bonaro, along with some that were unfamiliar to me, but no less impressive--like Shafia Monroe and Aravinda Pillalamarri. I was blown away by the true multidisciplinariness of the event--midwives, doulas, nurses, lawyers, anthropologists, artists, and even belly dancers all came together out of concern for birthing women. Many of them spoke of the need to secure a safe birthing tradition for our daughters, something which had a new resonance for me as I've attended many birth conferences, but this was the first in which I had my own fuzzy-headed, chubby-cheeked little girl in my lap.
One of my other favorite things about the conference was that it was the first time I've been in a context where women were openly and proudly breastfeeding. From five-week-old twins to babies in arms to toddlers who ran up to their mothers to nurse, there was a whole lot of breastfeeding going on, and it was a wonderful thing to be a part of. Unfortunately, in our culture, breastfeeding is nearly always a solitary event, as opposed to more traditional cultures in which it is a normal, social part of everyday life. It made me realize what I'm missing out on the rest of the time. While so many babies and children meant that at times things were a little rambunctious and the speakers were hard to hear, it was also neat to have a constant undercurrent of squeaking, sighing, murmuring (and occasionally shrieking) baby noises as an appropriate accompaniment to the topic at hand, and as a reminder that to all of us there, it was of far more than just passing or theoretical significance.
Jessica introducing the panel
1 comment:
Until now, I was content that I only have grandSONs. Now, not so much. Bravo to the bro who apparently put his cyber drop downs to good use. And Bravo to my friends at the GMU School of Art, one of the conference sponsors. But mainly, Bravo to Katie and these devoted earth women. There's hope!
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